Skip to main content

CyCladEs athens aegean Sea CYClaDeS Naxos Keros Sea of Crete Dhaskalio had attention lavished on them in the early Bronze Age that was out of all proportion to their modest resources. The earliest indications that Keros was seen to be in some way special can be dated back to c.2700 BC, when groups of people began voyaging to the island. How precisely these mariners travelled – whether by raft or by boat – is unclear, as is the place (or, more likely, places) where they embarked. What is certain is that stowed aboard their vessels were fragments of pre-broken artefacts such as pots, marble bowls, and marble figurines. To modern eyes such a cargo seems a curious left The islet of Dhaskalio, as seen from Keros. During the early Bronze Age a causeway probably linked Dhaskalio to Keros. Back then, Keros was home to the earliest maritime sanctuary known anywhere in the world. Quantities of broken material were transported to the island, where they were added to special deposits. The site of the southern such deposit is visible towards the centre of the photograph, just beyond the scrub vegetation. Over time, the focus shifted to Dhaskalio, which was transformed to accommodate a type of settlement previously unseen in Europe. beloW rIght The broken head of a marble statue from the southern special deposit on Keros. one, but these goods played a key role at what can be described as the earliest maritime religious sanctuary in the world. This status does not seem to have applied to the entirety of Keros; instead, the ritual deposition of the shattered sculptures occurred at two places within bays flanking the westernmost point of Keros. Back then, this probably comprised an imposing promontory reaching out into Aegean. It is this promontory that rising water levels have transformed into the modern islet of Dhaskalio. While most of the early visitors wished to add their broken marble figurines to one of the special deposits, presumably as part of an act of devotion, at some stage an additional cargo that produced a more tangible benefit was transported to Keros. North of the northern bay containing part of the sanctuary, the land protruded into the sea once more. This area, known as the Kavos Promontory, offered a shelf of flat ground where the winds racing off the Aegean were at their fiercest. Such conditions were perfect for achieving the high temperature needed to smelt metal, and so copper ore was ferried to the island and processed there. When precisely this sideline developed is unclear, but it is certain that, over time, the visitors’ eyes were drawn to the rocky outcrop of Dhaskalio, moored to ‘mainland’ Keros by a narrow natural causeway. By around 2500 BC, the sides of Dhaskalio were clad in terraces made of imported marble, on which a sophisticated settlement was founded. This precociously early development preceded the famous Bronze Age palaces of Crete by several centuries. Now excavation at the site is revealing the extraordinary story of how a marginal site was sustained by supply networks at the very dawn of European urbanism. how a marginal site was sustained by supply networks at the very dawn of European urbanism. www.world-archaeology.com CurrentWorldArChAeology 17

My Bookmarks

Skip to main content