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The site of Dhaskalio Kavos, on the remote Cycladic island of Keros, was extensively looted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Investigations starting in1963 then revealed large quantities of fractured marble bowls, broken marble figures and smashed pottery of the Early Cycladic period from around 2500 BC. This report of the subsequent survey and rescue excavations of 1987-88 reveals the extraordinary richness of the site, now confirmed as one of the most prolific in ¿ite goods of the entire Aegean early bronze age. Was it an unprecedentedly rich Early Cycladic cemetery, recently wrecked by looters? Or was the damage deliberately produced during early bronze age times in some procedure of ritual breakage and ceremonial deposition? Here the survey of the site and the rescue excavations undertaken within the looted area are documented in detail, with a full account of the finds. Alternative explanations for this extraordinary deposit are explored. What has been termed 'the Keros Enigma', in the light of the finds at the site, can now be reconsidered with the full documentation which this volume offers.
List of contents
Foreword (Photeini Zapheiropoulou); Preface and Acknowledgments (Colin Renfrew, Christos Doumas, Lila Marangou Giorgos Gavalas); Introduction (Colin Renfrew); Keros And The Islands Around (Lila Marangou); Earlier Work: (A) The 1963 Surface Collection (Colin Renfrew), (B) The 1963 Excavation (Christos Doumas), (C) The 1967 Rescue Project (Photeini Zapheiropoulou), (D) Earlier Work On Keros (Photeini Zapheiropoulou), (E) Other (Looted) Materials (Colin Renfrew); The 1987 Surface Survey: An Overview (Todd Whitelaw); Trenches Excavated In The Disturbed Area Of The Special Deposit (Colin Renfrew et al); The Pottery (Cyprian Broodbank, with an appendix by Jill Hilditch); The Marble Figurines (Colin Renfrew); The Stone Vessels: Introduction (Colin Renfrew), (A) The Marble Open Bowls (Sophia Voutsaki), (B) The Other Marble Vessels (Giorgos Gavalas), (C) The Grey Marble And Limestone Vessels (Kiki Birtacha), (D) Vessels Of Chlorite Schist (Colin Renfrew); Other Finds Of Stone: (A) The Obsidian (Tristan Carter, With Colin Renfrew, Paula Geake And Anastasia Angelopoulou), (B) The Stone Pestles (Chris Scarre), (C) Stone And Emery Tools (Kiki Birtacha), (D) Ornaments (Kiki Birtacha), (E) Miscellaneous Objects (Kiki Birtacha); Other Finds Of Clay: The Animal Protomes And Theriomorphic Vases (Christos Doumas), The Leaf, Mat And Cloth Impressions (Jane Renfrew), The Spindle Whorls (Giorgos Gavalas); The Metal Finds: (A) The Metal Artefacts (Kiki Birtacha); (B) The Metallurgical Remains (Myrto Georgakopoulou); Thraumatology (Breakage Patterns) (Colin Renfrew); Dhaskalio Kavos: Preliminary Discussion (Colin Renfrew); Summary In Greek; Index; Bibliography.
About the author
Colin Renfrew is a Fellow and former Director of the McDonald Institute, and Emeritus Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. He is author of Archaeology and Language and has worked extensively on the relationship between archaeology, genetics and the prehistory of languages.
Summary
The site of Dhaskalio Kavos, on the remote Cycladic island of Keros, was extensively looted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Investigations starting in1963 then revealed large quantities of fractured marble bowls, broken marble figures and smashed pottery of the Early Cycladic period from around 2500 BC.
