2020 excavation findings at Apollo’s island sanctuary on Despotikon
Significant progress has been made in the restoration of the Archaic temple and the refectory of the Apollo Sanctuary on Despotikon, which are nearing their completion, with the monument having now regained a significant part of its original height and dominating the area. As early as November 2019, the scaffolding had been removed from the refectory’s colonnade after being completely restored. This year, work was done on the temple’s north and west walls, with an addition of new and ancient structures, on the wall of the doors of the temple chambers and the thresholds, on the temple and refectory pilasters and the temple and refectory column drums. Lastly, an important step was achieved by placing and adapting to the temple cornice five ancient triglyphs, two ancient and two new metopes.
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Aerial photograph of the sanctuary’s south side. Below right the newly discovered Building Ψ can be seen which may possibly be a cistern [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
Despite the difficult conditions, owing to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,the systematic excavation of the Apollo sanctuary on Despotikon and Tsimintiri was conducted again this year by the Cyclades Ephorate under Dr Yiannos Kouragios (Cyclades Ephorates), in collaboration with archaeologists Ilias Daifas and Alexandra Alexandridou (assistant professor at the University of Ioannina), and the participation of a small number of students from Ioannina University. The work lasted four weeks (June 22-July 17, 2020), while for one month (June 5-July 4, 2020) restoration works were also conducted in the temple and refectory of the Apollo Sanctuary.
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Aerial photograph of the southeastern part of Tsimintiri, with the buildings found so far [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
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Excavation of Building Ατ on Tsimintiri, seen from the North West [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
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xcavation of Buildings Βτ και Γτ on Tsimintiri, seen from the North [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
The strong construction of its walls with foundations as deep as 1.85 m, the discovery of mortar and a small amount of finds inside it are strong indications of this building being a cistern , which when abandoned was gradually “filled up” with stones, soil and other transportable materials.
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Excavation of Building Γτ on Tsimintiri, seen from the North East [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
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Aerial photograph of Building Ετ and the circular structure on Tsimintiri [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
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Aerial photograph of Buildings Ετ, Γτ and Δτ [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
The Building Ατ is the westernmost of all those located. It is elongated, built on a steep slope with a North-South orientation and comprises three spaces. A short distance from it, two more buildings were located but not excavated; Ht which comprises at least two spaces and Building Θτ.
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The Archaic temple and the sanctuary refectory after completion of restoration works [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
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The archaic temple and the sanctuary refectory after completion of restoration works [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture] |
All the buildings on Tsimintiri have very large dimensions and are strongly constructed, while they all seem to be structurally related to each other, creating a high density of buildings on the south side of the islet that in ancient times would have been the northeastern side of the sheltered harbour. These were probably public buildings related to the harbour’s operation.Moreover, Tsimintiri was essentially the isthmus that joined Antiparos with Despotikon, thus making access to the Sanctuary also possible via Antiparos.
Source: Greek Ministry of Culture [trsl. Archaeology & Arts, September 05, 2020]
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