At the site of Vathy, in the exceptionally safe haven of the deep gulf of Mesa Nisi of Astypalaia, the Pyrgos Peninsula was inhabited during the transition from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze I period (ca 3200-2800 BC). This strategic point, which monitors the narrow sea passage and cuts off the tranquil bay from the tempestuous open sea, brought wealth to the maritime society which settled there. The fortified citadel at Vathy, with its numerous rock-art representations depicting the symbols of the community’s power (many-oared ships, daggers), but also imprinting its metaphysical concerns (spirals), has impressive boulder-built constructions, enclosures, paths and coastal installations which facilitated the mooring of boats. In the buildings on the coast, the community buried its prematurely dead members in pots. These enchytrismoi are of special anthropological and ideological interest as they shed light on the funerary customs of the prehistoric Aegean. In the fourth century BC, a lookout tower was built on the promontory, the remains of which were subsequently incorporated in an Early Christian basilica with an interesting mosaic floor dated to the fifth century AD. Richly-furnished graves of the eleventh century document the continuing prosperity of the site. Through the important prehistoric, ancient and Christian monuments which the systematic investigations of the Archaeological Society at Athens and the University of Ioannina have brought to light, Vathy is offered to research as a diachronic polyptych of island archaeology in the Aegean.
Image source: Archive of Prof. A. Vlachopoulos, Sp. Triantos
