Daskalio and Keros excavation project, Cyclades
Kavos, at the western end of the small island of Keros in the Cyclades, was for decades one of the most enigmatic archaeological sites in Greece. New excavation and survey supported by the A. G. Leventis Foundation have transformed our understanding of the island’s central role in the Early Bronze Age Aegean. Earlier work had already identified Kavos as the world’s earliest maritime sanctuary. Excavation in 2016-2018 on the adjacent islet of Daskalio demonstrated the site’s dramatic expansion around 2500 BCE, with planned monumental constructions and centralisation of craft practices, especially metallurgy. These factors, combined with the exceptional reach of the site (visitors came from as far as the mainland) and changes in the subsistence base, point to incipient urbanisation with major changes in hierarchical and heterarchical social relations. The fieldwork was carried out by a large team of archaeologists and students from Greece and around the world, pioneering new methods and using an all-digital recording system. Following completion of fieldwork in 2018, priorities include the study of finds and data, and their timely publication, which will change the understanding of social transformations in the third millennium BCE eastern Mediterranean at the crucial point just before the appearance of the palaces of Minoan Crete and the complex social and religious organisations they represent.
Grants given:
2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
