Keros-Naxos Seaways Project excavations 2016-2018: Season 2018
Excavation: Research excavation
Traces of settlement were located on the islet of Dhaskalio, which was connected to Keros by a causeway in the Early Bronze Age. This year saw the third season of excavations on Dhaskalio in the current programme. Six excavation trenches were open this year: In trench A two rooms were excavated to bedrock. One of these contained a concentration of stone tools and discs framed by slabs embedded in the floor. Below the floor levels here and to the south, simple hearths used for casting copper were located in bedrock hollows. In trench H two metallurgical hearths were found, one showing evidence for vitrification resulting from very high temperatures. The five hearths found at Dhaskalio constitute unique direct evidence for the production of metal artefacts at this time. Trench N revealed a complex of walls. Some of these date to the earliest period of the site, Phase A (2750-2550 BC), providing crucial evidence for this earliest period, contemporary with the main use of the two Special Deposits located on Keros, across the causeway. Results were also obtained from trenches B, C, and E. The project has demonstrated that Dhaskalio was the largest known settlement of its period in the Cyclades, with a planned and impressive architecture, prodigious evidence for metalworking, and import of materials both from surrounding islands and further afield. The architectural programme of Phase B indicates a remarkable degree of pre-planning, seen in the placement and use of massive terraces to form building platforms all over the island, the placement of passageways and stairs in order to
Active in 2018.
Renfrew, Professor Andrew Colin