Skarkos, Ios: A thriving Early Cycladic settlement

It has been systematically excavated, unearthing a major archaeological site with continuous human occupation from the Early Cycladic I period, all the way to Late Antiquity. Looming over the hill are the remains of a large and prosperous settlement dating to the Early Cycladic II period, which has been exceptionally well preserved. This settlement provides a rare insight into Cycladic society during the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, a period previously known primarily through funerary finds.

It spans two broad main streets, up to two metres wide, which snake around the summit of the hill. The building blocks, once erected between them, consist of two to eight structures each. The ongoing excavations have revealed fifty-five buildings until now, most of them impressive two-storey houses with spacious entrances, stone-built staircases and paved floors. Like the architecture itself, the movable finds reflect a remarkably elevated lifestyle for the southern Aegean during the 3rd millennium BC. Abundant clay tableware, storage and cooking vessels, together with a wide variety of stone vessels and tools, attest to the settlement’s sophistication.

The settlement’s conservation and enhancement programme received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Grand Prix in 2008, recognising interventions that successfully preserved the site’s unique landscape while ensuring its protection.