Late Bronze Age (LBA)
Late Minoan I (LM I) Period
Late Cycladic I (LC I) Period
Painted sometime before ~1615 BC
Beta Sector, Room 1, West Wall
Akrotiri, Thera (Santorini), Greece

This fresco was found during the excavations conducted by Spyridon Marinatos from 1967 to 1974 at Akrotiri on the southern coast of the ringed islands of Santorini (the Pompeii of the Aegean) which was covered by thick deposits of ash and pumice from the great Bronze Age eruption of the Santorini volcano that occurred between 1627 and 1600 BC. It was discovered on the west wall of room 1 in the Beta Building and is 2.0 meters (6.6 feet) wide and 2.75 meters (9.0 feet) high. This exquisite fresco is on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

The Beta Sector not only contained the famous wall paintings of the Antelopes and the Boxing Boys but also included the “Fresco of the Monkeys” which depicted monkeys climbing on rocks near a river.