The so called "Spring Fresco" from the Akrotiri Site at Thera (Santorini), dated to 1550 – 1500 BC, depicts swallows flying in the air above blooming flowers...
The fresco should really be called "Beginning of summer fresco"...Here is why:
The birds on these frescoes are identified as barn swallows...
And the flowers look like Lilium chalcedonicum
But are mostly identified as Lilium candidum, also known as Madonna Lilies where the red colour is a result of an "artistic freedom"...
You can read more about this in "Seasonal flux—three flowers for three seasons: seasonal ritual at Akrotiri, Thera".
The Minoan artist depicted what actually happened on Santorini and Crete every May: Madona Lilies began to bloom, right at the time when barn swallows began to nest. And fight...In mid air...
Yup, apparently, the "kissing swallows" are not kissing at all. They are fighting over feathers which they collect to insulate their nest...
At least according to this paper: "A Flight of Swallows" by Karen Polinger Foster...
The blooming of Madonna Lilies, which on Santorini and Crete takes place in May/Jun overlaps with the nesting, hatching and fledgling of barn swallows...
So here we have another example of animal and plant calendar markers...Two things that happen every year at the same time (in May) are depicted together...Marking the beginning of summer...
Hence "Beginning of summer fresco" 🙂
To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...
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