Of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at Akrotiri, Thera, there can be little doubt that the wall-paintings constitute the most significant contribution to our knowledge of Aegean art and society. In technique, style and thematic content they are an invaluable object of study for archaeologists, art historians, zoologists, botanists, chemists, and a host of other specialists, and a virtually inexhaustible source of information on the art, economy, environment, technology, manners and customs -indeed life in general- in the first half of the second millennium BC.