Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

Kavousi and the
Thryptis and Orno mountains
The road to Kavousi begins with a sea of
dark olive trees. Here one can admire the
oldest olive tree in Crete: how many years
or centuries old it is no one knows, but its
immense trunk, rough and scarred with
hardened swellings like the body of a
prehistoric animal, gives the impression
that this tree/monument has seen more
things than we humans are capable of
imagining. Its branches were used to weave
the crowns for the Athens Olympics in 2004.
On the mountain that overlooks the
village of Kavousi one can make out the
foundations of two archaic settlements from
the Early Bronze Age: a hilltop encampment
and a settlement built around a rocky terrace
with a view across the sea. Following the
Dorian invasion the Eteocretans chose the
sites on which to build their villages with
care: fairly inaccessible, but with an ample
vista that allowed them to control passing
traffic without been seen. Hidden among
luxuriant bushes of yellow-gold broom and
wild sage there are numerous tholos tombs
in which arms, jewellery and armour of the
Geometric period have been found.
The circular tombs
of Kavousi are
partly hidden by
flowering bushes
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