After spending a refreshing morning on Red Beach after reaching Akrotiri, our next destination there was equally exciting. History and culture has always fascinated us and is certainly one of the reasons we travel. So if you too are like us, then where we are headed next would fascinate you as well. The Prehistoric Town of Akrotiri in Santorini, Greece.

First a look around

To enter the archaeological site you need to buy an entry ticket first. Tickets cost €12 or €6 for EU citizens aged 65 and above. And also for students from universities outside the EU. Moreover entry is free for visitors under the age of 18 as well as students from institutions within EU. It hardly took us any time at the counter as there was no queue at all.

The main Archaeological Site

As we enter

Some history first

Akrotiri was a Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini, also called Thera. The earliest evidence of human habitation of Akrotiri can be traced back to the 5th millennium BC. It was then a small fishing and farming village. By the end of 3rd millennium it expanded and established trade relations with other cultures in the Aegean. And became an important center for processing copper and manufacturing of pottery thus emerging as a cosmopolitan trading harbor. However the prosperity continued for another 500 years before all came to an end in the 16th century BC with the volcanic eruption of Thera.

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The excavation

The extensive excavation of the site was identified and started in 1967 by the late Professor of Archaeology, Spyridon Marinatos. And the remains of the buried city began to be discovered in just a few hours time. Foreseeing a long term project, Marinatos focused on creating the necessary infrastructure to ensure continuous progress. These include accommodation for the excavation personnel, conservation laboratories, storage facilities, a library and other facilities.

Exploring the excavation

Double Horns Square Building Complex: East Unit

The only building investigated till now is Complex Delta which occupies a central position in the city. This resulted by the gradual addition to each other of independent building units. The facade of the east unit was crowned by double horns carved in whitish tuff stone, after which Double Horns Square was conventionally named.

Cenotaph Square Building Complex Delta: North Unit

After the abolition of the Early Cycladic cemetery in the final years of the 3rd millennium BC a small tumulus of earth, stones and sea pebbles was created in the area where rituals were performed to honor the dead. A small cist-shaped construction of upright slabs on the top of the tumulus was found full of marble vases and figurines, common grave goods of the period. Building Complex Delta occupies a central position in the excavated part of the city.

House of the Ladies

A three-storey building named after the wall painting that decorated the third storey of room 1. This wing had been badly eroded over the centuries prior to the excavation. The entrance to the building was at the south-west corner, where the main staircase is also situated. The service staircase was at about center of the building, in contact with the south wall of the square light-well, the only example of this architectural feature found so far at Akrotiri. The rooms around the light-well communicated via a narrow corridor. In addition to the wall-painting of the Ladies, room 1 was adorned with murals representing clusters of enlarged papyrus flowers.

From the finds it is deduced that most of the rooms of the ground floor and the first storey were storerooms for foodstuffs and domestic vessels, which suggest that the building was a house.

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West House

This was a building comprising of a ground floor and two upper storeys. The spacious rooms in the middle of the first storey was well illuminated through the large window overlooking Triangle Square. The west wing of the first storey seemed to have housed the formal apartments of the building. In the northeast and southwest corners were the wall paintings of two young fishermen. And on the east jamb of the doorway was the wall painting of the so called ‘Young Priestess’.

Triangle Square Building Delta: West Unit

The triangular shape of the square is defined by the buildings on its three sides, the West House (northwest), Building Complex Delta (east) and the still unexcavated House of the Anchor (west). Abundant clay and stone vessels were found in the ground floor rooms of the west unit.

Some last views

It was coffee time

The Prehistoric Town of Akrotiri. It’s a must visit destination on your holiday to Santorini.

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