Melos

One of the Cyclades in the Aegean, famous as a major source of obsidian, whose trade brought wealth to the island. It was used extensively for chipped stone implements in Aegean prehistory from as early as the 10th millennium BC. The island, however, was not inhabited until the 4th millennium BC. At Phylakopi three successive settlements were discovered, of roughly Early Cycladic II, Middle Cycladic, and Late Cycladic respectively. They show increasing influence from the Minoans of Crete, so much so that the third is better regarded as a provincial Minoan town than a native Cycladic one. Nevertheless the island maintained close contact with the Greek mainland, and with the collapse of Crete is came fully into the sphere of the Mycenaeans. The classical polis, destroyed by Athens in 416 BC, centered on the fortified acropolis of ancient Melos.

One of the Cycladic islands in the southern Aegean Sea. The island was important in prehistory, because it possesses a source of obsidian which was exploited from the Mesolithic period onwards. A campaign of survey and excavation carried out in the 1970s has thrown much light on the prehistoric exploitation of the island. The principal settlement was Phylakopi. This site has three major occupation phases: the first is of local Early Cycladic type, while the second demonstrates strong Minoan influence; in the third phase, after the collapse of the Minoans, mainland Greek Mycenaean influence dominates.