The use of Thiraic land by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps for the insulation of the Suez Canal lead to the discovery of prehistoric antiquities (1866), marking the beginning of archaeological research on the Cycladic islands. Small-scale excavation research was carried out three years later (1870) by the French School of Archaeology on the site of Favatas, north of the present day Akrotiri. In 1967 Spyridon Marinatos inaugurated the excavation to the Bronze Age town of Akrotiri by order of the Archaeological Society.