GREECE:Using boreholes and seismic imaging, British researchers have provided the first scientific confirmation that Ithaca, the home of the legendary Greek warrior Odysseus, was located on a present-day peninsula of the island of Cephalonia.
The jutting piece of land, the scientists say, was once a small island separate from Cephalonia until rubble from landslides and earthquakes over the centuries filled in the channel between them.
They think the peninsula, called Palika, was once the residence of the hero of the epic poem The Odyssey, thought to have been written by Homer in the seventh or eighth century BC.
The findings support earlier studies by the trio of researchers that linked specific sites on the peninsula to locations mentioned in the works.
A borehole drilled through the suspected site of the channel and underwater imaging of the nearby bays has revealed rubble and marine fossils consistent with such an explanation, said geologist John Underhill of Edinburgh University.
"This is a prima facie indication that we were right that there was a channel there, subsequently filled by infall and seismic disturbances," he said.
Classicist James Holoka of Eastern Michigan University, who was not connected with the research, said he finds the argument "very compelling". Many classicists argue that Ithaca, where Odysseus returned after the Trojan war ended about the 12th century BC, was an imaginary place. But they also said that about Troy before its remains were found on the northwestern coast of Turkey in 1870. Others place Ithaca on the modern island of Ithaki, and many archeological expeditions have searched there fruitlessly for the remains of Odysseus's palace. But Ithaki lies east of the 746sq km (288sq miles) Cephalonia, while Homer states very precisely that Ithaca is the westernmost island in the grouping.
Using Homer as a guide, Bittlestone and his colleagues Underhill and classicist James Diggle of the University of Cambridge concluded in their 2005 book Odysseus Unbound that the Palika peninsula could have been Ithaca if it was once an island. Their entire argument depends, however, on the past existence of a channel separating Palika from mainland Cephalonia.
Earlier last year, Underhill and a team of geologists did a seismic survey that showed deep sub-surface features leading up to the proposed channel, indicating that water was at one time flowing through what is now an isthmus.
In October, the team drilled a 122m (400ft) deep borehole near the southern end of the postulated channel. The drill encountered only loose rubble until it struck solid limestone about 14m (45ft) below the current sea level.
The fact that the drill encountered only rubble, Underhill said, is "very strong evidence" that there was a channel that was subsequently filled in.
The final proof, Holoka said, "would be to come upon certifiably Bronze Age or Mycenaean age remains on Palika. That would be the clincher".