The next Cycladic Seminar by Dr. Michael Boyd (BSA and Cyprus Institute) on “Creativity, identity and centrality at Dhaskalio during Phase B (ca. 2550-2400 BCE): the excavations of 2016-2018” will be presented today at 6.30 p.m. in the Archaeological Society at Athens (22 Panepistimiou Street).
The seminar is organized by Marisa Marthari.
Abstract
The Keros-Naxos Seaways Project of 2015-2018 (directed by Colin Renfrew and Michael Boyd) furnished remarkable new data about the site of Dhaskalio, west of Keros, and its role both locally and regionally. Now that specialist studies are complete, it is a good moment to reflect on new understandings that are emerging. This presentation will focus on the middle phase of Dhaskalio, Phase B, covering approximately the years 2550-2400 BCE.
The first signs of activity on Dhaskalio date to around 2800 BCE, and during Phase A, the period when the special deposits on Kavos on Keros were at their peak, there is a significant building programme on what was then a promontory attached to Kavos. It is also at this time that the first metallurgical workshop was established on Dhaskalio.
Phase B, however, is marked by significant construction across the promontory involving the import of materials and a high degree of planning. Metallurgical activities were also significant at this time, and studies suggest that most raw materials and artefacts were imported to the site, although there is also significant local production of metal artefacts, obsidian and perhaps some other materials. Our understanding of the economic basis of the site takes us beyond Dhaskalio to the wider island of Keros and the surrounding Keros archipelago, the Small Cyclades. The presentation will review the material culture, subsistence base, and architecture of the site, as well as its many roles at local and regional scales, and focus on the themes of connectivity, identity and social transformation.
To watch online click: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83031211194?pwd=BbBjDxqlJjVLrCXn4UJ8nzXi0YsegH.1 (Meeting ID: 830 3121 1194, Passcode: 869699).
