At the southwestern entrance of the Archipelago and a (long) stone’s throw from Milos, the small, volcanic-rock-filled island of Kimolos retains its ancient name. The islet was mainly associated with the famous ‘Kimolian earth’, the white clay-based mineral that was used since ancient times in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations, for cleansing the body and washing clothes (akin to Fuller’s earth).
Obsidian and flint tools, cores and debris from their processing, as well as pottery sherds from various sites on the island, attest to human activity on Kimolos as early as the Late Neolithic Era (c. 5300-4500 BC).
The Early Cycladic I period (c. 3,200-2,700 BC) is represented by a marble violin-shaped figurine (the original is in the National Archaeological Museum) and a marble krateriskos.
Fragments of imported Mycenaean vases found at Ellenika indicate that in the 14th and 13th centuries BC there was a Mycenaean settlement, which probably developed into a significant Mycenaean centre in the second half of the 12th century BC.
Uninterrupted continuity of habitation at Ellenika remains unconfirmed at present. However, the existence of a settlement during the Geometric period is documented by the existence of a cemetery of the 8th century BC. During the excavation of part of the cemetery, twenty-two funerary chambers containing cremation burials of the Late Geometric period were uncovered and over three hundred clay vessels retrieved – most intact – in various combinations and number from grave to grave.
In the cemetery area, a poros-limestone stele with a relief representation of a female figure was also found, one of the earliest decorated funerary stelae (7th century BC).
The settlement of the Geometric period probably formed the core around which the later city of Kimolos developed. The long life of the city, until at least the first Christian centuries, is attested to by the finds from the tombs of the necropolis. The offerings that accompanied the dead – clay vessels, figurines, lamps, metal objects, etc. – reflect the contacts and trade relations of ancient Kimolia.
For the political organization of the city and the cult practised during the Hellenistic period, a valuable testimony is an honorary resolution of the council and the municipality of Kimolia for the Karystian judge Charianthos, who resolved the disputes of the citizens (the original was found in Kastri, Evia and is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Karystos).
All that remains of the ancient city, for which intense geological changes were perhaps the cause of its destruction, are the ruins of buildings on the islet of Agios Andreas, once united with the coast opposite. From here, a headless marble statue of a woman, a work of the Hellenistic period (late 2nd or 1st centuries BC), was transferred at the beginning of the last century.
The building that houses the Archaeological Museum of Kimolos was bequeathed in 1965 by Eliza Vafia.
