The Greek island church complex reveals “countless” offerings to the sacrifices left by ancient believers

Athens, Greece — Archaeologists have unearthed “countless” ceramic offerings left by ancient worshipers over the centuries at a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean island of Kythnos, Greece’s culture ministry said on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the ministry, among the findings from this year’s work are more than 2,000 intact or nearly complete clay figurines, mainly of women and children, but also of some male actors, as well as turtles, lions, pigs and birds.

A number of excavated ceremonial ceramic vessels are associated with the worship of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, to whom the excavated sanctuary complex was dedicated.

The coastal site of Vryokastro on Kythnos was the ancient capital of the island, inhabited without interruption from the 12th century BC to the 7th AD, when it was abandoned due to its fortified position during a period of pirate attacks.

The artifacts came from the sparse ruins of two small temples, a nearby long building that may have served as temple storage, and a nearby pit where older offerings were buried to make way for new temples. The sanctuary was used for about a thousand years, from the 7th century BC. century onwards

The excavation, carried out by Greece’s University of Thessaly and the Ministry of Culture, also found luxury ceramics imported from other parts of Greece, ornate lamps and fragments of ritual vases used in the worship of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, an ancient suburb of Athens.

It is not clear to what extent the site of Kythnos was related to Eleusis – one of the most important religious centers of ancient Greece, where the goddesses were worshiped in secret ceremonies open only to the initiated, who were forbidden to talk about what they saw. The sanctuary at Eleusis is known to have owned land on the island.

Kythnos, part of the Cyclades archipelago, was first inhabited about 10,000 years ago. Its copper deposits have been mined since the 3rd millennium BC, and it was a place of political exile in the Roman era.

Excavations are planned to continue until 2025.