Sprawling Greek monuments built 4,500 years ago on 'the world's oldest maritime sanctuary' reveals..

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Sprawling Greek monuments built 4,500 years ago on 'the world's oldest maritime sanctuary' reveal the impressive engineering skills of Bronze Age islanders
Excavations around Keros show the technological prowess of Bronze Age Greeks
Researchers found the remains of terraced walls and giant gleaming structures
The structures were built using 1,000 tons of stone dug up six miles away
Together they turned a tiny islet near Keros into a single, massive monument
By Harry Pettit For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 00:01 GMT, 18 January 2018 | UPDATED: 00:04 GMT, 18 January 2018
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A remote Greek island known as the 'world's oldest maritime sanctuary' was once covered in complex monuments built using stone dug up six miles (10 km) away.

Excavations around the island of Keros have revealed the technological prowess of the small group of Greeks who lived there 4,500 years ago.

Researchers found the remains of massive terraced walls and giant gleaming structures on a tiny islet that was once attached to Keros.

The structures were built using 1,000 tons of stone, turning the headland, which measures just 500 ft (150 m) across, into a single, giant monument.

The researchers say the remains make the island one of the most impressive archaeological sites of the Aegean Sea during the Early Bronze Age.


A remote Greek island known as the 'world's oldest maritime sanctuary' was once covered in complex monuments built using stone dug up six miles (10 km) away. Pictured is the team as they work on excavations at the site on Keros. This islet was once covered in stone monuments

The complex is the largest known in the Cyclades at the time.
While excavating an impressive staircase in the lower terraces, archaeologists began to see the technical sophistication of this civilisation.

Underneath the stairs and within the walls they discovered sophisticated systems of drainage, signalling that the architecture was carefully planned in advance.

Tests are now underway to discover whether the drains were for managing clean water or sewage.

Excavations at the site have also showed that the inhabitants of Dhaskalio were proficient metalworkers.

Within the buildings of Dhaskalio, the melting of metals and casting of objects were commonplace, with all materials imported from other nearby islands.

The new excavations have found two metalworking workshops, full of metalworking debris and related objects.


New excavations show that the headland of Dhaskalio (pictured), which was once attached to Keros but is now a tiny islet because of sea level rise, was almost entirely covered by remarkable monuments


Within the buildings of Dhaskalio, the melting of metals and casting of objects were commonplace, with all materials imported from other nearby islands. Buildings also contained small pits (pictured) for grain or other produce


The structures were built using 1,000 tons of stone, turning the headland, which measures just 500 ft (150 m) across, into a single, giant monument

In one of these rooms a lead axe was found, with a mould used for making copper daggers, along with dozens of ceramic fragments covered in copper spills.

In another room, the top of an intact clay oven was found, indicating another metalworking area, which will be excavated next year.

Study coauthor Dr Michael Boyd said: 'At a time when access to raw materials and skills was very limited, metalworking expertise seems to have been very much concentrated at Dhaskalio.

'This gives us a clear insight into social change at Dhaskalio, from the earlier days where activities were centred on ritual practices in the sanctuary to the growing power of Dhaskalio itself in its middle years.'


The researchers say the find, including the remains of walls and a staircase pictured, make the island one of the most impressive archaeological sites of the Aegean Sea during the Early Bronze Age



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz54YIOQ200

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