Akrotiri, the Minoan “Pompeii” - buried by the eruption of Thera (twice the size of Krakatoa!)

I’m quite excited about bringing this to you, since I hadn’t heard of it before. I hope you haven’t either so that we can all learn something new together! 

Akrotiri is the Greek version of Pompeii, which we all know was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. I believe Akrotiri to be more exciting than its Roman cousin, perhaps not in size or fame but definitely for the age of the town, the beauty of some of the finds and the violence of the volcanic eruption! I will obviously provide details of all this to you later. 

The site was uncovered during construction of the Suez Canal in 1860. Accidently, as so many archaeological finds are! The ash from the island of Santorini was being quarried and purely by chance the workers stumbled across this amazing place.

Due to this Akrotiri is sometimes referred to as the “Minoan Pompeii”. 

Some speculate that Akrotiri could be the lost city of Atlantis. However, it's widely accepted that Akrotiri was part of the Minoan civilization of Crete centred at Knossos. Akrotiri also had trade connections with the Greek mainland, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, and the other islands in the area known as the Dodecanese

From the many Frescoes depicting busy harbour scenes at Akrotiri, the size and complexity of the buildings and the finds revealed, it can be safely said that this port was an extremely busy and prosperous one. 

There was a settlement on the site from at least 3,000BC, although evidence of occupation dating as far back as the late Neolithic (4,000BC) has been recovered from the site, the town itself wasn’t buried until 1450 BC, which makes the site a lot older than Pompeii (as you recall one of the reasons I rate Akrotiri so much!) 


THE MINOANS, a brief introduction 


It wouldn’t be fair to just launch into the good stuff without a little background to these amazing people, but I’ll keep it brief (nobody reads this part anyway!). 

THE MINOANS, the palace civilisation of the Aegean 

The story of European civilization really begins on the island of Crete with a civilization that probably thought of itself as Asian (in fact, Crete is closer to Asia than it is to Europe). Around 1700 BC, a highly sophisticated culture grew up around palace centres on Crete: the Minoans. What they thought, what stories they told, how they narrated their history, are all lost to us. All we have left are their palaces, their incredibly developed visual culture, and their records. Mountains of records. For the Minoans produced a singular civilization in antiquity: one oriented around trade and bureaucracy with little or no evidence of a military state. They built perhaps the single most efficient bureaucracy in antiquity. This unique culture, of course, lasted only a few centuries, and European civilization shifts to Europe itself with the foundation of the military city-states on the mainland of Greece.

Richard Hooker 

You must admit that they sound like a civilised, enlightened and advanced society.

Using Google Earth let me show you where in the Mediterranean this island is located. 

A map of Ancient Greece and the Island of Thera with respect to other Greek Islands can be found HERE. 

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece's mainland. The largest island is known as Thēra (or Thira, Greek forming the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands

For those interested in further information regarding the Minoans, here are some links: 

THE LAND 

THE HISTORY OF THE MINOANS 

MINOAN RELIGION 

WOMEN IN THE MINOAN CULTURE 


EARTHQUAKES, EVACUATION & ERUPTION of THERA 

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread547617/pg1
Archaeologists suspected that the town had been evacuated well before the volcanic eruption buried it. Why? Firstly, unlike Pompeii there was distinct a lack of human remains, secondly archaeologists found numerous examples of damaged buildings determined to be unrelated to the “final” eruption. 

STEPS SHOWING EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Copious evidence for the purposeful demolition by wrecking crews of buildings partially destroyed in the earthquake has been found in the form of piles of rubble and earth debris heaped up in the principal roads leading through the settlement and retained behind roughly built dry-stone walls of rubble.

Theories on the time between the last earthquake and eventual evacuation vary, from a mere three months to three decades. What is known for definite is the town was built in a very unstable area, by the time it was buried under ash and lava, the locals had taken the hint and moved on. 

The process of rebuilding and restoration begun shortly after the earthquake was nevertheless still in progress when the volcano erupted, as the partially plastered and painted condition of the second-storey bedroom in the West House indicates. Two vessels full of dried plaster and a third containing dried paint show that this room was actually in the process of being decorated when the site was hastily abandoned, this time for good.

STONE FLOOR SHOWING EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

The site at Akrotiri has yielded just a single item of precious metal, indeed there is an obvious lack of materially valuable goods which further points to an extensive evacuation effort on behalf of the Minoans inhabiting the town. 

GOLD IBEX (the only precious metal find)

CONTINUED