Text for Case 2-1 Brochure
Title: Dig Thera!
Dates: June 11 through July 21, 2012
Tag line or motto: A University-Sponsored Educational Trip
Page 1 Left Panel: The University is sponsoring an archaeological trip to Greece next summer, called Dig Thera! Thera was the ancient name of the island of Santorini in Greece, founded by the ancient Greek leader, Theras. This six-week educational expedition will examine this Bronze
Age settlement, which flourished more than 35 centuries ago. Thera has produced a wealth of archeology knowledge including its famous palace and wall paintings.
Page 2 Heading: See, Taste, Feel, and Make History
Page 2 Story: Akrotiri is an archaeological site in a small Minoan settlement located on the volcanic island of Santorini, previously called Thera, in the Aegean Sea. Occupied first in the late Neolithic Age, Akrotiri became an important trade center in the Bronze Age, with an elaborate palace that included a complete drainage system.
A series of earthquakes 1700 BC forced the abandonment of the settlement. The volcano erupted, covering the city in ash and splitting the island in two.
Page 2 Column 2 Heading: Is Thera Atlantis?
Page 2 Story: Could Thera be the origin of Plato’s Atlantis legend? Archaeologist Marinatos, who discovered Akrotiri in the 1960s believed so. Today, archaeologists are more interested in the effects the eruption had on the Minoan culture, rather than proving its relationship to
Atlantis, but controversy has stirred over the precise date of the eruptions at Akrotiri.