Shalimar

The island of Chios lies in the east Aegean and today guards the border between modern Greece and Turkey. In ancient times the island state was renowned for its association with the poet Homer and for its wealth. By the time Perikles was building the Parthenon in Athens the sanctuary at Kato Phana was already hundreds of years old. The site was partially excavated first by Greek archaeologist Konstantinos Kourouniotes. The authors were also eager, should the finger prove to belong to the sanctuary's cult statue. Other links between past and present are also tangible at Kato Phana. On the feast day of Aghia Markella, the patron saint of Chios, the sanctuary of Apollo, and to whom the Kato Phana chapel is now dedicated, folk come from far around to worship. Quite rightly, in the author's eagerness to document the finds we make, our trained archaeological instinct is to incorporate these artefacts into our typologies so they make orderly sense.