The island of Thera is mostly known about the Bronze Age site of Akrotiri; the "Aegean Pompeii".

Akrotiri is located in the SW of the island, facing Crete. The Bronze Age settlement (over 10,000 sq m) was at the zenith of its development when it was completely buried by ash and pumice following a volcanic eruption (ca. 1628 B.C.).

The earliest evidence for settlement at Akrotiri dates to the Late Neolithic period (in the late 4th millenium B.C.). During the Early Bronze Age, the a sizeable settlement was founded. The material evidence from this phase show connections with the North Aegean islands. In the Middle and early Late Bronze Age (ca. 20th-17th centuries B.C.) the settlement was extended and gradually developed into one of the major urban centres and ports of the Aegean.

Two and three-storeyed buildings with magnificent wall-paintings, furniture and vessels (not to mention toilets !) and a very efficient drainage system, show the settlement's great development and prosperity. The various imported objects indicate a wide network of external relations. Although Akrotiri was primarily in contact with Minoan Crete, it also communicated with the Mycenaean Greek mainland, the Dodecanese islands, Cyprus, the Levant and Egypt.

Sadly, the town's life came to an abrupt end in the last quarter of the 17th century B.C. when the inhabitants were forced to abandon it due to a series of severe earthquakes. The volcanic eruption was soon to follow. Pumice and ash covered the entire island. Ironically, it was because of these volcanic materials that the site was preserved in such a good state up today.

At least 200 years passed before the island of Thera was again inhabited, and there is no evidence for a settlement on the island again until the Early Iron Age.

• Join the discussion in The Ages of Bronze and Iron - discussion of the eruption of the volcano on the island of Thera during the Bronze Age.