Look Across: A Settlement on Keros 4,500 Years Ago

Are you familiar with the Keros Project? Keros and Daskalio are two small islands of Koufonisia, part of the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean sea. Today, both islands are uninhabited. 4,500 years ago however, this was not the case. In the Early Bronze Age (in use from ca. 2750BC to 2300BC), Keros was the site of the world’s earliest maritime sanctuary, and a thriving centre for metal production, with monumental architecture, and much evidence for crucial developments in architecture. The Keros Project is a collaboration of three major international forays that completely transformed our understanding of what was previously seen as a Cycladic enigma. Keros has now been cast into the spotlight as a major central hub in the networks of the Early Bronze Age, a centre of congregation for long-lived pan-Cycladic ritual practices, as well as a locus of power where the greatest architectural undertakings of the age housed centralised craft practices.

The Municipal Art Gallery of Athens at Metaxourgeio is hosting a fascinating exhibition of findings from Keros and Daskalio—once a single island back in the day. The exhibition highlights the origins of maritime trade of raw materials and goods in the Aegean sea during the prehistoric era. It also focuses on the everyday life of Keros' inhabitants and showcases the cutting-edge technological methods that were used to bring ancient Keros to the surface. We suggest you head for an early cocktail at Metaxourgio and Keramikos after your visit to the exhibition, just to let all that heady history sink in.