Marine Archaeologists Uncovering RAF Akrotiri's Ancient Secrets

Marine archaeologists have been surveying the waters at RAF Akrotiri for clues to its ancient past. 

The Royal Air Force has had a base in Cyprus since the 1950s but warfare is nothing new to the area.

Dreamer’s Bay - just a stone's throw away from RAF Akrotiri - has been described as “one of best preserved ancient ports in the Med” and British marine archaeologists have teamed up with local specialists to investigate a breakwater for clues about life in antiquity.

Archaeologists believe the breakwater was built in the 4th Century AD – a period when the Romans controlled Cyprus.

It is thought to have been 120m in length and allowed Roman ships a safe, secluded place to anchor when transporting soldiers, goods and supplies.  

“You’ve got a series of blocks that are roughly a meter by half a meter,” describes Dr Lucy Blue from the University of Southampton.

“So they’re large limestone blocks that are building up from a natural reef up from the seabed.

"We’ve got remaining about four courses deep and this was a large wall that basically extended out into the sea that meant that ships could either come alongside and moor up or go to the very end in the deeper water and offload their goods.”

Archaeologists swam down towards the seabed and took enough photographs to build a 3D model – a technique called photogrammetry.

The team also took core samples in the hope they reveal further clues after testing.

Whatever the tests reveal about Akrotiri’s past in years gone by, present-day airmen are intrigued by the exploration.

“I have a fascination for anything historical,” Sergeant Graham Moore, Joint Movements Squadron, told Forces News.

“To be involved in projects like this, it’s absolutely superb.”

The findings from the dive will be used to plan further excavations around Dreamer’s Bay, allowing archaeologists to piece together even more clues about Akrotiri’s past.