The Sea of Crete has been a crossroads of maritime activity in the eastern Mediterranean region for thousands of years. This expedition is the first season of a multi-year geological and archaeological study in the Sea of Crete. The expedition's interdisciplinary research team of archaeologists and oceanographers will correlate geographic and cultural information as interactions between humans and the sea were considered. The aim is to describe navigational routes and their hazards; to clarify questions about the nature and organization of communications among inhabitants of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, including trade and colonization; and, to correlate the archaeological record with the geological stratigraphy of the Sea of Crete. Recording the remains of ships on the seabed in the Sea of Crete will provide information about human activities in a maritime environment.

Side scan sonar and sub-bottom profiling was used to locate archaeological targets. This first phase of the survey was followed up in the second phase of the expedition by taking a closer look of the targets dropped using remotely operated vehicles to collect photographs and other data from the areas of interest.