The mysterious art of the Cyclades
Fast forward a thousand years, and we come to the Cycladic islands of Greece. The stark abstract figurines found in these islands have had an enormous effect on modern art. They are normally found only in graves but what was their function in the world of the living?
The Greek island of Keros is today uninhabited but here pits have been discovered filled with fragments of figurines – all of them made elsewhere and broken elsewhere and the fragments brought to Keros for burial.
Colin Renfrew has been excavating some of these pits and is gradually beginning to fill in the gaps in the story of the Cycladic civilisation.
