In Ermioni, near the town of Porto Heli lies the half sunken settlement of Alieis (meaning fishermen).The settlement was named after the settlement’s Tirynthian fisherman inhabitants who amongst others fished for shellfish producing purple dye. In 565 after the Tirynthians had been driven from their city by the Argeians the inhabitants of Ermione granted them the village.Vestiges of the Paleolithic age (8000 BC) were found in Ermioni, but the first settlement in Porto Heli belongs to the Early Helladic period.In 1962 the American School of Archaeology began excavations.Alieis seems to have been a walled town with barracks, the port of Alieis was fortified , there may have been a dockyard for building ships.There are sunken houses, baths, and graves of the geometric period.