Important new finds discovered at Akrotiri prehistoric settlement on Santorini island

Significant new finds have been unearthed during the ongoing excavation directed by Prof. Christos Doumas at Akrotiri, Thira, which are sponsored by the Kaspersky Lab and taking place under the auspices of the Archaeological Society at Athens, according to ANA.

 Two of the larnakes contained a mass of clay in oval configuration (Photo Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture/ Cyclades Ephorate)

Situated in the building known as 'House of Desks' - near the spot where the exquisite golden ibex was found in 1999 - the finds include a marble protocycladic female figurine, two small marble protocycladic collared jars, a marble vial and an alabaster vase, which were found inside clay chests of rectangular shape.

Larnakes discovered in the southeast corner of the site (Photo Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture/ Cyclades Ephorate)

According to a culture ministry statement, the finds were made under rubble inside a large and probably public building that is south of Xeste 3, near where the golden ibex now on display at the Museum of Prehistoric Thira was also found in a clay chest beside a pile of animal horns. 

 Amphoras and small rectangular clay wrinkles were discovered in Akrotiri, Thira (Photo Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture/ Cyclades Ephorate)

"Following the gradual revealing and cleaning of the small chest in the northwest corner of the space, a marble protocycladic female figure was found placed diagonally along the bottom of the vessel. From the group of chests in the southeast corner of the space, three were uncovered, of which the two smallest were filled with egg-shaped masses of clay while the largest contained two small marble protocycladic collared jars, placed upside down, a marble vial and an alabaster vase," the announcement noted.

In the largest shrine were placed inverted two marble pre-Cycladic keepers, a marble flask and an alabaster vase  (Photo Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture/ Cyclades Ephorate)

to the ministry, the ongoing excavation at Akrotiri was gradually unveiling an area where ritual acts were performed that was very close to Xeste 3, an important public building decorated with rich murals at the southern edge of the settlement. "These finds are undoubtedly linked to the views and beliefs of Thiran society and provide a stimulus for a new interpretive drive on fundamental questions about the ideology and possibly the religion of prehistoric Aegean society," it added.

 This year's excavations in Akrotiri, Thira (Photo Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture/ Cyclades Ephorate)