Volume 15,3: Architecture, Topography, Finds. Expanding on the
publication of the shipsheds and slipways found in the northern half of
Group 1 (Area 1) on the eastern side of Zea Harbour in Volume I.1-2
(2011) of the peer-reviewed Ancient Harbours of the Piraeus series,
Volume II presents further results of the archaeological investigations
conducted by the Zea Harbour Project (ZHP) in 2004-2010 and 2012 of
ancient shipsheds and slipways in Zea Harbour (Pashalimani), both
identified and possible, making them the best documented structures in
Athens' naval bases and in the wider Mediterranean. Approximately half
of Volume II is devoted to the remains of shipsheds and possible
shipsheds in the southern half of Group 1 (Area 2), while studies of
structures identified as wide unroofed slipways in Group 2 (Area 3) on
the south-eastern side of the same harbour basin occupy the balance of
the book. After Chapter 1's introduction to terminology and methodology,
Chapter 2 presents the architecture of the shipsheds and possible
shipsheds found in the southern half of Group 1 (Area 2), along with the
arrangement and topography of this massive naval complex, which in the
4th century BC covered between 11,630 m2 and 11,989 m2. Chapter 3
examines and catalogues the ceramics and other small finds discovered in
the same area, discussing their excavation contexts, composition, and
chronological significance. Chapter 4 focuses on the architecture and
topography of seven wide, unroofed slipways found in Group 2 in the
northern part of Area 3 that represent a building type previously
unknown in the Piraeus, probably designed either for a larger warship
known as the penteres ('five'), introduced into the Athenian navy
between 329/8 BC and 326/5 BC, or for a larger Hellenistic-period
warship type. Chapter 5 analyses and catalogues the ceramic small finds
recovered during the excavation of the structures featured in Chapter 4.
Chapter 6 presents the new evidence regarding relative sea-level change
in the harbours of Zea and Mounichia and its impact on the reconstructed
lengths and layouts of the slipways and shipsheds at Zea in Group 1
(Areas 1-2) along with the wide slipways of Group 2, including greater
accuracy in the recalculated lengths of the Group 1 shipsheds and
slipways presented in Volume I; furthermore, it reaffirms the validity
of the ZHP's methodology and published results in relation to shipsheds
around the Mediterranean. Chapter 7 recapitulates the authors'
topographical, architectural, and chronological conclusions regarding
the complexes at Zea and Mounichia, which contain the only identifiable
shipsheds for triremes anywhere in the ancient world. Descriptive
catalogues of the Area 2 and 3 quarries and Area 2 trenches (Appendices
1-2), Figures, and Plates complete the volume.
