Akrotiri was once a thriving city. However, one tragic accident, created by Mother Nature, caused irreversible destruction of this city. Many people believe Akrotiri is the lost city of Atlantis. Akrotiri dates from the 5th millenium BC. It started out as a small farming and fishing town, but soon grew quite significantly. This is in part due to its positive trade relations as well as it being on a pivotal sailing route that visitors stopped at often.
A Tragic End
Akrotiri grew quite a bit over the years and became a well known producer of pottery. However, this abruptly came to an end in 16th century BC due to a volcanic eruption. A volcano named Thera spewed lava all throughout the town, destroying everything in its path. The eruption destroyed most of the buildings and killed a large number of people.
Excavation Efforts
There have been some excavation efforts of Akrotiri that have taken place. Onsite, there are three story buildings as well as pottery, frescoes and furniture. Escalation started in 1867 by geologist F. Fouque from France. A German arecholighst named Baron Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen also started excavation efforts between 1895 and 1900. However, the most extensive excavation efforts began in 1967 and were spearheaded by Spyridon Marinatos. Unfortunately, he ran into a lot of issues with all of the volcanic debris and ended up abandoning his efforts in 1968. Marinatos did try to tunnel through some of the pumice, but because the debris were so thick he abandoned this method.
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