Fragment of a Cycladic figurine (canonical type, Spedos variety) from the "Keros hoard"

This fragmentary Cycladic figurine of the canonical type (Spedos variety) belongs to an enigmatic assemblage of objects, which is known as the "Keros Hoard". The "Hoard" is said to have included at least 350 fragments of figurines of the "canonical" type, a small number of marble vessels and clay vases, obsidian blades and other minor objects from the site of Kavos on the now uninhabited islet of Keros, which lies between Naxos and Amorgos. These objects were smuggled out of Greece in the 1950s and 1960s and were dispersed to various museums and private collections. The fate of many of them is unknown. A considerable number - 81 fragments - has been repatriated and is now exhibited in the Museum of Cycladic Art. Systematic excavations conducted in Keros the years 1963, 1966 and 1967 confirmed the presence of a vast number of archaeological finds, most of which had been deliberately broken in antiquity. The reason remains unknown.