Gyali ( "

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

", also spelled Giali or Yali, pronounced ) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

island in the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally define ...

, located halfway between the south coast of

Kos Kos or Cos (; ) is a Greek island, which is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 37,089 (2021 census), making ...

(

Kardamaina Kardámaina or Kardámena (), is a small Greek town 7 km from Kos Island International Airport at Antimacheia, situated mid-way along the south coast of the island of Kos. It lies in the municipal unit of Irakleides, in the Dodecanese. Once ...

) and

Nisyros Nisyros, also spelled Nisiros (; ), is a volcanic Greek island and municipality located in the Aegean Sea. It is part of the Dodecanese group of islands, situated between the islands of Kos and Tilos. Its shape is approximately round, with a ...

. It consists of rhyolitic

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...

s and

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of extremely vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicula ...

deposits (which are mined in huge quantities). No historical eruptions are known, but the most recent

eruptions overlie soils containing pottery and obsidian artifacts from the Neolithic period (10,000–4,500 BC). The island has two distinct segments, with the northeastern part almost entirely made of obsidian and the southwestern part of pumice. These are connected by a narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

and beach made of modern reef sediments. Anciently, the island was known as Istros ().

Geography

The island is long and between and across. It has a cave. Parts of the island undergoing pumice

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

are barren of

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

. The 2001 census reported a resident population of 10 people. Administratively, it is part of the municipality of

Settlement

Occupation at Gyali probably started in the early 4th millennium as a seasonal occupation. One settlement was at the site of 2 Laimos on the coast. Later in the 4th millennium BC, the occupation was at the north-west part of the island. The higher lands on the island were occupied mainly during the winter for cattle grazing. Islanders were engaged in grain production, and some millstones were found. Large coarse ware pots were used for grain storage. They also practised animal husbandry and milk processing using cheese-pots. They processed obsidian and made pottery. Early metalworking was practised on the island in the mid-4th millennium BC. Two crucibles with copper adhering have been found. This represents rare evidence for the earliest phase of Aegean metallurgy during the Final Neolithic period. Also one lead rivet has been found. Gyali was abandoned by the end of the 4th millennium BC.Maxwell, V., Ellam, R.M., Skarpelis, N. and Sampson, A. (2019
The context and nature of the evidence for metalworking from mid 4th Millennium Yali (Nissyros).
Journal of Greek Archaeology, 4, pp. 1-30. (doi: 10.32028/9781789693775-2)

References

External links

Official website of Municipality of Nisyros
Islands of Greece Dodecanese Volcanoes of Greece Volcanoes of the Aegean Holocene lava domes Dormant volcanoes Landforms of Kos (regional unit) Islands of the South Aegean {{SouthAegean-geo-stub

Geography

Settlement

See also

References

External links