On the southern lower slopes of the Xobourgo bluff, a large fortified settlement spreads on successive terraces. According to inscriptions, this was the ancient city of Tenos, which served as the main economic and political centre of the island from the tenth into the fourth century BC. The excavations conducted over many years by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with the participation each season of numerous archaeology students, have brought to light a large part of the settlement on the southwest side of the steep hill, with parts of the successive phases of the fortifications, houses and sanctuaries. In recent years, excavation research has concentrated on the cemetery of the Classical period, which spreads over two terraces on the east side of the hill. The graves were as a rule of tiled-roof type. On the upper terrace there were built structures which served either as pedestals for funerary monuments and/or for memorial rites involving fire.
The grave markers from the cemetery are mostly imported excellent works of art, which had a decisive influence on local production of the fourth century BC. A large building, 20 m long, which was revealed behind the funerary buildings, must have been used for the preparation of memorial rites, while one other large building uncovered behind this one, on a higher terrace, was the craft-industrial centre of the settlement that the cemetery served.
Image source: Xobourgo Excavation Archive-Nota Kourou
