After 1912 the fact that the Akanthos site was occupied by an inhabited village endowed it with a low archaeological priority. After 1932, the hills were open, but there was still little interest in improving the priority. In 1973 the priority changed suddenly with the discovery of the cemetery. A bulldozer preparing a site for new construction broke into a number of sarcophagi and shattered some pottery. Immediately the archaeological ephorate issued a non-development order, which it had the power to do, being a government agency, and conducted rescue archaeology on an emergency basis. This was the beginning of a systematic excavation that continues today, with no end in sight.