The Kommos Virtual Reconstruction Project

Alexander Assaf, Kommos Conservancy, 13-04-2013

The bright sun beat down on the plains overlooking the distant Rocky Mountains. In the midst of this landscape ouzo flowed, the crowds dined on saganaki (flaming cheese), traditional Greek dancers shouted, “OPA!” and I couldn’t tell if I was actually in Greece or in Denver at the annual Greek Festival on a sweltering day in June of 2011.

Ducking into the nearby Cultural Center to escape the heat, I encountered more things Grecian: crafts and trinkets of Greece’s past, colorful landscapes of the Grecian Isles, art works galore, Greek foods. Though each and every vendor displayed different wares, they all sought to share their love and understanding of their beloved Greece — capturing its sights, sounds, tastes and smells for all to experience without ever having to set foot on Greek soil.

One booth in particular caught my eye, transporting me back to an archeological site I had visited and studied during college, a site on the shores of the Libyan sea on the Island of Crete known as Kommos. It was at this booth I had the good fortune of meeting James Stratis, founder and Executive Director of the Kommos Conservancy, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the preservation, conservation and educational development of the Kommos archaeological dig site. Kommos was a major Bronze Age Minoan Harbor complete with town, homes, palaces, shipsheds, storage complexes, a Greek sanctuary. The excavations from 1976 to 1994 by Professors Joseph and Maria Shaw revealed the treasures of a long-lost culture.

Περισσότερα: http://kommosconservancy.org