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Modern Description: As the road descends to Plastirás Bay the landscape changes dramatically: the limestone promontory to the northwest has a convoluted and knotty form, of a kind familiar from Delos, Mykonos and parts of Tinos; the bay is dotted with small islets; and the impermeable bedrock has created a wide alluvial plain behind the shore. One of the most important Neolithic cemeteries of the Cyclades was excavated here, and that the bay has given its name, as a result, to a stylistic genre of Cycladic sculpture. The ‘Plastiras group' of Cycladic figurines are perhaps the most distinct and recognisable of all – less schematic and more naturalistic than other types, with stocky bodies, clearer facial features, often very elongated necks, and sometimes an unusual headgear on the heads of the male figurines. Of the excavated Neolithic cemetery little is to be seen; but of its Bronze Age successor on the hill of Koukounariés, there are clear remains. The Mycenaean acropolis is on the knob of hill immediately west of the westernmost point of Plastirás Bay (2 km to the west of the main Parikia/Naousa road, shortly before it enters Naousa: ascent of the hill is from the southwest side).
The site overlooks the whole bay below, the plain behind, and the channel between Naxos and Paros: a protective ravine encircles it to north. A lower enceinte of fortification walls in large polygonal blocks can be seen in places. Just short of the summit is a wall running east/west constructed in large, oblong mansonry, enclosing a flat area above, which is traversed by the foundations and bases of interconnected buildings of large proportions, as well as of smaller dwellings. In the store-rooms, just inside the main wall, were found bronze weaponry, vases and domestic items, as well as stores of stone projectiles – all buried in ash, indicating a destruction by fire in the late 12th century BC. Curiously, what was built here was also begun in the 12th century BC; so the existence of the settlement in Mycenaean times was short. It continued to be inhabited after the destruction until the 7th century BC, after which time it was deserted. 50m southeast of the summit is a hollow, whose floor is cut by archaeologists' assay trenches; to the south of these can be seen the remains of dwellings and the base of a temple (probably dedicated to Athena) dating from the Geometric period.
Wikidata ID: Q20550757

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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