Description: A highlight for us was exploring the ruins of AKROTIRI-a prehistoric community that goes back to the late Minoan I period. This community has been discovered under tons of volcanic ash, preserving everything from pottery to unique frescoes. Painted around 1500 BC these Minoan-style murals are incredibly beautiful-I fell in love with THE YOUNG FISHERMAN, depicting a youth holding blue and yellow fish. Another favorite was THE YOUNG BOXER, showing two young spaaring partners with long black hair and almond-shaped eyes. Preserved by the lava, these frescoes have kept their color. (Many of them are now on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens-which we also visited.
More than fifty different shapes have been distinquished among the thousands of vases which the excavation has produced to date. One of the most beautiful has decorations which extend over the entire surface of the vase painted in brownish-black and red on a buff ground with details rendered in white.
The apparent happy society of AKROTIRI came to an unhappy end. In about 1500BC a terrific eruption of the volcano buried the whole island beneath a very thick mantle of pumice and pozzuolana.
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