Locating Ithaca: Research Priorities for 2010

With sponsorship from Fugro, consultant Robert Bittlestone, together with John Underhill, Professor of Stratigraphy at the University of Edinburgh, and James Diggle, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, formed the ‘Odysseus Unbound’ organisation, in an attempt to uncover the truth about the location of the historic island kingdom of Homer’s hero.

Geological mapping reveals that most of Thinia’s surface consists of loose rockfall material brought down by frequent earthquakes, some occurring within living memory.

Robert Bittlestone poses the key question: “Despite this clear evidence of extensive, ancient and modern landslips, can we be sure that there is not a bridge of solid bedrock underneath, joining the Paliki peninsula to the rest of the island, somewhere above sea level? If there is, then this could represent a serious objection to the proposition that Paliki is ancient Ithaca”.

To test for the existence of such a rock bridge, Fugro Airborne Surveys flew a helicopter, equipped with electromagnetic instruments, to map the resistivity and magnetic signature of the entire Thinia isthmus. If the yellow-coloured areas, mainly depicting loose rockfall material with low resistivity, are removed from the image, there is a very clear suggestion that there was formerly an open marine channel separating the Paliki peninsula from the rest of Cephalonia - an inlet narrowing towards its Southern end.

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παρούσα Ελληνική από το περιοδικό Geoscientist τεύχος 18 Αρ.9 (Σεπτέμβριος 2008)

Αυτό το άρθρο του Καθηγητή Τζον Άντερχιλλ του Πανεπιστημίου του Εδιμβούργου έχει αναπαραχθεί από το περιοδικό Geoscientist τεύχος 18 Αρ.9 (Σεπτέμβριος 2008) με την ευγενική άδεια του εκδότη Δρ.Τεντ Νιλντ. Το περιοδικό Geoscientist είναι το μηνιαίο έγχρωμο περιοδικό της Γεωλογικής Εταιρείας του Λονδίνου, www.geolsoc.org.uk.

Το κείμενο μετέφρασε στα ελληνικά η Τιτίκα Φαρακλού. Την επιστημονική επιμέλεια έκαναν ο Νίκος Λυκάκης του Πανεπιστημίου του Εδιμβούργου και η Αναστασία Στρατή του Ελληνικού Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών. Για τη συνεισφορά τους είμαστε ευγνώμονες.

Κάντε δεξί κλικ για να κατεβάσετε Ελληνική μετάφραση (υψηλής ανάλυσης; χαμηλή ανάλυση)

Για την αγγλική έκδοση, μετακινηθείτε προς τα κάτω για να Sep 1 2008

Επανεντοπισμό η πατρίδα του Οδυσσέα

John Underhill, Nature Geoscience July 2009

Η Ιθάκη του Ομήρου έχει θεωρηθεί ως έργο του ποιητική άδεια και ασαφείς γεωγραφία. Ωστόσο, όπως δείχνει πρόσφατη έρευνα, το τοπίο του νησιού μπορεί να έχει συγκεκαλυμμένου τις τελευταίες δύο χιλιετίες από την καταστροφική rockfalls, συν-σεισμικά γεγονότα και σχετικούς ανύψωση της στάθμης της θάλασσας αλλαγή.

 

Nature Geoscience website

Full text of article (PDF)

 

SAGEEP 2009, Fort Worth, Texas

Geophysics in the Search for Homer’s Ithaca

Greg Hodges, Chief Geophysicist, Fugro Airborne Surveys

The Odysseus Unbound project includes analysis of the Paliki peninsula for supporting evidence that it was once the island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus. Geophysical surveys including airborne EM (magnetometry, conductivity and LIDAR), marine seismic surveys (sidescan sonar, multibeam and sub-bottom profiling) and ground-based techniques (resistivity, magnetometry, gravity and seismic refraction) are being used to read the geological history of this island over the last 3200 years.

SAGEEP is the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems, organised by the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS).

This presentation was delivered as a Keynote Session on the morning of Tuesday March 31.

Click here for the conference paper (3 Mb PDF)

Πόσο μακριά ήταν το Χοιροστάσιο του Εύμαιου από το Ανάκτορο του Οδυσσέα;

Robert Bittlestone, REVUE DES ETUDES ANCIENNES 110 (2008)

Αναπαράγονται με την ευγενική άδεια του εκδότη

Είναι η Ιθάκη της Οδύσσειας του Ομήρου βασίζεται σε ένα πραγματικό ή φανταστικό νησί; Αν και η περιγραφή του ποιητή (σε 9.19-26) για πολύ καιρό φαινόταν σύγχυση, πρόσφατη έρευνα σχετικά με την Paliki χερσόνησο της Κεφαλονιάς τώρα δείχνει προς μια πραγματική θέση. Αυτό ανοίγει τη δυνατότητα ότι tantalising συγκεκριμένους δικτυακούς τόπους στο ποίημα, όπως το Pigfarm των Eumaios μπορεί επίσης να υπήρχε στην Ύστερη Εποχή του Χαλκού, τονίζοντας τη σημασία της ακριβούς κατανόησης των τοπικών γεωγραφία.

Το άρθρο αυτό εξετάζει το ζήτημα που θέτει η Matthias Steinhart, την επανεξέταση Οδυσσέας Λυόμενος: Η αναζήτηση για την Ιθάκη του Ομήρου στην Revue des Études Anciennes 109 (2007) no. 1, pp 322-324

Αν είναι 1,5 χιλιόμετρα για να πάει από Χοιροστάσιο του Εύμαιου στον Ανάκτορο του Οδυσσέα, πώς θα ήταν δυνατόν για τον Οδυσσέα να πω ότι η πόλη - οι οποίες είναι κοντά στο παλάτι - είναι μακριά και για Εύμαιος - μετά το πρωινό αναχώρηση και έρχονται στο σπίτι το βράδυ, χωρίς πλέον να παραμείνουν - για την ανάγκη όλη την ημέρα για το ταξίδι;

Πλήρες κείμενο του άρθρου.

Testing classical enigmas - Geoscientist

Detailed results and photographs from the first year of sponsorship by Fugro of the Odysseus Unbound project are released today and published in Geoscientist, the monthly journal of the Geological Society of London. A carefully designed combination of land, sea and airborne techniques has provided a wealth of new data about the Thinia isthmus on the Greek island of Kefalonia that separates its western peninsula from the rest of the island. The new research shows that this 6 kilometre long and up to 2 kilometre wide isthmus contains no solid limestone bedrock down to at least 90 metres below today’s surface. The fill is loose material, some of which has originated through catastrophic rockfall from the earthquake-prone mountain range to the east, with the rest consisting of softer marl rock.

Right-click here to download the full article: High resolution (13 Mb); Low resolution (3.7 Mb)

The Identity of Ancient Ithaca: A Response

Robert Bittlestone

Reproduced with the kind permission of the Editor

"Professor Luce refers to a ‘massive and shattering disproof’ of our hypothesis concerning the identity of ancient Ithaca (CA News 37) but unfortunately he has based his conclusion on a document that has no bearing on the central geological issue. In CA News 35 I explained that Professor John Underhill is currently investigating three alternative explanations for the derivation of the Thinia isthmus that separates the Paliki western peninsula from the rest of Kefalonia:

(a) Around 1200 BC the terrain at the isthmus was well above sea level, as it is today;

(b) There was a thin strand of connecting terrain, such as between Lefkas and the mainland;

(c) There was no terrain at that time above sea level and so Paliki was a ‘sea-girt’ island.

Professor Luce states that a geological study conducted by a research team from Athens University at the prompting of the Association of Ithakans Worldwide has already identified (a) as the correct answer. He has kindly provided us with a copy of this unpublished document which purports to disprove the possibility currently being tested by John Underhill and his team that either (b) or (c) may instead apply. However this document describes only a surface study, and as John Underhill has explained in his published work, the hypothesis that Paliki was a free-standing island as recently as 2000-3000 years ago cannot be established or disproved by a surface survey alone. It requires instead the use of geophysical and geological techniques (gravity surveying, seismic acquisition, resistivity analysis and electromagnetic methods) which in combination can diagnose the buried terrain down to sea level and below. "

Full text of article.

How did Homer describe Ithaca? The meaning of Odyssey 9.19-26

Professor James Diggle

I am Odysseus, Laertes' son, world-famed
For stratagems: my name has reached the heavens.
Bright Ithaca is my home: it has a mountain,
Leaf-quivering Neriton, far visible.
Around are many islands, close to each other,
Doulichion and Same and wooded Zacynthos.
Ithaca itself lies low, furthest to sea
Towards dusk; the rest, apart, face dawn and sun.
Odyssey 9.19-26

These lines from the Odyssey have created confusion over the centuries, often as a result of mistranslation. The following text is based on Appendix 1 Section G of Odysseus Unbound: The Search for Homer’s Ithaca, with an additional discussion of the meaning of the word panhupertate.

Full text of article

Ithaca theory gains support - Geoscientist

Results of an offshore seismic survey and the first borehole to test the hypothesis that the Paliki peninsula of the Greek island of Kefallinia was once Homer’s Ithaca lend weight to the theory. Ted Nield reports.

The theory that the home of Odysseus, which has never been satisfactorily identified, was in fact a part of the modern island of Kefallinia that was once an island in its own right (Geoscientist 16, 9 p4 et seq.) has received support from the first test borehole. The theory, advanced by British businessman Robert Bittlestone (author of Odysseus Unbound - The Search for Homer’s Ithaca - Cambridge University Press), with Cambridge University classicist, Professor James Diggle and Edinburgh University geologist, Professor John Underhill, predicts that the peninsula of Paliki was once separated from the rest of Kefallinia by a narrow, probably tidal channel that subsequently became blocked by landslips. This theory solves a number of disagreements between modern geography and Homer’s text - inconsistencies not satisfied by the assumption that Bronze Age Ithaca and the modern island of Ithaki (to the east of Kefallinia) were one and the same island.

Right-click here to download the full article: Medium resolution (15 Mb); Low resolution (3.9 Mb)

Even closer to finding Ithaca. By Managing Editor Megan Sever

"Researchers are several steps closer to finding Homer's Ithaca, thanks to new results released today from geologic tests that support the hypothesis that the ancient kingdom of Ithaca may in fact be on western Kefalonia, not the modern-day Greek island of Ithaki, as has been suggested for several centuries, and is reported this month in Geotimes.

The hypothesis — put forth by businessman Robert Bittlestone, classicist James Diggle and geologist John Underhill in their 2005 book Odysseus Unbound — suggests that a channel once separated Kefalonia from its western peninsula, called Paliki, creating two separate islands. Paliki is Ithaca, as described in the Bronze Age 3,200 years ago, according to the hypothesis."

Click here for: the rest of this news article; feature article Finding Ithaca; AGI press release.

Compelling new evidence announced today about the location of Homer's Ithaca

• New scientific evidence closes in on western Kefallinia as Homer’s Ithaca
• Catastrophic rockfalls and landslides triggered by earthquakes believed to have filled in ancient sea channel and created a landlocked isthmus
• 122 metre (400 foot) borehole at isthmus meets no solid limestone bedrock
• Greek Geological Institute survey pinpoints submerged marine valley
• Bulgarian scientists locate microscopic marine fossils caught up in the rockfall
• American ground-penetrating radar confirms channel contours
• Ancient roads interrupted by landslides still visible on the surface
• Detailed scientific findings and supporting photographs provided
• Channel 4 News film update broadcast at 19:43 GMT on January 9

London, January 9 2007. Results were announced today of new geological work which supports the dramatic theory about the location of Homer’s Ithaca put forward by British businessman Robert Bittlestone, Cambridge classicist Professor James Diggle and Edinburgh geologist Professor John Underhill. In 2005 they proposed that the Ithaca described in Homer’s Odyssey is to be found on western Kefallinia, not the Greek island that is today called Ithaki. Within 24 hours the news had been relayed by over 100 newspapers, TV and radio stations world-wide.

 

The new geological work involved the drilling of a 122 metre (400 foot) borehole at the southern end of the isthmus between Kefallinia and Paliki, to see whether the drill-bit would encounter solid limestone bedrock or loose rockfall and landslide material. The borehole penetrated to well below sea level and as the theory predicted, no solid limestone bedrock was encountered. Professor John Underhill comments:

 

"We drilled down to a depth of 122 metres, which is almost 15 metres below today’s sea level, and we didn’t meet any solid limestone strata at all. Although this is only a first step in testing whether or not this whole isthmus was once under the sea, it is a very encouraging confirmation of our geological diagnosis.”

 

Click here for the full Press Release (PDF)

 

Click here for the Detailed Results (PDF)

 

Channel 4 News science correspondent Julian Rush filmed the drilling operation and the resulting 8-minute news film was broadcast on UK Channel 4 at 19:43 GMT. Other TV channels wishing to license this film footage for transmission on their own national networks are invited to contact Fiona Railton. A small-screen version of the film is now available on the Channel 4 website.

 

Click here to watch today's Channel 4 News film (8 minutes: alternative direct link here)

 

Click here to watch Channel 4's previous news film (4 minutes - September 2005)

 

Click here for subsequent Press coverage

 

100m test borehole being drilled on Cephalonia

 

Permission has been received from the Greek authorities to drill a test borehole on Cephalonia near the southern exit of the possible route of Strabo's Channel. The altitude of the borehole site is over 100 metres above the sea and it will be drilled down to sea level and beyond. The terrain at the surface of the test site consists of loose rockfall material that has been derived from the mountains to the east. The objective of this test is to determine whether this material continues down to sea level, or whether it is replaced by solid limestone bedrock or an intermediate sediment such as marl. The data from the borehole will be analysed in conjunction with other recent tests including gravity, seismic, resistivity and ground penetrating radar studies and it is expected that the results will be announced early in 2007. Further details and location maps are provided in John Underhill's Geoscientist article below. Click here for BBC press coverage.

 

Geoscientist magazine publishes new geological findings on Strabo's Channel

 

Geoscientist, the monthly colour news magazine of The Geological Society of London, has today published a major new scientific article by John Underhill entitled "Quest for Ithaca". The article documents the results of detailed investigations into the isthmus between the eastern land mass of Kefalonia and the western peninsula of Paliki. It describes the geological setting of the island and it includes an up-to-date account of the field-based geoscientific techniques used to test the proposal, both before and after the publication of Odysseus Unbound, up to July 2006. With the kind agreement of Geoscientist magazine, a copy of the published article is now provided on this website.

 

The Geological Society of London, founded in 1807, is the UK national society for geoscience and it is the largest national geoscience society in Europe. Geoscientist magazine is the main mouthpiece of the society and is distributed free to all Fellows, with a print run of 10,000 copies.

 

“Because the valley floor today rises to c. 180m, it is clearly demanding to suggest that it might have been at sea level as recently as the Bronze Age (late Holocene). As a result, I anticipated that Bittlestone’s hypothesis would be easy to test - and disprove. However, rebuttal has not proved at all straightforward. None of the results of geological and geomorphological fieldwork performed so far rules out the hypothesis that a marine connection as described by Strabo could have existed at that time.” Professor John Underhill, Geoscientist September 2006.

 

“Odysseus Unbound presents a highly readable personal account of what can happen when an enthusiast with a compelling synthetic vision glimpses a solution no specialist has seen and uses his considerable resources of energy and curiosity to bring renowned experts like Professors Underhill (Geology, Edinburgh University) and Diggle (Classics, Cambridge University) to focus on solving a puzzle that has mystified scholars for centuries. Robert Bittlestone may one day emerge as Homeric studies' Alfred Wegener of the Internet age.” Dr Ted Nield, Editor, Geoscientist magazine.

 

Click here for the full article: Medium resolution (12 Mb); Low resolution (2.5 Mb)

 

 

Global Mapper technology confirms Homer's description of ancient Ithaca as 'low-lying'

 

Latest version of software package calculates average elevation above sea level of Paliki vs. Ithaki

 

Click here for full size screenshots and instructions

 

 

 

NASA’s ‘World Wind’ Planetary Visualisation software pinpoints proposed site of ancient Ithaca

 

NASA's free 'World Wind' software can be downloaded to track the discovery. Fly around ancient Ithaca on your PC.

 

Click here for full size screenshots and instructions

 

 

 

 

International project team announces discovery of location of Homer’s Ithaca:

• Dramatic geological shifts hid solution to mystery of Odysseus’ island for 3,000 years

• Peninsula in western Kefallinia believed to have been a separate island

• Catastrophic earthquakes triggered massive landslides that joined islands together

 

What is potentially one of the most exciting classical discoveries for over 130 years was revealed in London today. At a conference held at the Foreign Press Association, Robert Bittlestone (Chairman of management consultancy Metapraxis Ltd), James Diggle (Professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University) and John Underhill (Professor of Stratigraphy at Edinburgh University) announced that they had found new and compelling evidence in support of the location of ancient Ithaca, the island described in great detail in Homer’s Odyssey.

 

Full text of Press announcement

Watch Channel 4 Special Report in Windows Media Player (9 Mb broadband)

Global Press coverage