With the commencement of the excavation work, Leonard and others quickly realized that the task was more challenging than expected, as the surface was apparently a hard crust formed by the accumulation of volcanic ash.
These hard crusts looked like cement, and even ordinary tools couldn't dig into them. Therefore, it might take several times more effort to find anything underneath in this situation.
This situation occurred because the scale of the volcanic eruption that year was enormous. The eruption blasted the central part of the island skyward, leaving only the outer part as an irregular circle.
There were two gaps in the circle, and tens of thousands of tons of seawater from the Aegean Sea poured into the gaps and filled the huge pit after the volcanic eruption, possibly causing a tsunami that affected the entire maritime area.
