2008 saw the third and final season of excavations at Keros in the Cyclades. Excavations in 2006 and 2007 had concentrated mainly at the site of Kavos, where a special deposit of broken choice material has been systematically excavated. 2008 saw the completion of that excavation and the project move into the study phase. The material includes figurines, vessels and other objects made of marble, all broken prior to deposition and most likely broken elsewhere and brought to Kavos for deposition. The lack of joining fragments shows that only a part of the broken material was deposited here, while ongoing studies of the pottery and other material shows that material was brought from multiple sources for deposition here. In 2008 work concentrated on the settlement site of Dhaskalio Kavos, located on an islet opposite the special deposit. Excavation began here in 2007 but in 2008 we excavated a large area in 25 trenches, revealing a substantial building 16 metres long and 4 metres wide — the largest from this period in the Cyclades — within which was discovered the ‘Dhaskalio hoard’ comprising a chisel, an axe-adze and a shaft-hole axe of copper or bronze. In addition to excavation, survey of the islet showed that most of its surface — a total of 7000 m2 — was occupied during the Early Bronze Age, making this the largest site in the Cyclades. Specialist studies for the geomorphology, geology, petrology, ceramic petrology, metallurgy and environmental aspects (botanical and faunal remains, phytoliths) are in progress. No more fieldwork is planned prior to final publication of the 2006 to 2008 seasons. The Cambridge Keros Project is supported by Institute
for Aegean Prehistory, the Balzan Foundation, the
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, the
British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London,
and the British School at Athens. The work of Dr Boyd,
the Niarchos Research Fellow, is funded by the Stavros S. |
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The islet of Dhaskalio from above |
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You can read a preliminary report on our work in the Annual of the British School at Athens 102 (2007). A further preliminary report will appear in volume 104, and we expect final publication to be submitted in 2011. We will shortly update this website with much more information. CONTACTS Professor Colin Renfrew, project director |