The islet of Kikinthos is located at the entrance to the bay of Amaliapolis, Municipality of Almyros, Prefecture of Magnesia. The entire islet is a declared archaeological site (Government Gazette 887/B/1999), as it includes the 19th century church of Agios Nikolaos and remains of habitation from the early Paleo-Christian years.

Kikynthos AUAS occupies a marine zone around the northern and western coast of the islet. It includes an ancient port facility, probably from the Roman era, and maritime remains, most notably a cargo of Byzantine pithoi and amphorae attributed to a shipwreck of the 11th century AD.

The location of the shipwreck is characterized by a rocky, but smooth and relatively gentle slope that at a depth of -8m ends in a smooth sandy bottom.
The shipwreck testifies to the importance of Kikinthos as a transit point for merchant ships during the Byzantine period, when the sea “roads” of the Pagasitic Gulf connected the hinterland of Magnesia with the ports of the Aegean.

The shipwreck was located at the northwestern tip of the islet of Kikinthos in 2005 as part of the underwater reconnaissance research of the Hellenic Institute of Maritime Archaeology (HIMA-I.E.N.A.E.). It was conventionally named “Shipwreck 9”.

The main concentration of the wreck is located very close to the rocky shore, at a depth of -3 to -9 meters, and covers an area measuring approximately 8×12 meters. It consists of fragments of large storage jars mainly, but also of commercial
amphorae.

The poor state of preservation of the cargo is mainly due to natural factors, as the shallow depth and proximity to the coast made it vulnerable to the destructive effects of waves. However, the almost complete absence of intact vessels – only a small oinochoe was found –
is probably also due to human intervention, since according to local testimonies the site had been the subject of illegal excavations in the past.

The location of the wreck probably indicates a failed attempt to bring the ship to shore.

The above research provided sufficient evidence about the cargo. With the data collected, the scholars tentatively dated the shipwreck to the end of the 11th century AD, a period during which commercial activity in the Pagasetic Gulf was particularly intense.

The pithoi, with slight variations in size, belong to the same type of storage vessel that is already known in the 9th century, at the beginning of the Middle Byzantine Period (3rd group of pithoi, according to Bakirtzis’ classification). The use of storage pithoi on ships is already established since antiquity and seems to have become widespread during the Roman period. The pithoi were permanently placed in the holds of ships and there the goods, either solid or liquid, were stored in bulk. They were mainly used by ships that carried out coastal trade.

The amphorae belong to the 2nd and 5th groups of Magaric according to Mpakirtzis, also known in international bibliography as Günsenin 2 and 3, dating to the 11th and 12th centuries AD respectively.