Discovered by Nicholas Flemming in 1967 and mapped in 1968 by a team of Cambridge archaeologists, Pavlopetri is situated between the islet of Pavlopetri across the village of Elafonisos and the coast of Pounta. The coast, the archeological site, the islet and the surrounding sea are within the jurisdiction of the municipality of Elafonisos, the former peninsula of "Onou Gnathos." It is unusual to have an almost complete plan for the area, including streets, houses, and graves.
The ruins were originally dated to the Mycenaean era, 1600–1100 BC but later studies found an older occupation date starting no later than 2800 BC so it also includes early Bronze Age Middle Minoan and transitional material. It is now suspected that the town was flooded by the first of three earthquakes the region experienced around 1000 BC. The region has never re-emerged, so agriculture has not built-up or disturbed it. Though eroded over the ages, the architecture of the town is as it was thousands of years ago. The site is under threat of destruction from anchor-dragging boats, tourists and souvenir hunters.
In 2009, four additional fieldwork sessions were scheduled, in conjunction with the Greek government as a joint initiative for excavations. A team from the Australian Center for Field Robotics, which seeks to move underwater archeology into the 21st century, is also working alongside the archaeologists. Several unique robots were designed to survey the site in different ways. One of the survey findings was to determine that the city was the hub of a flourishing textile industry. Several large pots of pitharis from Crete have also been excavated, suggesting a major port of trade.
The town of Pavlopetri, as specified by UNESCO in the UNESCO Convention on the Conservation of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, is part of the underwater cultural heritage. The UNESCO Convention on the Preservation of the Underwater Cultural Heritage safeguards all signs of human life underwater which are one hundred years old or more.