Modern Description:
The coastal plain of Amnissos gives way to Vatheianos Kambos at the east, where flows the homonymous river and the twin gulf of Hagioi Theodoroi, where in 1918 Xanthoudides carried out a small - scale excavation. An extensive rectangular building of New Palace period, with strong foundations and dressed masonry, destroyed by fire came to light among several indications of earlier use. He also explored two rooms, the larger of which had at its centre a stone-based column to support the roof. From these areas, he gathered mostly portions of pithoi and cups of the Middle Minoan period, a part of a large EM figurine of schist, two bronze crook-head pins and a dozen clay fishing weights. The excavation was continued in 1926 by Marinatos, who excavated along the coast area, as well as on the rocky cape to the northwest. Expanding the area of Xanthoudides’ excavation to the east, he revealed a covered paved area, a small number of rooms and a well with drinking water, which, as he notes, his workers preferred to that of the adjacent hostelries! Especially important was the location of a room with rectangular ground plan and 1 metre - thick wall of large Cyclopean fashioning. The width of the space is about 35 m, while its full length remains unknown. Inside this construction, which acts as a sort of boundary wall, he excavated the poor remains of rooms with schist floors. Among the small finds is a fragment of a pithos with a Linear A inscription. Since 1926 the coastline has shifted and this large enclosure is now submerged, but still visible underwater, for the most part. Northwest of this, Marinatos found traces of another large building, 18 metres wide, with dressed masonry and two column bases in the centre. Finally, on the cape he explored the remains of houses and a number of cut blocks that testify to an extensive construction during the Bronze Age. In a recent survey by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, the still visible remains of the Marinatos excavations and other underwater structures with masonry and walls broad enough to possibly support an upper floor, were recovered. Probably it is the northern part of a large complex to the northwest and a short distance from the villa and the settlement of Nirou Chani. Stone blocks on the shore of the coast, immediately east of the church to Hagioi Theodoroi, show the continuation of the complex to the south. The geophysical survey on the sandy shore indicated the presence of structures now covered, in a development that connects the coast with the once elongated rocky cape. The most striking, though enigmatic, finding of Marinatos’ work concerns the large rectangular cuttings at the base of the rocky cape. Its length is 47.4 m and its width is 10 m. It is divided longitudinally with stonework, in two uneven zones, 4.95 m wide at the south and 4.25 m in the north. Marinatos, considering that the bottom of the cutting was below the sea level, by about 1.80-2.00 m, considered that the brush was on dry land during the Minoan times, arguing its possible use as a ship shed. Recent underwater research shows that the northern compartment of the cutting is closed off and could not have been used for keeping a ship in, except perhaps for the storage of its equipment. However, the 47.4 x 4.95 m open south-eastern compartment is considered to be more suitable for the construction, repair or guarding of two or more ships. Confirming its use, however, requires an investigation. Elsewhere on the cape, as a result of the rise of sea level, Marinatos found trenches cut for the foundations of buildings. Nowadays seems like contiguous rocky islands, with a known depth of up to 2 metres. The cape was obviously somewhat broader and higher in the past, ensuring better protection from the northern winds. Correspondingly, the settlement could have been much more widespread once, as is evidenced by the building debris revealed by both the older and modern underwater research. The position and importance of the Minoan settlement of Hagioi Theodoroi is indisputable. Although the use of the area during the Early Minoan period is testified only by a schist figurine, however, the belief is reinforced by its topography as a natural anchorage and its proximity to the important Early Minoan sites of Pyrgos and Gournes to the east and Palaeochora at Amnissos to the west. Its continuation in the Middle Bronze Age is similarly verified, but its main period is placed during the New Palace period (LM IB), alongside with the adjacent Megaron at Nirou, belonging in the same domestic unit. In recent rescue investigations in the area north of Megaron at Nirou, walls and ceramics of Prepalatial and Post-palatial periods were revealed, documenting Xanthoudides’ initial assessment of the existence of an extensive settlement on the gentle slopes north of the Megaron right up to the coastline. It is probably the southwards continuation of the settlement of Hagioi Theodoroi, as in the Post-palatial (LM IIIA/B) period. The reconstruction to date of the land and underwater archaeological remains at Hagioi Theodoroi demonstrates the existence of an early habitation nucleus, possibly a settlement of fishermen, according to Xanthoudides, on the leeward side of the cape. It seems that this settlement, up to the New Palace period, gradually evolved from the small fishing village into an organized administrative and economic centre with a building of palatial calibre and probably a small ship shed, perhaps supplementing the operation of the contemporary Megaron as a possible religious centre of the area. Moreover, this port facility set at Hagioi Theodoroi - Nirou Chani lies at the meeting point of three palatial territories, that of Knossos, Galatas and Malia, and possibly was intended to oversee land and sea passages.
Info: Paraplous/Coasting 2023 
Παραπλούς/Coasting, by Calliope Galanaki, Christina Papadaki and Theotokis Theodoulou (2023?), Chersonnesos Municipality and Ephorate of Iraklio, academia.edu
