Athanasia Chrysafis Biska

The project's main focus is the investigation and mapping of the island's ancient port. The collaborative excavation has located the architectural remains of the port of ancient Kythnos, and fragmentary stone sculptures built into an ancient seawall outside the port.

Among these discoveries were the carved head of a bearded man, an armor-clad male body, preserved from the base of the neck to the knees (1.4 metres high) and several steles - stone or wooden slabs, generally taller than they are wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes - known as herms.

The analysis revealed that the bearded man dates stylistically to the 2^nd century AD, a period when the Romans controlled the Aegean Sea. A herm is a rectangular or square pillar capped with a male head.

In ancient times, herms served as protective, evil-averting symbols placed outside houses or at boundaries and crossroads. 

Athens Plus (13.11.09): Kythnos underwater excavation solves the bearded man mystery (p.12)