Keros

Keros is located just 2 nautical miles south of Koufonissi, west of Amorgos and southeast of Naxos. It belongs to the municipality of Koufonissia. It has an area of 15,042 square kilometres with a coastline of 27 kilometres. It is an important archaeological site. Excavations have brought to light finds of the Early Cycladic period 3200-2000 BC. A characteristic stone of the island is its white fine grain marble. It has no drinkable water. 

You may visit it in your own boat or by hiring the excursion boat. However, you may not stay overnight since this is prohibited by the Archaeological Authority. In ancient times it was called Keria. The first reference to the island is on a 425BC inscription bearing the names of taxed allies of the Democracy of Athens. The inscription reveals that the island was inhabited during the Classical Age. In medieval times, Keros as well as the Koufonissia were used as a safe harbour by pirates.

In 1884 archaeologist U. Kohler announces the finding of the now famous marble statuettes of the Harp Player and the Flute Player, as well as two marble statuettes of women with arms folded across the chest, definitive specimens of the Early Cycladic period. The finds are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum.

In 1952 ownership of the island is transferred to the Monastery of the Virgin Mary Hozoviotissa of Amorgos

In the decades of 1950s and 1960s illegal antique dealers’ activity removed a large number of statuettes of regular type, torsos and heads, marble and clay vessels, obsidian blades and other artefacts from Greece and most of them were never recovered. Another Harp Player statuette is exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a large head is housed in the Louvre.
In 1963an excavation led by the Greek archaeologist Christos Doumas and a later one by Fotini Zafiropoulou on the site of Kavos Daskalio brought to light a rich collection of Early Cycladic artefacts, which, however intrigued rather than assisted archaeologists in forming further conclusions.
In 1987 further research is undertaken in a joint venture by Greek archaeologists Christos Doumas and Lila Maragou in collaboration with Cambridge Professor of Archaeology Colin Renfrew but again, though plentiful, the finds failed to lead to satisfactory conclusions.

Research continues at Kavos Daskalios, under the supervision of the English professor of the University of Cambridge, Colin Renfrew, in collaboration with the Greek archaeologist George Gavalas and a large archaeological team in the years 2006 and 2008. During this period the findings, combined with the findings of the previous periods, lead archaeologists to consider the existence of a pan-Cycladic sanctuary of the Early Bronze Age. The study of the broken objects shows that they were deliberately dismembered as part of religious rituals. It documents the view of a regional centre for the performance of cultic acts at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, perhaps the first cult centre in the Aegean, perhaps the first such island centre in the world.

Το 1990 and 1992at a Sotheby’s auction in London the Museum of Cycladic Art, in cooperation with the Commercial Bank of Greece succeeds in bringing back 81 pieces, now exhibited in the museum. Some items from the Thesaurus of Keros are also exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Naxos. Excavations continue. Keros has been 1968 uninhabited since 1968

If you observe Keros from Pano Koufonissi on full moon nights you will notice that the outline of the ridge forms the figure of a reclining pregnant woman her head touching that of a bearded man whose torso is also visible.

The Thesaurus of Keros was recently studied by the Curator of the Museum off Cycladic Art Dr P. Sotirakopoulou and her results Re pubished in a paper entitled The thesaurus of Keros, "The Thesaurus of Keros "myth or reality. In search of the lost pieces from an enigmatic whole (Athens 2005).