Located in the southern Peloponnesian peninsula, Pavlopetri (the modern name of the site) emerged as a Neolithic settlement around 3500 B.C. This area of the Aegean Sea is ¹______ to earthquakes and tsunamis, which caused the city to ²______ sink. The slow sea level rise in the Mediterranean ³______ the city more than 3,000 years ago.

For millennia, the city’s ⁴______ lay unseen below some 13 feet of water. They were covered by a thick layer of sand ⁵______ the island of Laconia. In recent decades, shifting ⁶______ and climate change have eroded a natural barrier that ⁷______ Pavlopetri. In 1967, a scientific survey of the Peloponnesian coast was ⁸______ data to analyze changes in sea levels ⁹______ British oceanographer Nicholas Flemming first spotted the sunken ¹⁰______. A year later, he returned with a few students to ¹¹______ the location and map the site. The team identified some 15 buildings, courtyards, a network of streets, and two chamber tombs. ¹²______ the exciting initial finds, the site would lie ¹³______ for decades before archaeologists would return.

In 2009 archaeologists Chrysanthi Gallon and Jon Henderson ¹⁴______ excavation of Pavlopetri in cooperation with the Greek Ministry of Culture. Since the 1960s, underwater archaeology ¹⁵______ and tools had made huge advances. The team ¹⁶______ robotics, sonar mapping, and state-of-the-art graphics to survey the site. From 2009 to 2013 they were able to bring the underwater town to ¹⁷______. Covering about two and a half acres, Pavlopetri’s three main roads ¹⁸______ some 50 rectangular buildings, all of which had open courtyards. Excavations revealed a large number of Minoan-style loom weights, ¹⁹______ Pavlopetri was a thriving trade center with a ²⁰______ textile industry.