Tuesday 8 January 2008

Cyclades: recent excavations on Keros

Current World Archaeology has an illustrated overview of Lord Colin Renfrew's work on Keros in the Cyclades ("Keros: sanctuary of the Cycladic Figurines", Current World Archaeology 26, December/January 2007/8: 12-21). The site is well known for its extensive looting (see "Keros and Katonah") and the dispersal of the "Keros haul" of fragmentary marble Cycladic figures. Renfrew has explored a new deposit.
Fortunately all knowledge of the new site was kept concealed from the looters: here was an opportunity to dig a special deposit archaeologically and to see what it really consisted of.
Some 85% of the Early Bronze funerary record of the Cyclades has been lost due to looting. So this excavation of a non-funerary context provides new information about the interpretation of the fragmentary figures.

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The Stern Collection in New York: Cycladic or Cycladicising?

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