Santorini island excavation unearths Bronze Age settlement

Excavation work that was carried out at the Dormition site at the southeastern end of the island of Therasia, an islet of the Santorini island cluster in Greece, has brought to light a Bronze Age settlement, the Greek culture ministry announced.

“A section of the settlement was eroded and dragged into the cliff during the geological detachment of the island of Thirassia from Aspronissi as a result of the great volcanic eruption. The Koimisi settlement provides important data into the Thira-Thirassia complex during the early phases of the Bronze Age and also offers insight into the formation of the southeastern boundary of the pre-eruption caldera,” the Ministry noted in a statement.

Finds include building foundations as well as construction materials, which provide insight into the way of life during this historical period.

Supported by the Thira municipality and the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, this year’s excavations works were jointly carried out by the Ionian University, the University of Crete and the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities with the support of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki professor Clairy Palyvos and a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists and researchers.

According to the statement by the Ministry of Culture, the excavation brings to light an Early Cycladic and Mesocyclic settlement of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, facing the caldera to the east and Aspronisi to the south.

Significant data for the Thera-Thirassia complex

Various media reports note that the settlement of Koimisi provides significant data for the Thera-Thirassia complex during the early phases of the Bronze Age and also gives new information on the shape of the NA boundary of the pre-explosive caldera, at the gradual expanse of which the prehistoric settlement lay.

The work unveiled a particularly interesting man-made occupation of the site with a series of buildings of various designs whose common feature is the exploitation of the rocks and the natural space as a framework and component of the foundations and skeleton of the buildings.

Large volcanic rocks emerge across the surface of the relief, define the slopes of the slope, form the surfaces available for construction and are incorporated into the various structures.

The structure is dense and the buildings are estimated to be hooked to each other, with stone platforms between them, which form the stepped slope of the slope.

Volcanic materials were also utilized in the construction as a substrate for the floors, while plates from the lower and older geological strata of Thirassia, which should have been visible in the already formed caldera draft, were used as roof tiles.

During this year’s excavation, the revelation of an ellipsoid building with monumental features was completed and several floors of the settlement were excavated in successive floors of the Early and Middle Bronze Age, giving significant insights into the organization of the site as well as the succession of habitation phases.

The boundaries of the settlement were also investigated at the hillside.

Based mainly on ceramics, the settlement goes back to the Early Cycladic II, the Early Cycladic II / III and the Middle Cycladic period, with phases tantamount to Akrotiri.

About Therasia islet

Therasia, also known as Therasía (Greek: Θηρασία), is an island in the volcanic island group of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades. It lies north-west of Nea Kameni, a small island formed in recent centuries by volcanic activity and thus marking the centre of the island group. Therasia is the second largest island of the group, the largest by far being Thera.

Therasia has a land area of 9.299 square kilometres (3.590 sq mi) and its population was 319 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It is part of the municipal unit of Oia.

Thera and Therasia were separated by the Thera eruption.

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Norbert Nagel License: CC-BY-SA