Tiny ‘pyramid island’ may be origin of Ancient Greek civilisation – who once covered it in 10,000 TONS of white marble
ARCHAEOLOGISTS think they may have discovered the origin of the Ancient Greek Empire and it’s a tiny pyramid shaped island off the coast of Keros in Greece.
Excavations on the islet of Daskalio have revealed the earliest Ancient Greek monumental buildings ever unearthed, dating back 4,600 years.
The pyramid island is only 150 metres in diameter and may also have inspired the concept in the ancient Greek religion that mountain tops are where gods lived.
The discovery of the vast monumental complex on the tiny island is now totally changing what archaeologists thought they knew about this time period.
Research is being carried out there by a multinational team, supported by the Greek government and the British School in Athens as well as many other international institutions.
They have found evidence of metal shops, indoor plumbing and buildings on the island, all indicating that this is where the sophisticated society could have started.
It is thought that the ancient people who lived on the island deliberately made it into a pyramid shape.
Some of the buildings found have two floors and fancy marble staircases.
In fact, the archaeologists think it would have taken at least 3,500 maritime voyages to transport between 7,000 and 10,000 tons of marble to the island so that the intricate buildings could be made.
The project’s co-director Michael Boyd told the Independent: “Our investigation has been transforming our understanding of early Bronze Age Cycladic culture and suggests that these very early Greeks were organisationally, technically and politically much more advanced than previously thought.”
The island could have been the start of the major trend of pyramid building across the world as it’s a similar age to Stonehenge and earliest pyramids in Egypt.
Dr Alan Peatfield of University College Dublin’s School of Archaeology, a renowned expert on Greek mountaintop sanctuaries told the Daily Star: “It is potentially a fundamental place of origin for the phenomenon of sacred mountains within the Greek world.”
Archaeologists have also found lots of knives, tools and small sculptures on the island and will be doing more investigating.
A brief history of Ancient Greece
Here's what you need to know...
- Ancient Greek civilisation is generally regarded as emerging into the world in the 8th century BC
- The Ancient Greeks ruled over a vast part of the world for centuries and this only ended when Greece fell to the Romans in 146 BC
- The Ancient Greek Empire is well known for being sophisticated and for its connection to philosophers, artists, poets and other geniuses that still impact the world today
- It is also regarded as the time in which the concept of a city-state was officially established
- The Ancient Greeks invented the Olympics and their gods and impressive architecture are widely discussed and studied throughout the world
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In other archaeology news, a mystery sealed tunnel has been found inside ‘tower tomb’ revealing lost treasures and an ‘ancient looting operation’.
And, we’ve rounded up some of the most bizarre maps of Earth from history that reveal ancient geography blunders like missing continents and phantom islands.
What do you make of this tiny island that might have led to a global empire? Let us know in the comments…
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