ButonehumanskeletonhassofarbeenfoundinSantorin，andthatisofaninhabitantwhohadevidentlybeenovertakeninhisflightandcrushedbeneaththeburningscoriaefromthevolcano。Thismanwasofmediumheight，andissupposedtohavebeenbetweenfortyandforty-eightyearsold。Thebonesofthepelvisarefirmlyconsolidated，andtheteetharewornwithmastication。
LetusendeavortoguessattheperiodwhenthepeopleofSantorinlived。DeLongperiertellsusthatvasessimilartothoseleftbythemarerepresentedonthetombofRekmaraamongstthepresentsofferedtoThothmesIII。，wholivedintheeighthcenturyB。C。，butifsothepeopleofSantorinappeartohaveborrowednothingintheirintercoursewithEgypt。ThefirstinvasionofGreecebythePhoeniciansissupposedtohavebeeninthefifteenthcenturyB。C。，butthebuildings，thepottery，andthevariousimplementsofTherasiaandAcrotiridifferessentiallyfromthoseofthePhoenicians，who，moreover，fromtheearliesttimes，usedmetals。MustwenotthereforeconcludethatthecatastrophewhichoverwhelmedSantorintookplacebeforethefifteenthcenturyB。C。？Conjecturesastothedateofthefataleruption，howeverplausible，areofnouseinanythingrelatingtotheoriginofthepeople，orthetimeoftheirfirstoccupationoftheisland。Onthesepointsallisstillhopelessconfusion，andwemustwaitforfurtherdiscoveriesbeforewecanhopetocometoanyconclusionsinthematter。
Wehavegonebacktotheveryearliestdaysofmanupontheearth；
wehaveshownthathewasthecontemporaryofthemammothandtherhinoceros，ofthecave-lionandthecave-bear；wehaveseenhimcrouchinginthedeeprecessesofhiscaveandfightingthebattleoflifewithnoweaponbutafewscarcelysharpenedflints，leadinganexistenceinfinitelymorewretchedthantheanimalsabouthim。Notwithoutemotionhavewewatchedourremoteancestorsintheirceaselessstruggleforexistence；notwithoutemotionhaveweseenthemgraduallygrowinginintelligenceandenergy，andattainingbyslowdegreestoacertainamountofcivilization。Santorinisastrikingandbrilliantproofoftheirprogress，andweshallappreciatethisprogressyetmorewhenwehaveexaminedtheruinspileduponthehillofHissarlik。Thereweshallclosethisportionofourwork，forfromthetimewhenthebuildingsofwhichtheseremainsweretherelicsmettheirdoom，theuseofmetals，copper，bronze，gold，silver，andironbecamegeneral。Historybegantobewritten，anditishertasktotellusofthemigrationsofraces，theearlyeffortsofhistoric，races，thefoundationofempires。Inaword，theprehistoricagewasover；thatofself-consciousportraiturewasnowtobegin。
AfewyearsagoIwasontheancientHellespontandmyfellow-travellers，groupedaboutthedeckofourvessel，weretryingtomakeoutontherecedingcoastofAsiathesitesofTroyandofthetumuliwhichwerethenstillsupposedtohavebeenthetombsofAchilles，Patrokles，andHector，butwhicharenow，thankstotheableresearchesofDr。Schliemann，knowntobelongtoacomparativelymodernepoch。Thestreams，bearingtheevermemorablenamesofSimoisandScamander，werealsoeagerlypointedoutbythewatchers，recallingthewordsofLamartine：