Keros

The evidence suggests fragments were ritualistically deposited on Keros for about 400-500 years, until around 2000BC.Renfrew said there were still many more puzzles at Keros and Dhaskalio to be answered.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

The matter rested there until 1987 when Renfrew, by now the Disney professor of archaeology at Cambridge, returned to Keros to begin more serious excavation.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

Today, academics at Cambridge University will release findings that shed light on the 4,500-year-old puzzle of Keros, a tiny Cycladic island in the Aegean.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

Renfrew said it was likely that the islanders would go to Keros at regular intervals, in much the same way that the ancient Greeks held the Olympics every four years.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

Some of the thousands of deliberately broken figurines, none of which fit together, which archaeologists believe were part of a mysterious rite which took place about 4,500 years ago on the Aegean island of Keros.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

The Keros story began in 1963 with Renfrew himself.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

The matter rested there until 1987 when Renfrew, by now the Disney professor of archaeology at Cambridge, returned to Keros to begin more serious excavation.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

The evidence suggests fragments were ritualistically deposited on Keros for about 400-500 years, until around 2000BC.Renfrew said there were still many more puzzles at Keros and Dhaskalio to be answered.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

It appears Keros was the ceremonial destination for a ritual that involved islanders breaking prized possessions and making a pilgrimage with fragments for burial.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011

We believe that the breaking of statues and other goods was a ritual and that Keros was chosen as a sanctuary to preserve the effects.

Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery 2011