Akrotiri (Santorini)

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See also Akrotiri (disambiguation).

Layout map of Akrotiri in the Bronze Age.

Akrotiri is the name of an excavation site of an Bronze Age settlement on the Greek island of Santorini, associated with the Minoan civilization due to close similarities in artifact and fresco styles. The excavation is named for a modern Greek village situated on a hill nearby. The name of the site in antiquity is unknown. It was buried by a volcanic eruption in the 17th century BC,^[1] and as a result is remarkably well-preserved. Frescoes, pottery, furniture, advanced drainage systems and three-storey buildings have been discovered at the site.^[2]

Excavation

An ambitious modern roof structure, meant to protect the site, collapsed just prior to its completion in 2005, killing one visitor.^[3] No damages were recorded to the antiquities. As a result of this, the site is currently closed to visitors (early 2008).

Excavated artifacts have been installed in a museum distant from the site (Museum of Prehistoric Thera), with many objects and artworks presented. Only a single gold object has been found, hidden beneath flooring, and no uninterred human skeletal remains have been found. This indicates that an orderly evacuation was performed with little or no loss of life.

[edit] References

^ Floyd W. McCoy and Grant Heiken, Volcanic Hazards and Disasters in Human Antiquity, 2000
^ C. Michael Hogan, Akrotiri, The Modern Antiquarian
^ Canopy collapse kills visitor to Santorini, International Herald Tribune, Sept. 2005

[edit] Gallery of Akrotiri frescos from various museums

Fresco ship procession or flotilla. Frieze from the West House

Image of a town	Fisherman	Decorative rosettes	Gathering saffron
Blue monkeys	Woman with papyrus	Boxing youth

[edit] Gallery of museum objects on Santorini

Most of the images here have been color corrected by the Picture Workshop of the German Wikipedia [1]. The yellow light (without the energetic blue wavelengths) used in the museum greatly reduces the fading of colors. Differences in technical approach and guesses at appropriate coloration have led to variations in color rendering.

An original yellow light image

Marble schematic figurine
			Animal figurines
Gold ibex - the only gold object found as of 2007 (camera image)	Ewers	Volcanic ash cast of a wooden table	Oven
Firedogs