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Ellen Adams
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
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Representing the anthropomorphic form in the Minoan world
Although the legendary figure of King Minos has cast a long shadow over Cretan studies, the concept of Minoan personal identity has received surprisingly little attention. I propose to redress this situation by reviewing questions of identity and difference through a variety of evidence, ranging from frescoes to burial practices and from seals to figurines. In recent years, wider social theory has
been tackling the slippery notions of personhood and the body; building upon
this, I aim to re-analyze how people are represented through art and burial and
also in association with artefacts in Late Bronze Age Knossos, ‘capital of Crete’.
Particular facets of Minoan identity, notably gender, have previously been explored, and scholars have sought the ‘missing ruler’ –the dominant male sovereign– with limited success. I shall investigate how relationships between people
are depicted in different media, such as the formation and representation of individual versus group identities. Phenomenological studies have permeated landscape archaeology, but they have been criticized for their inability to integrate the
individual into his/her surroundings. An examination of the represented “one”
and the “many” will explicitly address this problem. For example, both key individuals and crowd scenes are depicted in the frescoes, representing idealized single persons/elite few and the social body.
I shall focus on Knossian figured iconography (frescoes and sealings), figurines
and burials, charting the changes between the Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods. Some of this material is fragmentary –both fragments of originals, and reconstructed fragments of archaeologists’ imaginations– but there remains an appropriate range. I will analyze the two-way, dynamic relationships between audience and media, viewer and viewed, or agent and experienced, incorporating
these various immobile and mobile, two- and three-dimensional sources. My
methodology will highlight the correlations and tensions between these patterns
of data, which will best reveal the myriad facets of identity.
Points of comparison in the database include: date, context, material/medium, absolute size (miniature or life-sized), relative size (scale), overlapping or freestanding figures, patterns in compositions of figures, background, dress, gesture,
pose and attributes. In addition, how do representations of anthropomorphic figures accord with mortuary practices? Is the treatment of the body in death a representation for the living? Regarding change through time, there is a shift from
relatively invisible Neopalatial burial practices to major investment in this
sphere, while fewer figured seals date to the Final Palatial period. Does this indicate changes in personal identity and, if so, what?
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Maria Emanuela Alberti
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ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
Vessels in cooking fabric from Petras House I (LM IA)
The focus of the present work are the vessels in cooking fabrics from Petras House
I, dating to LM IA. At the moment, a general and systematic study of Minoan cooking ware is still missing. However, since many contributions on the evidence from
various sites are available, the main technical, typological and functional characteristics of the class have been investigated, as well as major chronological and
geographical distribution patterns. As for Petras in particular, the study of the vessels in cooking fabric from another Neopalatial structure, House II (LM IB), already completed, allowed a development of the established typology and some
observations on chronological and regional factors. The analysis is now extended to the assemblage from House I (LM IA) where the percentage of various types
of cooking pot is different and where various kinds of trays and “trapezes” (probably to be identified as pithos lids and/or drain-heads) are particularly abundant.
Lucia Alberti
Continuità e discontinuità nell’architettura funeraria di Cnosso fra Medio e
Tardo Minoico
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
Uno dei temi più controversi dell’archeologia egea è certamente la supposta presenza
“micenea” a Cnosso nella fase successiva alle distruzioni del TM IB. La presunta discontinuità nell’ambito dei costumi funerari di Cnosso e dell’area immediatamente
circostante nel TM II-IIIA1 è una delle argomentazioni spesso citate a favore di tale
presenza continentale. In questa fase, infatti, nuovi tipi di tombe – monocamera, a
fossa e a pozzo – con nuovi corredi caratterizzati da armi e vasi in bronzo sembrano apparire all’improvviso. Tali tipologie funerarie sono state positivamente messe
a confronto con tombe continentali cronologicamente precedenti o contemporanee,
ma la loro interpretazione come tombe di personaggi provenienti dal continente risulta ancora oggi molto controversa e uno dei punti “sensibili” dell’archeologia egea.
Uno degli aspetti non ancora del tutto approfondito e sul quale permangono una
serie di incertezze è la presunta continuità o discontinuità delle tipologie architettoniche in discussione. In queste sede verranno analizzate in particolare la tipologia della tomba a tholos e quella della tomba a camera.
È possibile parlare di continuità, anche solo ideale, fra le tholoi MM e quelle che
compaiono a partire dal TM II? E per ciò che concerne la tomba a camera, quali sono
gli elementi comuni e le differenze fra le tombe a camera MM-TM I e quelle che compaiono dal TM II in poi nell’area di Cnosso? In che misura tali tipologie architettoniche possono essere considerate delle vere novità al momento della loro diffusione nell’area intorno al Palazzo?
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Eva Alram-Stern
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ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
The network of the Kampos Group: Crete in context
The Kampos Group is an Aegean cultural phenomenon dating to the end of Early Cycladic I. In its distribution and homogeneity it is a forerunner to the Early
Bronze II cultural groups of the Aegean koine. However, its character differs considerably from this of the succeeding period by the emergence of culturally homogenous coastal settlements around the Aegean Sea. This paper intends to highlight their similarities and local traits and to compare them with the well known
sites at the Cretan north coast.
Tomas Alusik
Rural aspects of Minoan Crete
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
This paper will focus on the research of rural aspects of Minoan Crete, which were
considered to be marginal since the beginning of last century. Since the first systematic excavations in Crete, Minoan civilization has been interpreted mostly as
a palatial civilization whose basic centres were large architectonic complexes with
inner courtyard labeled “palaces” and similar, and smaller buildings labeled “villas”. These edifices had administrative, economic and religious functions. The research of such structures is still in progress and, especially on the basis of its results, Minoan Crete is presented as a well-developed palatial civilization with a
dense network of palaces and villas. Much less attention has been paid to other,
less attractive or “minor” features of Minoan civilization, and the possible contribution of small rural sites to the better knowledge of Minoan Crete was rather
underestimated.
Therefore, my attention will be centred on small rural or rustic sites, which
formed the important economic hinterland of large settlements or palatial/villa
centres. Since the World War II, up to several thousands of all kinds of prehistoric
sites –including the numerous group of small rural sites characterized mostly by
remains of one or several buildings and terrace walls– were discovered during surface survey projects. However, only a few of the sites in question were more closely described or surveyed. Only recently similar sites have been investigated in three
regions. [SENSE? Moreover, in most cases [the] sites with a single building have
been examined and only several/a few? of them have been excavated] What do
you mean?.
In this paper I will present several examples of such sites and, especially, try
to understand their particular functions and place within the settlement hierarchy and pattern. Chronology, architectural typology (including topography) and
social aspects belong, also, to the key points of this paper. Finally, the overall con-
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text of the sites in question and their relations to large settlements and palatial centres should be cleared up.
Several appropriate model micro-regions will be designated within Crete (based
on topography, number of sites and publications) and will be processed by detailed
multistage analysis –including GIS studies and 3D-software reconstructions– in
several different ways. A general picture and the contexts of Minoan rural sites
in larger geographical units, even on the whole island, can be deduced eventually, based on the results of these analyses.
Maria Anastasiadou
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Seals with centred-circles in the Aegean Bronze Age
The paper presents a group of seals which, on account of their very similar shape,
material, cutting technique and iconography, are seen as the product of one ‘workshop’. Characteristic of these seals are round seal faces, the use of soft stones, engraving by hand tools, chaffing which creates soft, at times ‘plastic’ intaglios, and
a preference for the depiction of human and animal heads.
On the basis of contextual evidence, the group is dated to MM Il/MM III (Middle Minoan). The majority of its representatives have been recovered at Knossos,
which suggests that the ‘workshop’ producing them was located in this area. A comparison of the iconography of these seals with other MM soft and hard stone seals
shows that they fit well within the MM glyptic of Central Crete. Thus, not only
do the ornamental themes on these seals find parallels to those met on MM II soft
stone seals produced in the Mesara, but also some of the themes of the human
and animal heads are easily comparable to those on impressions of hard stone seals
from Knossos and Phaistos.
As regards the development of Minoan glyptic, the group is of interest because
its representatives combine ornamental themes, which are typical of the MM II glyptic, with ‘naturalistic’ depictions of figural motifs, which can be seen as the first ‘regular’ representatives of the ‘naturalistic’ tendency on Minoan soft stone seals.
abstracts
Eva Andersson Strand, Joanne Cutler
Textile production at three Middle Minoan centres
a1
A large number of loom weights of different types have been found in Middle Minoan contexts at Knossos, Phaistos and Malia, Quartier Mu. The presence of loom
weights indicates the use of the warp-weighted loom, in these contexts associated with other than household production. In the past, variations in loom weight
shape have generally been explained in terms of cultural, geographical and chrono13
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
logical factors. In contrast, recent research has considered some aspects of shape
as a direct indication of loom weight function. This new approach, which is based
on extensive experimental archaeology, has made it possible to render textile craft
visible, even if the textiles themselves are not preserved.
In this presentation we will consider the evidence from Knossos, Phaistos and Malia,
Quartier Mu, and discuss what light it can shed on the nature of textile production at these palatial sites during the Middle Minoan period.
Sabine Beckmann
Middle Bronze Age mountain-farms in the area of Agios Nikolaos, Crete
The slopes of Mount Katharo Tsivi, Agios Nikolaos, have provided evidence that
the area was populated from the beginning of the Minoan Protopalatial period,
in parts until LM III: Over 3 Minoan buildings occupied an area of ca. 3 square
kilometers, at an altitude between and 1 m. These buildings are isolated,
but not farther apart than ca. 4 m. Most of the structures were at least partly
built with large blocks, occasionally employing stones of over tons in weight.
The marginal agricultural region, today used for herding and, until recently, for
small-scale mixed agriculture, has fortunately kept many of the Minoan structures
well preserved (over 5 ruins still stand in parts up to 1,5 m).
Identifiable remains include not only buildings, but also round structures (similar structures are called “kouloures” at the Minoan palaces) and long (7-1
m, occasionally longer) enclosure walls that surround nearly all of the structures.
These peribolos walls, often constructed with large stones as well, associate the buildings with plots of land of various sizes (average ca. 3.4 hectares), suggesting that
the installations were used as farmsteads. A. Evans and other archaeologists who
saw several of the ruins near the ancient main road believed them to have been forts
or watch towers. The sites and enclosures are interconnected by an unexpectedly
well-planned network of paths and roads and are situated never more than ca. 5
m from some source of water, showing that this marginal area was systematically settled and structured from the Middle Bronze Age.
John Bennet, Amy Bogaard, Eleni Hatzaki
First view: The cityscape of Bronze Age Κnossos on Lower Gypsades
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After over a century of fieldwork at Knossos, our knowledge of the layout and organization of the Bronze Age city still relies heavily on the excavation of isolated plots, the result of systematic and rescue excavations, leaving the cityscape of
the largest settlement in the Aegean largely unknown.
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
This paper presents the results of a geophysical survey (magnetometry and
resistivity) conducted on Lower Gypsades. The area, located south of the palace,
beyond the Vlychia stream and along the northern half of the Gypsades hill, was
chosen as the only part of the Bronze Age city which is not buried under extensive Greek and Roman occupation levels. The aim of the project is to provide an
overview of the nature and density of the urban outer sett1ement in order to offer new information about the extent, nature, and organization of a major part
of Knossos’s southern suburbs. In addition, the results of the geophysical survey
are analyzed in the context of previous archaeological discoveries in the Knossos area, and are also compared to the picture of the urban layout of other major centres in Bronze Age Crete.
Katrin Bernhardt
Mycenaean imports to Crete: Some thoughts on the interrelations between the
Greek mainland and Crete
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
This paper investigates the interrelations between the Mycenaean mainland and
Crete during LH/LM IIIA1 to LH/LM IIIB. My particular focus lies on imported
Mycenaean pottery; however, the starting point for such a study, which needs clear
assignments of vases to production centres, is problematic. Scientific research methods, such as petrographic and chemical analyses, have only been applied to a limited number of assemblages. In contrast, a much larger amount of pottery has been
labeled as imports and assigned to production centres on stylistic reasons only.
These assignments have to be discussed.
On the basis of preliminary statistics, I will bring forward a detailed analysis of vessel shapes imported to Crete, which shows that in comparison to other
regions of the Mediterranean, for example the Levant, different vessel shapes seem
to have been preferred for import.
This fact suggests close relations to the mainland which are on the one hand
linked to the import of various goods. On the other hand this may also be an indicator for the social behaviour of the Minoans during this period.
Philip P. Betancourt, Susan C. Ferrence
Excavation of the LM I to LM III Farmstead at Chrysokamino-Chomatas
a1
The excavation of an isolated megalithic farmstead near Kavousi in East Crete uncovered an interesting building with two chronological phases. The architectural
complex is near the earlier smelting site of Chrysokamino, and pottery from the
same period as the smelting site there suggests this may be the settlement that sup15
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ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
ported the copper smelting workshop at that location, but all of the architecture
was later. The earlier of the two excavated building phases dated to LM IB, and it
consisted of several rooms constructed on bedrock. The building went out of use
in LM IB-Final, contemporary with the destruction at nearby Mochlos. The later phase, which was substantially larger, was from LM IIIA to LM IIIB. It had a massive external wall and an interior courtyard with several rooms opening off of the
court. One room was a kitchen with a stone hearth. Many animal bones suggest
that in LM III the building was a farmstead engaged in raising animals and in farming. The building yielded bronzes, sealstones, and substantial amounts of pottery.
Fritz Blakolmer
Iconography versus reality: Goddesses and gods in Minoan Crete
By studying the iconography of deities in the Aegean Bronze Age, we come across
a multitude of fundamental difficulties of definition as well as across contradictions between the evidence of images and of written sources. Some of these problems are due to the history of research (e. g. the Minoan “Snake goddess”) or based
on highly improbable conceptions of a “Minoan monotheism”. Since it seems reasonable to assign a highly pluralistic character to the Cretan divine kosmos at least
from the Neopalatial period onwards, some basic methodological questions of how
to define distinct gods and goddesses in the iconography of the Bronze Age Aegean
are raised. Although scholars have defined a multitude of distinct male and female deities in the figurative art of Minoan Crete, the evidence appears rather ambiguous and seems to suggest a “Pantheon without attributes”.
A possible key for a better understanding of the inconsistencies between iconography and reality in Minoan religion could be delivered by applying a diachronic perspective and by perceiving the functions of religion during the Neopalatial
period as a dynamic process. Therefore, a model of a sociopolitical strategy will
be proposed, which points to the creation of a standardized, uniform religious iconography coined by the Knossian “elite” in order to remove regional diversities and
to realize political as well as social integration on the island of Crete and beyond.
Elisabetta Borgna
a1
1
Metallurgical production and long-distance interaction: new evidence from
LM III Phaistos
Among the unpublished materials coming from the stratified deposits of the socalled “Casa a ovest del Piazzale I” at LM III Phaistos some objects point to metallurgical activities. Such evidence is useful both for exploring the industrial func-
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tion of some lowland major LM IIIC settlements in the context of the Mediterranean interaction at the close of the Late Bronze Age and for stressing in more
detail the close relationships between Crete and central Mediterranean.
The role of Crete within the Mediterranean metallurgical koinè of 13th-1th
c. B.C. will be discussed together with some chronological implications. Eventually
the settlement pattern of Late Bronze Age Crete will be re-evaluated taking into
particular consideration the interaction dynamics involving the lowland coastal
sites on the one hand and the highland inner settlements on the other hand.
Maria Böttcher, Gerhard Plath
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
The beginnings of bridge construction. The example of the Minoan road network
After a short presentation of the Minoan road network and aspects in “Trassenplanung” (planning road courses) we will point to the crossing of Cretan rivers
and rivulets.
Natural fords: We will show evidence of natural ford-passages. The recognizing
and the using up of natural facts are the essential pointers to talk about engineertechnical planning. The state of ground, the resistance of abrasion, all clefts, faults
and gaps were to proof and the site was to recognize as suitable for a permanent
crossing. Such ford-passages were also evidence of key-points of the road-course.
The building of guardhouses was reflected to such sites, which were the essential points of the road layout. (f.e. Choiromandres)
Artificial fords: Examples of first artificial ford-passages will be presented. They
are stated at the same observance as for. But the lack of natural resources was now
artificial “repaired”. Small abysses were filled by big blocks, all gaps, clefts and cavities were closed by stones until the sub-construction of the road. A dam-like construction was arising. The down-under hollows were kept free for water flowing
through. (f.e. Lithoriako, Skafi)
Sideropetra: Tests in compressive strength and experimental quarrying have
given some characteristic facts of the broad spread of this stone in Crete. In considering this Cretan hard limestone, all aspects of static functions in walling will
be analyzed. Examples of MM II buildings show techniques in spanning spaces.
(f.e. Phourni, Platanos-Pobia, Choiromandres)
The Vlychia viaduct: The graphic reconstruction of the Vlychia viaduct (under Sir A. Evans’s direction) will be explained by examinig aspects of bridge-constructions in corbel technique. The static function of tholos-graves with their circular corbel construction will be analyzed. The development to linear corbel constructions will be shown. This change from circular to linear corbel techniques
could be considered as a technological jump in bridge building construction. One
can say that this was the beginning of constructive engineer planning.
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Gerald Cadogan
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ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
Are there any patterns? The destructions, disasters, abandonments, establishments and resettlements of Bronze Age Crete
This paper will attempt a summary view of the settlement history of Bronze Age
Crete, through the destructions, disasters, abandonments, establishments and resettlements that appear to have punctuated this history. In particular, I shall look
for any possible patterns, or recurrences of phenomena that may indicate similar causation, over the two millennia I shall examine. These factors will include:
the impact of earthquakes; the identification of enemy action, whether from inside Crete or from overseas; changing environmental conditions; changing political conditions; defence as a reason for choosing sites to settle; and the implications of resettlements and/or entirely new settlements in the same district, whether
including synoecisms (nucleations) or not.
This will of necessity be a cursory survey, but it is essential to include a brief
look at the island in both Neolithic times and in the Early Iron Age and later.
Ilaria Caloi
Funerary rituals in the Protopalatial period (MM IB-MM IIB): Τhe evidence
from Kamilari and from the other Mesara tholos tombs
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
The aim of this paper is to present the funerary rituals attested in those tholos tombs
of the Mesara plain, in southern Crete, which were founded or re-used in MM
IB-MM IIB.
This paper aims at a deeper understanding of the funerary contexts of the
Mesara plain in the Protopalatial period, focusing first on the chronology of the
tholos tombs in use in the Protopalatial period, and then on their functions. In
particular, this work will try to answer a series of important questions, such as:
which tombs were founded in the Protopalatial period? In which phase of the Protopalatial period the Prepalatial tombs were re-used? Which tombs were used (or
re-used) in the Protopalatial period for burials and which ones only for non-funerary rituals? Why this differentiation?
The new definition of MM IB-MM IIB ceramic sequences that I have proposed
for Phaistos have persuaded me to reassess the chronology of the Mesara tholos
tombs in the Protopalatial period. In fact, new results from the study of the MM
IB-MM IIB ceramic material at Phaistos, together with the investigations I carried out during the last years on the MM IB-MM IIB Kamilari material, have provided crucial support to understand the chronology of the ceramic material coming from those tholos tombs, which have revealed MM ceramic.
Since previous studies have clearly demonstrated that centres like Phaistos,
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INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
Kommos and Ayia Triada, as well as most of the tholos tombs of the Western Mesara
shared the same ceramic tradition, I have used the ceramic sequence proposed
for Phaistos to re-study the Protopalatial material from Kamilari. This study has
allowed me to define the funerary rituals attested at Kamilari in the discrete phases of the Protopalatial period, that is MM IB, MM IIA and MM IIB. Indeed, at
Kamilari it is possible to recognize a differentiation in the funerary rituals from
the beginning to the end of the Protopalatial times. The same work can be done
for the other Mesara tholos tombs used in the Protopalatial period. For example,
the funerary rituals attested in MM IB at Kamilari, that are mostly based on libation rites rather than on food and drink consumption, can also be observed in
the cemetery of Ayia Triada A as well as in the cemetery of Koumasa. On the contrary, from MM IIA until MM IIB, the funerary rituals are mostly based on drink
consumption as the high quantity of drinking vessels has demonstrated not only
for the cemetery of Kamilari, but also for those of Portì and Platanos.
Tim Campbell-Green, Antonis Vasilakis
The Prepalatial settlement of Trypiti: The view from the pottery
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
The Prepalatial settlement of Trypiti is situated on a hill on the south coast in southcentral part of the island. Although a relatively small-scale settlement, its importance
is derived in part from the fact that it represents a domestic counterpoint in an
area that is, archaeologically, almost exclusively dominated by mortuary data, and
has, then, the potential to tell us much about how the people occupying the Asterousia in the Early Bronze Age lived. Moreover, as the state of preservation was
particularly good, the process of occupation and abandonment can be observed,
and modes of use and reuse noted. This paper examines the domestic realm through
the use and function of the pottery recovered from the site.
At least two distinct phases of occupation are visible in the ceramic record.
The first, dating to the later EM I period, is visible by the small, but significant,
numbers of sherds from this period spread over the crown of the hill, and is presumed to mark the foundation date of the settlement. Furthermore, it is almost
certainly the contributing settlement for the tholos tomb of Trypiti located some
5m to the south east of the settlement hill, and which seems to have been founded at the period.
The later period, corresponding to the EM IIB/MM IA, makes up by far the
greater part of the excavated material and witnesses the construction of at least
four distinct housing “units”. Cooking pots and storage vessels are represented,
as one would expect from domestic habitation, as are cups and bowls for eating
and drinking, and spouted and larger vessels for pouring and serving. Furthermore, from the rubbish dumped in areas/rooms that went out use and were abandoned we can see not only patterns of pottery consumption, but also patterns of
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reuse in the pottery, providing a fascinating insight into the day-to-day existence
of an Early Bronze Age settlement.
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
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ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Angeliki Chrysanthi
Walking in Minoan sites: a human centric approach to contemporary movement
Planning interpretive walks constitutes an important aspect of archaeological heritage management and a critical part of the preventive conservation and enhancement of archaeological sites. In combination with other interpretative tools
it constitutes the main vehicle through which an archaeological site is presented
to the public. The introduction of specific paths is essential particularly in the cases of prehistoric sites where limited applicable interventions for the improvement
of the sites’ readability are possible.
The emergence of new technologies in the field of public archaeology is another key factor that needs to be considered towards this direction. The use of mobile and GPS technology, the virtual reconstructions, the applications of augmented
reality and a wide range of computational research cannot be ignored from the
planning process.
This paper is part of an on-going research which attempts to introduce a hybrid model for investigating contemporary movement around archaeological sites.
Drawing upon the case of Minoan sites, some key issues related to the current practices employed will be addressed while considering a human centric methodological
approach in investigating visitors’ movement. Finally, the input of novel Information
and Communication Technologies will be discussed in the context of interpretive walks.
Nicola Cucuzza
La villa minoica di Kannià presso Mitropolis
abstracts
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Si espongono i risultati della revisione dei dati di scavo e dei materiali rinvenuti
nel corso dell’indagine archeologica che, sotto la direzione di Doro Levi, nel 15
portò alla luce la Villa di Kannià presso Mitropolis. Lo stato di pubblicazione solo
parziale dell’importante complesso (sostanzialmente limitato ad un solo articolo preliminare di Levi) ha spinto ad intraprendere dal un esame complessivo della documentazione disponibile e dei materiali rinvenuti in vista della edizione dei dati noti, con la sola esclusione dei materiali neolitici.
Lo studio condotto consente di affermare che l’edificio venne costruito sul sito
di un vasto insediamento neolitico; i resti di alcuni muri indicano l’esistenza di
una fase architettonica più antica della struttura neopalaziale; la presenza di ma-
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teriali del TM III anche nei vani occidentali indica che la frequentazione di quel
periodo non si limitò ai soli ambienti orientali, dove furono trovati i noti esemplari di statuette delle «dee dalle braccia alzate». Il rinvenimento di un kernos fittile e quello di un’urna-capanna indicano come l’area fu oggetto di una frequentazione cultuale anche durante le fasi finali dell’Età del Bronzo; qualche statuetta ed alcuni vasi fittili miniaturistici di epoca arcaica ed ellenistica testimoniano
qualche saltuaria deposizione votiva anche in epoca storica, con la probabile costruzione di una piccola edicola.
Massimo Cultraro
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
The Late Neolithic period at Prinias (north central Crete): Ceramic change and
technological innovation
This paper explores the unpublished pottery assemblage of the Late Neolithic/EM
I period found in the area of the Geometric and Archaic Cemetery at Siderospilia,
Prinias. The pottery complex was discovered during the archaeological explorations
carried out by the University of Catania (prof. G. Rizza), in the years 1-175.
The archaeological material comes from relatively well-stratified deposits, some
of which were excavated beneath the floor of the Geometric burials. A pit dug in
the soft calcareous rock gives us an additional assemblage of this phase important in order to classify the ware according to fabrics and forms. In this fill occur numerous mudbricks, some with plaster still adhering to their face, which could
represent the debris of a demolished building with plastered walls.
The pottery assemblage includes mostly the main fabric wares of the Late Neolithic II found in Central Crete, as Pattern-Burnished Decoration and a Coarse
Red Fabric with large calcite inclusions, which has strong affinities with a comparable pottery group found in the Final Neolithic III at Knossos.
The Late Neolithic pottery at Prinias is characterised by two interlinked ceramic traditions: one clearly rooted in a long history of ceramic development on
Crete (e.g. Phaistos, Knossos), and the other marked by features such as the cheesepots, which shows strong links with the Late Chalcolithic of North Aegean and
South-East Anatolia.
Anna Lucia D’Agata, Marie-Claude Boileau, Sara De Angelis
a1
Do Italians do it better? Handmade burnished ware from Thronos Kephala (ancient Sybrita)
Handmade Burnished Ware (HBW) is one of the most debated ceramic classes
of Late Palatial and Post Palatial Greece, whose chart of distribution includes the
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Mainland, Crete, Cyprus and the Levant. Recent studies have made clear that the
main parallels for HBW may be found in the handmade production of Southern
Italy and, to a lesser extent, Northern Greece. In the last study seasons carried out
on the material from Thronos Kephala (ancient Sybrita) a group of sherds which
may be referred to HBW was identified. Although a fragment of HBW was already
known from the site, the circulation in the settlement of a few vases realized following a foreign tradition of pottery manufacture in the course of the 1th century BC deserves a deeper enquiry. It is the aim of this paper to present some preliminary results on this new archaeological evidence trying to assess its importance within the local context and in the wider world.
Sylviane Déderix
Towards a Reassesment of the mortuary diversity in Bronze Age Crete
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
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17
The few Neolithic graves so far recongnized in Crete are simple inhumations in
rock shelters and caves, or intramural sepultures (mostly of children). In contrast
to the scarcity and low visibility of Neolithic funerary data, the Prepalatial evidence displays a strong increase in conspicuous forms of burial: as early as the beginning of the Early Minoan I period, formal cemeteries intending to host a large
number of individuals were established and funerary architecture was developed.
Early Minoan tombs are not only numerous; they also display an important investment of time and energy, as well as a great typological diversity. The various
burial practices of the Prepalatial period are generally described as highly regionalized, stressing the cultural diversity of Early Minoan inhabitants. Indeed,
while funerary caves are known to exist almost all over Crete, tholos tombs are
prevalent in and around the Mesara plain, house tombs are most common to the
Northeast and the East of the island, and Cycladic-type tombs occur sporadically along the northeast coast. Still, this pattern is not absolutely strict, some “anomalies” have to be explained, and chronological variations must be considered as
well. Moreover, even if tholoi and house tombs were not abandoned by the end
of the Prepalatial period, the dead became less visible –as emphasized by the emergence of underground type of burials (pithoi, larnakes, chamber tombs) from the
EM III phase– and old cemeteries were gradually deserted. On the basis of an updated catalogue of Minoan tombs, this paper aims at a detailed reappraisal of the
spatial and chronological distribution of burial types. Calling on GIS’ services, we
will try to model the evolution of the Minoan funerary landscape from the beginning of the Prepalatial period until the fall of the Second Palaces. As further
acknowledged by recent discoveries, such a reassessed overview is the needed preliminary step towards a better understanding of the funerary diversity in Bronze
Age Crete.
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Maurizio Del Freo, Julien Zurbach
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La préparation du Supplément au Recueil des Inscriptions en Linéaire A
Cette communication a pour but de présenter le travail entrepris, à l’invitation de
Louis Godart et Jean-Pierre Olivier, pour constituer un volume de supplément au
Recueil des Inscriptions en Linéaire A dont le dernier volume (Études Crétoises
XXI/5, École française d’Athènes) est paru en 15. Il s’agit, selon les principes établis par les auteurs du Recueil, de présenter une nouvelle édition de chaque texte
publié, selon des critères et une méthode uniformes. Cela pose un certain nombre de questions, qui seront abordées ici, sur la nature et l’ampleur des index et
des outils de travail qui seront présentés dans ce volume de supplément. Il ne s’agit
cependant pas seulement d’un travail d’édition mais aussi d’une entreprise de recensement qui, grâce à l’aide précieuse des autres épigraphistes et surtout des fouilleurs, amène à compléter notre connaissance du linéaire A. Ce volume changera
évidemment notre appréciation de la répartition géographique, sinon chronologique, de l’usage de cette écriture, et comprendra des inscriptions de tous types
qui enrichissent considérablement certaines catégories. L’établissement des textes,
enfin, amène quelques nouveautés intéressantes.
Serena Di Tonto
The formation of identity and the organisation of a Neolithic community: Some
evidence from Phaistos (Crete)
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
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A new cycle of stratigraphical excavations conducted at Phaistos (Crete - Greece)
and a systematic re-evaluation of the known data have clarified the nature and extension of human occupation and activities on the hill during the Final Neolithic period. In particular they led to the identification of deposits and associated features that testify to a ceremonial and ritual frequentation of some parts of the site.
These ceremonies, characterised by the consumption of food and drinks, involved
the phaistian neolithic community and maybe members of the surrounding territory. The communal consumption is a way in which the society structured itself
and it can be evidence for social integration or competition. These episodes of intra- and intercommunity commensality may have served to strengthen relationship between the competing local households and also to create obligations of hospitality with households from further afield in order to obtain mutual help or food
and raw materials. Furthermore the memory of the ritual activity that occurred
at Phaistos may have endowed the hill with a special status that contributed to its
selection as the site of the successive occupations through the First Minoan Palace.
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Eleni Drakaki
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The “Master with Lion” motif of Bronze Age Cretan iconography: A comprehensive study
The motif of a male figure accompanied by a lion, here conventionally termed ‘Master with Lion’, was conceived in the Neopalatial era, the most flourishing period
of the Bronze Age civilization of Crete, and has thus far been witnessed exclusively
on (a very small number of) works of glyptic (seals and sealings). Although it has
attracted (some) scholarly attention, especially in respect to the identity and/or status of the ‘Master’ and its/their (possible) implications for Cretan religion and the
nature of rulership on the island, a comprehensive study of this motif is long overdue. To this purpose, the scope of this paper includes the following: 1) a careful
examination of the available material that leads to the discovery of variations –even
if minor– of this motif, which seem to warrant different identifications; ) a systematic analysis of the morphological characteristics and/or contextual associations
of the seals and sealings in question, in an effort to shed some light on the identity of the “selected few” who owned them; and 3) a thorough investigation beyond
the Aegean borders, in search of the motif ’s parallels in the iconographic traditions
of the other great Bronze Age cultures of Egypt, Anatolia, the Near East and
Mesopotamia. Considering the nature and extreme rarity of the Cretan artifacts
which carry the “Master with Lion” motif as well as the fact that it was conceived
at a time of intense interaction and contacts between Crete and the eastern Mediterranean, this undertaking is crucial for ascertaining the degree of independence and/or
(possible) external influence involved in its formulation.
Jan Driessen
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The Bronze Age settlement on the Kephali at Sissi
Since 7, a team of the Belgian School at Athens has been excavating the coastal
site of Sissi (koinotita Vrachasiou), a hill settlement naturally defended by steep
slopes and river valleys, located about 4 km east of the palace site of Malia. Strategically located near the sea but also close to important land routes, the hill seems
to have been continuously occupied from at least the Early Minoan IIA period
(if not earlier) and stayed in use till Late Minoan IIIB when it was suddenly abandoned, perhaps in favour of the refuge settlement located nearby on the Anavlochos. The cemetery, in use from EM IIA to MM IIB, illustrates a variety of burial practices (house tombs, ossuaries, pithos burials) and detailed anthropological examination allows to reconstruct certain social features. The settlement evidence dates primarily to Late Minoan I-II-III with a series of Neopalatial workshops, perhaps mainly concerned with textile production. During this same phase,
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
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the hill may have been protected by a Cyclopean wall. During LM III, only the
summit of the hill seems to have been occupied by a large, almost monumental
building with concerns for defence. This comprised a series of storage areas and
workshops but also larger halls with central hearths and at least one shrine. Many
floor deposits were preserved in situ. The importance of the site is discussed, especially by comparing it with contemporary Malia.
Yves Duhoux
La Room of the Chariot Tablets du palais de Cnossos: école scribale ou archives
oubliées ?
La Room of the Chariot Tablets (= RCT) du palais de Cnossos fait l’objet de deux
interprétations très différentes. Chadwick y a vu une école scribale. Par contre,
d’autres auteurs, dont le plus important est Driessen ont exclu cette analyse : aux
yeux de Driessen, ‘there is no evidence to support an interpretation of the RCT
material as training documents’. Pour lui, la RCT serait un dépôt ordinaire d’archives plus archaïque que le reste des tablettes en linéaire B.
Je voudrais montrer que plusieurs particularités importantes des tablettes de
la RCT sont typiques d’une ambiance scolaire
1) Il est admis par tous que les textes de la RCT manifestent une uniformité
d’écriture remarquable, bien qu’ils aient été écrits par des auteurs différents. Ceci
est sans parallèle linéaire B connu et suggère que la RCT fonctionnait autrement
que les autres bureaux mycéniens
2) Or, une série d’observations faites par Driessen lui-même suggèrent que la
RCT était une école scribale. Driessen parle de ‘the inexperience of the writers’;
du fait que ‘the RCT “scribes” felt uneasy with the writing material’ et du ‘semiliterate environment in which the documents [of the RCT] were produced’. Il ajoute
que ‘the “scribes” of the RCT… acquired their writing-qualities together’ et qu’ils
‘did indeed acquire their abilities in school-like environments’.
3) La tablette KN V(1) 114 est un document capital pour comprendre la fonction de la RCT. Ce texte contient les mêmes quatre mots écrits sur son recto et
son verso (pa-ze a-mi-ni-so pe-da wa-tu). Or, ces deux faces ont été écrites par deux
mains différentes, dont l’une est manifestement plus douée que l’autre. Ceci a des
parallèles dans le monde proche-oriental, où l’on trouve également des tablettes
dont l’une des deux faces est écrite par le maître et l’autre par l’élève. La tablette
KN V(1) 114 ne peut donc bien se comprendre que si l’on y reconnaît un authentique
exercice scribal, avec la partie de l’élève et celle du maître.
Conclusion : cet ensemble d’éléments invite à penser que la RCT était un lieu
d’apprentissage scribal. Ceci est valable quelle que soit la datation de la RCT, puisque
l’administration palatiale devait régulièrement former de nouveaux scribes.
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INTERNATIONAL
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CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
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Unit A.2 at Chalasmenos
Excavations at the site of Chalasmenos (Monastiraki) were begun in 1 as a joint
Greek-American project under the direction of Dr. Metaxia Tsipopoulou and the
late Prof. William Coulson. The site is located on a relatively steep, rocky hill (4
m. above sea level) just south of the Ha Gorge on the eastern side of the Ierapetra Isthmus. Chalasmenos was a relatively large settlement, covering perhaps 7 acres, and was apparently founded in the middle phase of the Late Minoan IIIC
period (approximately mid 1th c. BC). Although limited phasing, in the form
of blocked doorways, multiple floor levels, and building repairs or additions, is
visible in some structures, it is essentially a single period site, abandoned before
the end of LM IIIC; very limited Protogeometric and Late Geometric activity has
also been recorded.
The Chalasmenos settlement shows a degree of urban planning: at least four
distinct neighborhoods, separated by paved and unpaved pathways, have been identified on the site. While many buildings at Chalasmenos are of an agglomerative
nature, consisting of a large room with one or two smaller rooms extending off
of it (often creating a Γ-shaped plan), at least six buildings of “megaron” type, including the shrine, have also been identified (as previously presented by Dr
Tsipopoulou). Buildings of “megaron” type consist of two axially aligned rectangular
rooms (typically a larger room with central hearth leading into a smaller one) with
the entrance on the short side.
This paper serves as a preliminary presentation of Unit A., a two-room building located on the southwestern edge of the site, immediately west of a series of
rooms known as Coulson’s House (House A.1). Unit A. appears to have been the
first “megaron” type construction at Chalasmenos; it began as a single square room
to which a long rectangular room with central clay hearth was added. In this paper, the architecture, pottery, and small finds from these two rooms will be examined: the finds from the building include vessels for storage, food preparation,
drinking and food consumption, as well as stone tools and burned and unburned
animal bones. The possible significance of the building will also be discussed; specifically, does this structure represent a typical house at Chalasmenos, or did it have
a special function? It is hoped that the evidence from Unit A. will contribute to
our knowledge of LM IIIC settlements in east Crete and also aid in better understanding the relationship between Chalasmenos and other nearby sites, such
as Kastro, Vronda, Vasilike Kephala, and Vrokastro.
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Jason W. Earle
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
Diminished Cretan influence in the Cyclades during Late Minoan IB–Late Minoan II? Evidence from a ceramic perspective
It is well established that Cycladic ceramics of the late Middle Bronze Age and early Late Bronze Age were deeply influenced by contemporary Cretan wares. Many
Minoan shapes and styles were adopted and adapted by Cycladic potters, and there
is even a possibility that itinerant Cretan potters were working in the Cyclades.
To date, discussions of Cretan-Cycladic interactions have focused mainly on the
late Middle Cycladic and Late Cycladic I periods (Middle Minoan III and Late Minoan IA in Cretan terms), and particularly on pottery from the sites of Akrotiri
on Thera, Phylakopi on Melos, and Ayia Irini on Kea. Studies examining Cycladic
responses to the Cretan Late Minoan IB and II styles, however, are lacking. Consequently, our understanding of Cycladic stylistic and cultural dynamics during
these historically crucial periods, which witnessed the shift from Minoan to Mycenaean cultural hegemony in the Aegean, is dim. Did the strong Minoan influence
seen in Late Cycladic I ceramics continue into Late Cycladic II (LM IB–II)? Or
did Cretan influence in the Cyclades diminish following the Theran eruption, as
Mountjoy has suggested on the basis of imports?
To address these questions, I present the findings of my examination of ceramic material from relevant Cycladic deposits, both published (House A at Ayia
Irini on Kea, Grotta on Naxos, and unpublished Trenches ΠA, ΠC, ΠS, ΠK, PLa
and KKd at Phylakopi on Melos). To my knowledge, no study has dealt exclusively
with Late Cycladic II ceramics, let alone Minoan influence on Late Cycladic II ceramics. Limited (and often tangential) discussions of Late Cycladic II ceramics
have appeared in excavation reports and studies of Late Cycladic I pottery, but interest has tended to focus instead on Minoan and Mycenaean imports to the Cyclades. While an understanding of the changing proportions of Minoan and Mycenaean imports is important, the relationship of these imports to local ceramic developments in Late Cycladic II has not been explored. Therefore, I pay particular attention to stylistic developments in local ceramics, discuss the relationships
between Cycladic products and imports from the Greek Mainland and Crete, and
highlight the similarities and differences in Cycladic responses to Minoan and Mycenaean pottery. In turn, this study enables us to understand better –from a ceramic
perspective– the transitional period (Late Minoan IB–II/Late Cycladic II/Late Helladic II) between Minoan and Mycenaean ascendancy in the Cyclades, and in the
broader Aegean.
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Florence Gaignerot-Driessen
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From communal incorporated shrines to public independent sanctuaries in
LM III Crete
Characteristic of discovery of Cretan Postpalatial bench sanctuaries are large wheel
made terracotta figures with upraised arms together with typical cultic equipment.
Past and recent excavations on Crete illustrate a series of contexts that contain elements from this cultic equipment, particularly snake tubes, but lack such a Goddess with Upraised Arms. Most of these contexts date to Late Minoan (LM) IIIAB and form part of larger buildings with potential communal functions, this in
contrast to contexts in which figures occur which are freestanding public buildings and date to LM IIIB-C. This evolution suggests the changing dynamics of the
use of cult spaces. It is argued here that the LM IIIC figures with upraised arms
are a later addition in what we could call LM IIIA-B “Snake Tube Shrines” and
that they were not cult images, but symbolically represented votaries in context
of elite competition.
Ioanna Galanaki, Evi Goroyanni
Crete and the Cyclades reconsidered: Communication networks and processes during the Middle Bronze and the beginning of the Late Bronze Ages in the
light of new evidence from Lefkandi and Keos
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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At the apex of Minoanisation, Cretan influence seems to have been strongest on
those nodes of the exchange network that are arranged along the western Cyclades
(western string) and the Dodecanese and the western coast of Asia Minor (eastern string). The northernmost extent of this influence is where the Aegean sea
is constricted at its narrowest, i.e., approximately at the latitude of Ayia Irini and
Miletus. The reasons for this very specific geographic distribution have as yet not
been addressed in the literature. The present paper attempts to fill this lacuna and
address the reasons for this geographical discrepancy by comparing unpublished
material from two sites, Ayia Irini on Keos and Xeropolis- Lefkandi on Euboea.
These two sites, although in close proximity to each other and with established
contact between them, participated in the exchange network connecting the Aegean
with Crete in considerably different degrees, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
At Ayia Irini, one can find the entire “Minoan package” complete with imported and minoanising pottery, Linear A, Minoan weights, measures, and artistic tropes,
as well as the upright loom. However, at Lefkandi, not far from Keos along the
Euboean coast, the amount of Minoan or minoanising pottery remains small
throughout the Middle and early Late Bronze Age, even though the site was far
from isolated from the rest of the Aegean, as the abundance of Cycladic and Aegine-
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
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a1
tan fabrics makes evident. Thus, if interaction along certain routes existed and sites
such as Lefkandi were part of these contact networks from the beginning of the
Middle Bronze Age and on, what forces or choices in the communication patterns
excluded Lefkandi from the sphere of Minoanisation? This paper proposes answers to this question through a diachronic and comparative study of the patterns
of interaction between these two sites and Crete.
Geraldine Gesell
The goddesses with up-raised hands at Kavousi: The relationship between potters, fabrics, technology, and appearance of the figure
Although the goddess with up-raised hands is a standard type of goddess figure,
most of which is thrown the same way on the wheel in the LM IIIB and C periods, the details of its construction and modeling vary from site to site and also
on the same site. At Kavousi these variations appear to be connected with the choice
of the fabric used in the individual figures. The goddesses from this site were made
from five different types of coarse fabric and one of fine. The five coarse fabrics
were studied by Peter Day, Louise Joyner, and Vassilis Kilikoglou and published
in Hesperia 75 () 137-175. Very briefly, Group 1 is characterized by frequent
low-grade metamorphic rocks set in a ground mass rich in silver mica laths and
quartz grains. The firing temperature was relatively low, about 75 degrees C. Group
has a red matrix which contains frequent inclusions of acid igneous rocks, mostly granite. The firing temperature was relatively low, 75 degrees C. or below. Group
3 is characterized by large well-rounded aplastic inclusions of low-grade metamorphic rocks (phyllite and slate), sedimentary rocks (sandstones and siltstones),
and fine grain igneous rocks (basic volcanics?), set in a very fine-grained base clay.
Its firing temperature was -5 degrees C. Group 4 consists of granodiorite
inclusions in a calcarious matrix. It is easily recognized by its gold mica. Its firing temperature is 75- degrees C. Group 5 is characterized as the phyllite group.
Its firing temperature was less than 75 degrees C. Groups 1,, and 5 are considered
to be cooking vessel types and Groups 3 and 4 are common jar fabrics. The article claims that many workshops of potters, probably in the area of the Isthmus
of Ierapetra along the south coast of the Bay of Mirabello and in the Kavousi and
Mochlos areas, made the goddesses and the major ritual equipment, the snake tubes
and plaques.
The discussion in this paper builds on the article to discuss the differences
in the figures of the goddesses made from these different types of fabric, particularly in the details of the construction of the figure, modeling the surface, and
the final decorations. Most of the numbered goddesses ( out of ) were made
from Group 3 material. The details of these will be considered the standard for
Kavousi. The fabrics of Groups 1, , 4, and 5 were used in only one numbered god17
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
dess apiece (two goddesses are of fine ware). These will show the variations based
on fabric. There is the same relationship between the fabric and the snake tubes
and plaques. The majority of the snake tubes (5 out of 34) and plaques ( out
of 3) are also of Group 3 fabric. These, although they may be referred to, will not
be discussed in detail in this paper.
Luca Girella
The Kamilari tholos tombs project: New light on an old excavation
The two largest tholos tombs, both about 1.5 km north of the village of Kamilari,
were excavated by the Italian scholar Doro Levi in 15. A quite exhaustive preliminary report drew attention to the key-role of this pair of tombs. The larger
of the two tombs, built in MM IB, was most intensely used during MM III, but
there are also some deposits datable from LM I to LM IIIA. The smaller tomb was
exploited almost uninterruptedly from MM IB to LM I. Thanks to the generous
permission of the Italian Archaeological School, Prof. V. La Rosa, the Greek authorities, and the financial support of INSTAP, a project is currently focusing on
the complete study and publication of the Kamilari material.
The emerging picture is admittedly rather fragmentary, but the reading of excavations notebook and a study of a large body of the so far unpublished material allow us to present new information on the nature and amount of grave offerings.
This paper seeks to understand formal and functional changes in the tombs
through their periods of use. Firstly, by relating vessels shapes to specific areas of
the tholos (the main chamber, annexes α-ε, the external courtyard) it is possible
to draw a clearer picture of vessel distribution. Such a distribution sheds new light
on the ritual offerings and activities carried out within the tomb and in the external courtyard nearby.
Secondly, by exploring diachronic changes in the tombs the paper aims to set
properly the Kamilari cemetery in their region and to interpret differences in the
use of the tombs as elements of the mortuary behaviour of the communities which
used the cemetery through the centuries.
Thibaut Gomrée, Maia Pomadère
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The Pi Area at Malia: An exploration of a Prepalatial, Protopalatial and Neopalatial period Minoan town quarter
The Pi Area, which is located between the House Delta alpha and the Hypostyle
Crypt, is being excavated since 5. A Neopalatial building, the bâtiment Pi, has
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been discovered, and the excavations have revealed that the area had been inhabited
over different periods. The building had been constructed upon Protopalatial and
Prepalatial levels. The LM I material which has been collected suggests a mainly residential and domestic function of the building. In addition, various activities (such as textile production or obsidian manufacture) were taking place in the
course of every-day life in the area of bâtiment Pi. Moreover, some artifacts of particular importance, such as seals, figurines and a ‘cupule’ stone found in situ, indicate administrative as well as religious activities in the building. The house was
finally abandoned during the late LM IA after having been destroyed and/or rearranged several times.
This paper will present the spatial organization of this new building, bâtiment
Pi, as well as the rich history of the area, which seems to have been inhabited, at
least in part, without interruption as early as EM II. This Prepalatial level is of particular interest because the remains of that period, which have been discovered
sporadically throughout the site, have provided us with little information about
Malia during this period.
The excavations on area Pi have provided new data concerning Neopalatial
urbanism, as well as a valuable enrichment of our knowledge of the first occupation
period in the site of Malia.
Lucy Goodison
At death’s door: New evidence and new narratives from the Mesara-type tombs
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
a1
A new catalogue of the Mesara-type tombs compiled recently is based on field trips
to all previously listed sites, including some not seen by any archaeologist for up
to years and never published in visual form. This fieldwork raised new questions about the identity, location, architecture and ritual use of the tombs.
In particular it drew attention to the significance –both literal and symbolic– of the tomb doors through which the living interfaced with the unknown world
of death. The view and passage in and out of the tombs suggest a relationship mediated through physical and experiential elements including not only ‘toasting’
but also: movement; handling of bones; intervisibility; situation in landscape; activities at special times of day and year; and engagement with the cardinal points.
Archaeologists investigating the tombs also stand at the door of an unknown
world of death, about which they have constructed a number of narratives. These
have included generalized models of the funerary process based on: universalizing anthropological theories; analyses of mortuary rites as primarily a vehicle for
social representation indicating wealth and status; and narratives of abstract anthropomorphic divinity.
This paper suggests how such narratives have reflected a presentist privileging of the flight from corporeality to abstraction, and have pre-empted a thorough
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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interrogation of the material. It highlights the need for the articulation of new narratives consistent with the physical evidence of the tomb users’ engagement with
death and the body.
Lucy Goodison, Christine Morris
The archaeology of the lived body in the Cretan Bronze Age
Within archaeology and anthropology academic study of the body as a system of
signs or as a passive surface to be inscribed has given way to an interest in the body
as a product of ‘lived experience’. Bronze Age Crete offers an exceptional range
of prehistoric representations of the human body, worked in a rich variety of materials/genres (such as seals and rings, figurines, stone vases and frescoes). This
imagery shows the body in a variety of situations, postures and modes including
‘social’ situations; nudity; interaction and fusion with animals; hieratic poses; and
‘ecstatic’ dance. Beyond the field of imagery, treatment of the physical body is of
course preserved through funerary practices. A further important dimension to
the ‘lived body’ is bodily engagement with and movement through different environments and landscapes. Rarely has this wide range of material been considered as a whole as a means of exploring how the body was represented and experienced by the inhabitants of Bronze Age Crete.
The Round Table would welcome papers that engage with the theme of embodiment and lived experience in Bronze Age Crete from a wide range of perspectives including, but not restricted to, gender, costume, posture, performance
and display, sensory experience, body modification, ritual practice and treatment
of the dead body.
Elpida Hadjidaki
The first Minoan shipwreck: Eight years of study
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During an underwater survey conducted in the summer of 3 through the Greek
Department of Maritime Antiquities and funded by INSTAP, a collection of Minoan
transport vessels was found at a depth of 4-5 meters near the coast of Pseira, East
Crete. An additional underwater survey in the summer of 4 provided evidence
that the vessels might constitute the cargo of an ancient shipwreck. Thus excavation
began in the summer of 5 and ended in the summer of . Around artifacts were recovered from the site, including around ones which are nearly whole
and easily identifiable as types of amphorae and other large jars that would have carried liquids, probably wine or olive oil. All date to the same period, which is 117 BC, or Middle Minoan IIB. However, they are larger than corresponding ves-
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sels of the same period found so far on land. The large concentration of vessels in a
single location, their similarity, and their size, all confirm the initial supposition that
we have found the first Minoan shipwreck. Although no wood from the ship survived,
we can conclude that transport ships of around 1-15 meters in length serving the
local inhabitants were sailing the coasts of Crete by the Middle Minoan period.
Robin Hägg
On spatial relationships in Minoan religious architecture
After my paper on ”The bent axis approach in Minoan ritual” presented at the
th International Cretological Congress, I am continuing my investigation of various aspects of spatial relationships in Minoan buildings of religious or ceremonial function. Here, I will explore the relationship between dark indoor cult rooms
and adiacent outdoor gathering places, between pillar crypts and columnar shrines,
between lustral basins and their hypothetical superstructures, and between peak
sanctuaries and palace shrines.
Brigitta P. Hallager
A pictorial scene on a pyxis at Khania
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
Pictorial scenes on Minoan larnakes are not uncommon, but they are not very oen
depicted on vases. Birds and horns of consecration, oen with double axes or
branches, appear on shapes like cups, bowls, pyxides, stirrup jars, kraters, amphoroid
kraters and incense burners, but pictorial scenes involving human beings are indeed rare. ree pictorial scenes from Khania have so far been published: a chariot scene on an LM IIIA: alabastron, another chariot scene on an LM IIIB: krater
and a unique cult scene on an LM IIIA: 1 broad-legged stand. e first was found
in a tomb, the other two in the Greek-Swedish Excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square. Here another pictorial scene from these excavations will be presented. It adorns a small side-handled pyxis which was found in an LM IIIA: 1 well
and depicts a somewhat chaotic scene involving human beings.
Erik Hallager
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Seven new seal stones from the Greek-Swedish-Danish Excavations 2010
During the Greek-Swedish-Danish Excavations 1 in Ag. Aikaterini Square,
Kastelli Khania, were found seven new seal stones – all discovered in LM IIIB:1
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deposits. Five of the seal stones were found stacked together and found on a floor.
They were all lentoids in soft stone and with figural motifs. One small seal stone,
a lentoid in soft stone with a stylish design, came from a pit of LM IIB:1/ date,
while th last seal, an amygdaloid in rock crystal with a talismanic motif was found
between two floors of the LM IIIB:1 period. The seven seals shall be sortly presented and their chronological significance and importance shall be discussed.
Kostas Ηalikias, Stavroula Apostolakou
Settlement patterns in the Ierapetra region: A case study of the island of Chryssi
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
The landscape of the south Ierapetra Isthmus has changed dramatically over the
past few decades affecting the way we interpret settlement patterns and past human activity in the area. The island of Chryssi is one of the few exceptions, and
recent archaeological investigations there by the 4th Ephoreia have provided significant evidence for the exploitation of this small island through the centuries
and, in turn, the broader changes in settlement patterns that occurred along the
south coast of Crete.
Islands are ideal case studies because of their isolated environment which suffers minimal human impact. The “colonization” of small islands around Crete since
the Neolithic period constitutes a pattern that is well documented for Gavdos, Kouphonisi and Pseira. So far, the archaeological fieldwork on Chryssi has focused
mainly on recording past human activity and understanding human choices on
settlement location and land use. Research there has recorded a number of sites
that date from the Final Neolithic to the Venetian period. The occupation on Chryssi demonstrates the particular importance of this small island community during the Neopalatial, Hellenistic and Roman times and suggests the existence of
a thriving and complex network of settlements in the opposite coast of Crete, some
of which have not even been discovered (i.e., Neopalatial).
Haralampos V. Harissis, Anastasios V. Harissis
Apiculture in the prehistoric Aegean: Minoan and Mycenaean symbols revisited
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The scenes on Minoan and Mycenaean rings, seals and clay sealings have been often conceived as the key for an understanding of prehistoric Aegean religion. The
views of Evans, Nilsson, and many others over the past century have dominated
the various theories about the nature of this religion. The aim of this article is to
suggest an alternative view for some of the most important gold rings that have
led to these theories. By applying a naturalistic context of interpretation instead
of a religious one, it is possible to recognize in these rings some apiculture para-
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phernalia and practices instead of the established religious symbols. It is further
suggested that these rings and seals were used by overseers of beekeeping, a highstatus and highly valued industry of prehistoric Aegean as it can be deduced by the
finds of hives, smoking pots, honey extractors and so on that indicate systematic
Minoan apiculture.
Eleni Hatzaki
Urban transformations: The Little Palace North Project and the urban landscapes of Late Bronze Age Knossos
This paper presents the results of the Little Palace North Project (LPN), a twoseason excavation aimed to provide a diachronic picture of urban activities in the
core elite sector of urban Late Bronze Age Knossos.
The emerging picture from combining new and old excavation data suggests
that the urban landscape of Knossos underwent drastic changes in the Neopalatial, Final Palatial and Postpalatial periods. This analysis, therefore, challenges Arthur
Evans’s vision of an unaltered urban layout for Late Bronze Age Knossos (regularly used as a pan-Cretan model) and prompts the re-examination of urban development in other Cretan settlements with long and complex occupation sequences.
Göran Henriksson, Mary Blomberg
The results of the Uppsala project on Minoan astronomy
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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The project has had as its main objectives the definition of Minoan astronomy,
the uses of that astronomy by the Minoans, and its possible influence on Mycenaean and Greek astronomy.
As far as we are aware, this subject has not been studied systematically before. An
obvious impediment is the lack of written sources surviving from the Minoans. However, the development of archaeoastronomical methods to determine the orientations
of ancient structures and the profiles of the landscape opposite them, as well as our
computer programs that exactly recreate the positions of the celestial bodies as they
were in the far distant past have made the study feasible. In addition, statistical analysis, iconographical studies of Minoan artifacts, and the study of Mycenaean and Greek
documents for possible Minoan influence were also part of our method.
The project is a pilot study of representative examples of Minoan peak sanctuaries, palaces, manor houses and shrines. In the case of large monuments, we
measured the most likely places for astronomical activity, for example generally
accepted religious or ceremonial areas. Of the peak sanctuaries we chose:
Chamaizi, Juktas, Modi, Petsophas, Philioremos (Gonies), Pyrgos and Traosta15
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los; the palaces at Knossos, Malia, Phaistos and Zakros; the manor houses at Agia
Triada, the Southeast House at Knossos, Tylissos A and C and Vathypetro: the bench
shrine, portico and west shrine at Gournia, the tripartite shrine at Vathypetro and
the oblique shrine at Malia – buildings in all. We measured the orientation of
foundations, walls, and the horizon profiles opposite them with a digital theodolite. In the case of foundations, we measured each stone on both sides and computed the orientation by least squares fit.
Although we have not yet completed our analysis of three of the buildings,
the manors at Agia Triada and Tylissos A and C, the results of the remaining 1
give a clear picture of Minoan focus on motions of the celestial bodies and some
of their achievements in astronomical knowledge. Seventeen buildings were oriented to major celestial events: sunrise and sunset at the equinoxes and solstices,
major standstill of the moon, heliacal rising and setting of bright stars. Most of
these had deliberately arranged artificial or natural foresights. Eleven buildings
had one such orientation, four had two orientations, one had three, and one had
four. The other two, as well as one of the seventeen, had orientations to sunrise
at the times of year that would make it possible to identify the beginning of the
months not signified by the other orientations.
The analysis of the orientations of these buildings has helped to define the Minoan calendar and has also indicated that three of the shrines were probably made
by or for the Mycenaeans, thus sharing light on a thorny problem in Late Minoan
history.
A brief presentation of the results will be presented.
Carol R. Hershenson
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The expression of social differentiation across time: A diachronic study of Minoan halls
Minoan halls have been extensively discussed in scholarship on Minoan architecture, examining their plans, circulatory connections, distribution among Minoan houses, and diachronic changes in fashion. This study compares the expression
of social hierarchy through different forms of Minoan halls in Neopalatial and
Prepalatial houses, with brief consideration of Protopalatial examples, and speculates on the architectural technology whose introduction into Minoan domestic architecture may have enabled the invention of the familiar Neopalatial forms
of halls from their Prepalatial counterparts.
Three types of halls have been recognized in Neopalatial Minoan houses, with
different arrangements of columns and other supporting structures: polythyra,
rooms with a column, and ‘Palaikastro-style’ halls. The plans of these rooms are
sharply differentiated, as are the materials, building methods, and decorative techniques of the first two; these three types of rooms are similar largely in their re-
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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lationships to other rooms and their positions within the circulatory systems of
their houses.
Two types of halls have been documented in Prepalatial Minoan houses: high
style and vernacular. In contrast to the strong distinctions among Neopalatial halls,
Prepalatial high style and vernacular halls are differentiated at the ground-storey level only by their synchronic sizes, exterior shape, and details of construction and plan;
they are similar not only in the same elements shared by all types of Neopalatial halls
(relationships with other rooms and circulatory position) but also in most aspects
of plan, building materials, and most techniques of construction. Indeed, the degree
of socioeconomic distinction expressed in Minoan halls during the Prepalatial and
Neopalatial periods is a microcosm of the differences among their houses.
Similarities, especially those common synchronically to all Prepalatial halls,
are also shared diachronically by Pre- and Neopalatial Minoan halls, without regard to socioeconomic or typological differentiations in either period. There are
further detailed similarities of Neopalatial rooms with a column and polythyra
to Prepalatial halls -especially but not exclusively to vernacular and high style ones,
respectively – in their plans and functions, in structural supports for the former
rooms, and in associated spaces and possibly control of exposure to outside weather conditions for the latter. Prepalatial halls thus present architectural structures
and arrangements that might have inspired the characteristic halls of both vernacular and high style Neopalatial Minoan houses.
Introduction of a single additional technology to Minoan domestic architecture
during the later Prepalatial period –the reduction of supports for ceiling and roofbeams at the ground-storey level from two-dimensional walls to one-dimensional
points such as columns or piers– enables many of the differences in plans visible
between Pre- and Neopalatial halls. From the rather similar forms of Prepalatial
vernacular and high style halls, differential application of columns and piers can
create all three quite diverse plans of Neopalatial halls. This study thus suggests
both the inspiration and mechanism for the invention on Crete of these distinctively Minoan rooms, and traces the sharpening of the socio-economic distinctions expressed in Minoan domestic architecture.
abstracts
Louise Hitchcock
“All the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites”: A current assessment of the evidence for the Minoan connection with the Philistines
a1
The co-occurrence of the ethnic designations Cherethite and Pelethite and the association of the Philistines with Caphtor in the Old Testament point to a specifically Cretan origin or affiliation for at least some of the Philistines in literary tradition. This identification, although bolstered by the discovery that the Philistines
produced their own version of Mycenaean IIIC pottery, has rightly come under
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criticism from those reluctant to simplistically associate pots with peoples. However, additional categories of archaeological evidence indicating an Aegean origin for the Philistines are well-rehearsed and include the reel-style of loom weights,
drinking habits, consumption of pork, Aegean-style cooking pots, use of hearths
and bathtubs, temple architecture, and megaron-style buildings. Yet, in contrast
to the strong identification of the Philistines with Crete in the literary tradition,
these Aegean characteristics of Philistine culture point to Mycenaean Greece.
This paper examines the current state of our understanding of the specific connections between Crete and Philistia with regard to recent discoveries and interpretations of Philistine culture, with particular reference to the author’s excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath and study of other Philistine material in Israel. Among
the categories of evidence examined in this paper are architectural features, particularly hearths, but also spatial syntax, plaster, and tool use; the spatial manipulation of artifacts such as the practice of curating animal head cups and seal use,
ritual action, and recently discovered inscriptional evidence. It is argued that key
features of Minoan culture survived in Philistine culture, embedded among other cultural practices that can be associated with the Mycenaeans, Cypriots, and
Canaanites, and that they form an important record of the Cretan and Minoan
contribution to human civilization.
Martin Hoffmeister
Early Minoan II construction technology: Vasiliki and Myrtos Phournou Koryphi
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
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A detailed analysis of the walling components –such as the thickness and height,
mortar, chinking, stone surface finishing, stone size and distribution and stone
origin, bonding, outside and inside treatment, uniformity and variety, finishes,
treatment of openings– and of foundations, ceilings, floorings, stairs, pillars and
pillars bases[,] provides comparative data, [does not make sense!!!: not only on
the refinement level of pottery typology, but has also a disclosure value in diachronic
geographic, cultural and phasing/chronological? assessments].
In the transition from EM I (e.g. Mochlos, Ellenes Amarion, Myrtos Pyrgos,
Phaistos) to EM II (e.g. Vasiliki, Palaikastro, Phournou Koryphi), the building technology reflects an increase in awareness of the properties of materials and sophistication in the use of available resources, as a result of the process of nucleation and increased availability of food resources.
From the roughly worked stones of EM I Phaistos with small cobbles embedded
in their core, uncoursed anon clay foundations.
The EM I structures at Phournou Koryphi show an increase in structural awareness in the composition of the antae, jambs and corners. The use of chinking emphasises the lessened reliance on mud fillers, and the placement of heavier stones
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
a1
on top shows the use of anchoring properties of weight. The use of available flat
stones permits very rough coursing and increases vertical bonding. While the stones
remain unworked, a selection of suitable units permits flat faces of the walls. The
almost total lack of running joints may be accidental, due to the flat shape of available materials. Free standing walls are consciously composed to sustain the lack
of lateral support. The inlined shape of the hill and the presence of exposed outgrowth of the bedrock are used to increase the stability of the all-rock walls. The
presence of second floors remains unknown, but, if they existed, it is safe to assume that they were made of light materials, like mud or wattle-and-daub, because
of the relative thinness of the rock walls. The variety of shape and composition
of the stones suggests their casual collection from the nearby fields. The use of
grinding stones is a proof of phasing or gradual growth of the settlement and of
architectural additions. The chinking, again, shows the care for solidity of the walls
when contrasted to boulder/clay assemblages. While the appearance of the walls
is extremely rustic, their technology has a long history, which is apparent in the
selection and construction of the materials and the structural integrity of different components of the walls. Indeed, the duration of the walls is a proof of the
long tradition of building trials and errors.
On the hamlet of Vasiliki “House on the Hilltop”, a conflation of houses of different dates includes the Red-House, roughly contemporary with Myrtos. This building introduces us to “urban sophistication”, with its paving, its two stories, its red
painted walls and floors, its mudbrick and pise superstructure, and its storerooms
and its well. It is worth noting that other Minoan settlements of the same period
are architecturally less advanced than Vasiliki. Rough stones are used for the walls,
but abundant mud mortar compensates for their uneven shapes. The available material has dictated such an arrangement, in contrast to Myrtos where the flatness
of local stones allowed for tighter joints. The doorjambs and thresholds use flat elements enhancing thus stability. The thick plaster played a crucial role in consolidating the cobble/mud walls. The monumentality of later ashlar walls is here contrasted to the almost “concrete”-like appearance of the heterogeneous mass used
to fill the walls. The random collection of the rocks is compensated by the copious use of soft mud and reflects the care for experimentation which is characteristic of the period. The amorphous shape of some of the steps shows the lack of
building rules. On the other hand, double walls cobble fills result from the search
of stability, especially to support loads of the second floors. The expenses of selecting,
collecting and later shaping the stones reflect directly the appearance and, thus,
social significance of the structure. The complexity of the buildings of Vasiliki and
Myrtos reveals the community’s effort required to accomplish these settlements.
It may be argued that technological sophistication goes step by step with social,
intellectual and cultural sophistication, but, in reality, the quality of inhabited space
is driven by increased demand, and the real and perceived need for quality in life
styles, which are also retraced in food, clothing, travel and other life strategies.
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The Minoan peak-back robe: An investigation of Middle Minoan dress
The elegant women’s costume that emerges at the beginning of the Middle Bronze
Age on Crete is a fitting match for the grand palaces that appear contemporaneously. Topped by a tall headdress, a dress with a high peaked back, breast baring
front, and flair skirt exudes the refinement and sophistication of the burgeoning
Minoan civilization. Portrayed on a corpus of small, crudely carved terracotta figurines found mainly at peak sanctuaries, however, we are presented with a mere
hint of its original finery. Nevertheless, despite the lack of details, certain elements
of the costume’s construction manifest themselves when examining the remnants
of dress on each and every figurine, some photographed in the round for the first
time. Comparisons with representations of clothes from the Near East and preserved garments from Egypt provide us with new evidence for contemporary construction technology in the Eastern Mediterranean.
This paper evaluates previous suggestions and new evidence for construction
and presents a modern cloth replication of the garment on a live model who imitates the pose of the figurines. This new methodology in research and analysis
results in a better understanding of the early elegant Minoan costume that is no
longer preserved and ultimately brings it to life. It discerns how it contrasts in some
respects, and looks forward in others, to the luxurious Minoan dress design of the
Late Bronze Age.
Amalia G. Kakissis
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Knossos online: The BSA Excavation Records and the Stratigraphical Museum collection
The Archives of the British School at Athens is the principal repository for all Excavation Records associated with projects of the School from its foundation in 1.
One of the largest sections of the BSA Excavation Records is the archival records
from BSA excavations in Knossos. The aim of this presentation is to show how
the online resources of the British School at Athens new Museum and Archives
Online (BSA-MAO) programme (specifically the Archive Records and the
Stratigraphical Museum artifacts) will facilitate research about Knossos.
The Knossos Excavation Records collection contains material from all the British
archaeological excavations conducted in Knossos and its environs beginning in the
late 1s to the present day. Some of the Knossos sites represented in the records
include: Ailias Cemetery, Ayios Ioannis Cemetery, Fortetsa, Fortetsa Fork Cemetery, Graeco-Roman Cemetery, Gypsades Aqueduct, Gypsades Cemetery, House
of the Frescoes, Kephala Tholos Tomb, Medical Faculty, Minoan Unexplored Man-
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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sion, Monasteriako Kephali, North Cemetery, Roman Agora, Sanctuary of Demeter, Sellopoulo, Spilia, Unexplored Mansion, and Venezelion Hospital.
The bulk of the records consist of contributions of excavators who worked on
projects in the 1s-1s, several of which are now published. The Knossos Excavation Records Collection is an open collection in which new records are added
after publications of sites and materials are completed. Various British excavators
who worked at Knossos produced documents. Among them are Sir Arthur Evans,
Duncan Mackenzie, John Pendlebury, Sinclair Hood, Hugh Sackett, Mervyn
Popham, and Hector Catling. The material in the collection includes notebooks,
original drawings, photographs, catalogue cards of finds, correspondence, manuscript/printers proofs and various pamphlets and publications.
In 3-4, the Knossos Excavation Records were re-catalogued under a new
classification system following the international standardized archival description.
This new data was added to an electronic database for future migration into an online searchable database. Additionally, a few notebooks and plans were digitized
during this project. Simultaneously, the Statigraphical Curatorial Museum Project was undertaken to record all the artifacts in the Knossos Stratigraphical Museum. This data, along with images, was also put in an electronic database.
In , the BSA purchased KE Software’s EMu programme to create a unified and cross-searchable digital catalogue of our holdings, with a web interface
to enable worldwide access for research and teaching. In the first migration the
catalogue of the Stratigraphical Museum catalogue was uploaded and is now searchable online. The next step will be for the Knossos Excavation Records catalogue
to be migrated into the BSA Museum and Archives Online and more of the collection to be digitized.
These two collections once linked on BSA-MAO will be an indispensable online research tool for scholars. The aim then is to link other collections in the BSA
Archives associated with Knossos such as the Personal Papers of Mark Cameron,
Nicolas Coldstream, and Vincent A. Desborough as well as linking to online catalogues of other institutions holding information on Knossos like the Sir Arthur
Evans Archival Project of the Ashmolean Museum who have started digitizing the
collection.
abstracts
Athanasia Kanta, Alexia Spiliotopoulou
Hollow animal votives in Cretan sanctuaries. The case of the Sanctuary at Symi
Viannou
a1
Hollow animal votives are a distinct feature of Cretan sanctuaries in Prehistory
and in the Early Iron Age and later times. Large hollow animals are already present in peak sanctuaries. Some of them are obvious rhytons, while others do not
seem to have had this function. From LM IIIC onwards they become fashionable
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votives in open air sanctuaries of various types and in caves. The sanctuary at Symi
Viannou has produced a great number of such votives dating from the LM IIIC
onwards. The present paper examines the evidence for their form and construction. It also examines the reasons that led to the introduction of this kind of offering in Cretan sanctuaries of various types at this period, e.g. the Patsos cave
or the Piazzale dei Sacceli at Hagia Triada and elsewhere, together with their great
longevity in Crete. Matters of function and symbolism are also taken into consideration.
Froukje Klomp
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
Vasiliki Kephalaki revisited: A reassessment of its Early Minoan architecture
Preliminarily it should be stated, that the general background of my paper is formed
by research concerning the development of architecture from the Neolithic to the
mature phases of the Bronze Age. The palaces of Crete have been characterised,
by some, as being the principal ceremonial places –of Minoan religion–, which
grew gradually around a court that formed the focus of ritual activities since the
Early Minoan IIB period. Others have suggested that, by the Late Bronze Age, the
symbolic and social practices of village settlements in the Neolithic and Early Bronze
Age were gradually monumentalized, transformed, politicized and brought under control of the central authority of the Minoan “palace” system. Since I would
like to follow this train of thought at least partly, as it might reopen the debate as
to how long and how endemic and in what shape, in fact, the pre-palatial foundation of the palaces manifests itself, the central questions posed in my investigations may be formulated as follows: which religious concept may initially, and
basically, have governed the architectural creation of the palaces? And why is mortuary practice singled out from explaining the emergence of the palaces? Obviously, the monumental tombs of the third millennium BC are the most potential
architectural candidates for being the forerunners of the palaces. To shed some
light on these issues I would like to deal here with some intensively debated architectural phenomena of the Early Bronze Age, in particular with those of the
excavations in Vasiliki, on the Isthmus of Ierapetra.
During the EBA the first tombs, constructed in stone, appeared. Often single or doubled as for example the tholoi tombs in the Mesara, or structured like
houses in groups resembling a settlement, as is the case in the east of Crete. The
creation of built cemeteries for the first time in Crete reflects a growing concern
for the deceased –and consequently a cult of the ancestors–, the remembrance of
whom must have been closely bonded to that of the living. In the archaeological
record, however, we are faced with the problem that different regions show divergent histories. To put it bluntly, in the Mesara we have many circular tholoi,
without properly built settlement layouts, and in the east, in Fournou Korifi and
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Vasiliki, it seems that we have squarely built settlements, without cemeteries. Does
this discrepancy reflect excavation bias or a different emphasis on basic cultural and hence architectural traditions?
It has been recognized, that during the Neolithic it was practice to bury at least
some of the deceased, for example infants, inside the habitation walls of settlements. And recently, on account of more careful investigation of habitation debris, this practice is becoming more detailed and also confirmed for adults. If this
Neolithic burial tradition of inhumation in houses has been retained somehow
during the Early and later Bronze Age, it seems reasonable to expect that it may
show up in the devise and innovation of the architectural environment. As it does,
for example, in the house tombs.
On account of the above stated meditations, and on examining the architecture in the reports, and by myself on site, it will be proposed that the core of the
EBA settlement of Vasiliki, as represented by the “Red House”, in all probability
was a monumental tomb, which, together with the contemporary architecture, such
as the great pavement, formed an early monumental building, like perhaps a sanctuary or early palace, and that the subsequent building phases and occupation of
the site reflect a modest but lasting preoccupation with this very important ancient beginning.
Anna Klys
The Afiartis Project: Current survey results on Karpathos with special reference to Minoan penetration
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
The Afiartis Project constitutes the final stage of an ambitious diachronic programme on a marginal island environment, at the SE fringe of Europe. The project involves an intensive and systematic surface investigation of the region of Afiartis, including the integrated area to the NW –now officially belonging to the municipal district of Arkassa. This is a more or less even and relatively fertile coastal
area on the southern and SW part of the island of Karpathos in the Dodecanese.
The survey is designed to cover the ancient times, with some emphasis on the
prehistoric remains. But the now irretrievably vanishing and methodologically invaluable material ethnography and ethnoarchaeology of the area are also included.
Closely linked with archaeology and ethnography are matters of geology, geography and ecology, and these are being studied as well.
During four research seasons, new sites were found: one Prehistoric with
no pottery associations, 13 Neolithic, 5 Neolithic/EBA, EBA, 44 Minoanizing
and 31 Roman. Among the pottery collected from these sites are small scatters
of Mycenaean, Classical and Hellenistic date.
Most of the new Minoanizing sites represent a single household, a farmstead,
including arable land and farming installations. The material remains of a typi13
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cal household assemblage are of Minoan style and include tripod cooking pots,
jars (hole mouthed, oval mouthed, bridge-spouted), pithos jars of various types,
bowls and cups, beehives etc. Minoan imports, usually fine decorated pots and
stone vases, do not occur very often.
This kind of economic system, which appears to survive until recently, is called
by the locals stavlos. In a few instances, concentrations of such sites form small nucleated settlements, that is to say hamlets. Two sites, both on a low hill slope, seem
to represent traditional local shrines, whose ceremonial repertoire appears to have
been enhanced by Minoan traits, as is shown by the plentitude of conical cups.
An essential conclusion can be drawn from the survey results: there seems to
have been, in the course of Minoan palatial times, an impressive settlement expansion, population and wealth increase, and cultural elaboration in this, relatively
fertile part of Karpathos, a fact that must be associated with a significant impulse
from Crete in the form of technology accompanied by acquisition or imitation
of Minoan prestige objects.
Carl Knappett, Gerald Cadogan
Pre- and Protopalatial pottery from Myrtos Pyrgos
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
14
For those interested in the political geography of Crete in the early nd millennium BC, ceramic regionalism is probably the most important strand of evidence
available. The pronounced differences between the centre and the east of the island in pottery styles have often been used to argue for distinct geopolitical entities at this time, that is to say the late Prepalatial and Protopalatial periods. Yet relatively few sites have been included in the discussion, other than the palatial centres of Knossos, Phaistos and Malia, each of which has substantial ceramic assemblages from the periods in question. Very few non-palatial sites have been considered, although among these it is probably Myrtos Pyrgos that has figured most
prominently, largely due to the abundance of its deposits, and the striking similarities of its finewares to those of Malia. However, these comparisons have come
before the full publication of the Period II and III (late Pre- and Protopalatial) pottery, which is now imminent thanks to a series of study seasons. In this paper, then,
we conduct a detailed assessment of the corpus and its regional comparanda, further facilitated by new evidence from other non-palatial sites in east Crete, such
as Petras, Palaikastro, Sissi, Mochlos and Pefka near Pacheia Ammos. This new level of detail in the ceramic evidence allows for the elaboration of a more richly textured story of early geopolitical complexity on the island of Crete.
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Olga Krzyszkowska
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Seals from Petras, Siteia: New insights for MM II hard stone glyptic
Excavations in the cemetery of Petras, Siteia have yielded important new examples of MM II seals made of hard semi-precious stones –agate, carnelian, blue chalcedony and jasper– decorated with ornamental, pictorial and hieroglyphic devices.
Shapes represented are a Petschaft (loop signet), a rectangular bar, and three-sided
and four-sided prisms. The association of prisms, whether made of steatite or hard
stone, with eastern Crete has long been recognized. Hitherto, however, virtually
all extant hard stone prisms have been stray finds, and none has been discovered
in a context likely to be more or less contemporary with manufacture date. The
new examples from Petras are of exceptionally high quality, matching if not exceeding the very finest known and thus helping to reinforce earlier observations
regarding the role of Petras as an emerging regional centre in this period. From
a purely glyptic perspective, the seals now encourage a thorough reappraisal of
the interplay between script and contemporary trends in ornamental and pictorial motifs in MM II hard stone engraving.
Charlotte Langhor with Emanuela Alberti
A preliminary examination of the Neopalatial pottery from Area Pi at Malia
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
In terms of ceramic consumption and relative chronology, we still lack a good definition of Neopalatial Malia in the perspective of other contemporaneous Cretan
sites. Indeed, the Neopalatial ceramic sequence available today for Malia is still
largely based on the one suggested by Pelon for Quartier Epsilon explored in the
1’, although partially refined in the course of the stratigraphical excavations
conducted in front of the North-East Entrance of the Palace (A. Van de Moortel, P. Darcque). One of the aims of the recent archaeological project of Bâtiment
Pi was to better understand the occupational sequence of the Neopalatial settlement. Thanks to detailed stratigraphical observations we have initiated a definition of the ceramic phases of this building. Moreover, this pottery analysis aims
to provide a simultaneous examination of the production and consumption of both
fine and coarse wares, the latter being particularly missing from the published ceramic corpus of Neopalatial Malia.
Several elements suggest that Bâtiment Pi was violently destroyed, perhaps by
earthquake, a short period before its abandonment. Massive and particularly compact deposits of broken pottery and building material have been revealed, sometimes covering entire rooms, sometimes pushed aside in the corners of the rooms.
There is even a large pit, dug through previous levels, which was filled with largely complete domestic pots that were discarded. The preliminary examination of
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this pottery suggests that it is a stylistically homogenous assemblage of mature LM
IA date. This may imply that a major catastrophe hit at least this part of the settlement, an event maybe contemporary to that identified at Knossos (Macdonald 1). The scarcity of primary floor deposits and the thick deposits encountered in secondary position in the two small storerooms 1 and 11 also suggest
that a cleaning and leveling operation of the building and perhaps its surrounding area was undertaken following this destructive episode. Stratigraphical
traces of a reoccupation of the Pi Area are very limited, partly complicated by the
proximity of the modern surface. The analysis of the pottery found in some of the
more superficial levels does not exclude a late LM IA or LM IB occupation and
at least some frequentation of the area during this specific period, still sparsely
evidenced at Malia.
Valeria Lenuzza
Rain-water management in Minoan Crete
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
Despite the rising attention to subsistence strategies and environmental management
in Bronze Age Crete, the development of techniques related to the run-off and the
use of rain-water in Minoan sites is still a neglected subject within Minoan archaeology. The need of managing the drainage and the storage of rain-water is
indissolubly connected with climate, with the cycles of rainfall and drought which
characterize the whole course of Minoan civilization and have been partially reconstructed with the support of palynological data and archaeological evidence.
Documents pertaining to rain-water drainage mainly occur in the Neopalatial period. This could just reflect the fragmentary nature of archaeological investigations, but could also indicate a growing technical knowledge or the emergence of new needs connected to climatic changes towards more and more unstable conditions and an increasing rainfall.
The excavations yielded different kinds of items which could be classified as
fragments of eaves gutters, rain-pipes or receptacles for the water falling from the
roof. They allow to follow at least a part of the rain-water course, from the roof
of the buildings to its final discharge out of the structure or to its collection inside cisterns. Fragments of drains with π-section found in the collapse of the roof
at different sites could be interpreted as part of eaves and, in some cases, still preserve the end, in the form of a drain widening in a semicircular shape. From the
eaves, the water pelts down freely to the ground, falling inside rectangular limestone or circular clay receptacles, which are the starting point for horizontal conduits that lead water to the main drainage system of the buildings.
In some cases, rain-water is conducted to the ground through vertical drainpipes. Indeed, the limestone receptacle discovered in the Area of the Stone Drainhead, in the NE wing of the Knossos Palace, still preserves fading traces of plas-
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tered clay on the top surface. These traces could pertain to a vertical drain-pipe
descending from either the roof top or from an open area at the upper floor towards the drainage system of the sector, which ends at the blind well inside the
verandah on the N side of the Court of the Stone Spout. Vertical drains also ensure the drainage of water from terraces and balconies, as in the oval house at
Chamaizi, still belonging to the Protopalatial period.
A distinctive architectonic element related to rain-water management is the
so-called impluvium, a hollow rectangular basin often consisting in a simple depression of the pavement framed with columns, in connection with an open area,
which gathers rain-water and discharges it through a drain.
Evidence concerning the rain-water management, mainly belonging to the
Neopalatial period, does not allow to glimpse, for this period at least, an urgent
need of keeping and storing water. Water, even if surely a precious natural resource,
does not seem to represent in this phase a rare good, but a quite abundant resource
on the island. In other words, architectural evidence, mirrored in the flourishing
landscapes of the contemporary wall-paintings, sheds some light on the knowledge of the climate in the Neopalatial period, confirming the scarce information
obtained by the scientific analysis. For the Protopalatial period, the picture is quite
different, with more documents pertaining to the collection and the storage of rainwater, such as the cistern in the inner court of the building at Chamaizi, that receives the water descending from the inward-sloping roof, or the cistern on the
slopes at Myrtos Pyrgos, possibly related to fragments of pipes found in the immediate surroundings.
Colin F. Macdonald
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
The Period XV (later 14th century BC) pottery of Building 4 at Palaikastro,
East Crete
The last main phase of Building 4 at Palaikastro was one when almost every room
was in use, several of them filled with a wide range of pottery, mostly in local fabrics, including many medium-sized transport amphorae (with trickle decoration
in imitiation of split liquids) concentrated in just a few rooms in the north and
west. Large primary deposits of pottery were recovered during excavation by the
British School at Athens, directed by Hugh Sackett and Alexander MacGillivray,
and supervised first by Colin Macdonald and then Sean Hemingway. The paper
will summarize the results of the recent ceramic study and make some suggestions as to the function of the building in the later 14th century B.C. In the past
labelled LM IIIA/B, the pottery of Period XV at Palaikastro can now be more confidently placed in the LM IIIA even though it has little in common with developments in the centre and west of the island.
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Photini McGeorge
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Intramural Infant and Child Burials in Minoan Crete
The Minoans normally buried their dead extramurally. Thus intramural burial
appears to be a rather un-Minoan custom. Apart from one Early Minoan example, most intramural infant burials begin to occur from LMIA in East Crete and
at Knossos. There are now a sufficient number of them to attempt a review and
interpretation.
This paper also reviews the custom in neighbouring geographical areas: Mainland Greece, Anatolia, North Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt. Inspiration may have come to Crete directly or indirectly from the Near East where
intramural burial was practised by the earliest sedentary communities and continued, in spite of the establishment of extramural cemeteries, through the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Continuance of the practice for infants and children may have had some connection with natal customs and ceremonies, procedures
that needed to be performed before a child’s integration into society.
Some of the Minoan burials appear to convey funerary symbolism which reflects eschatological beliefs and echoes Levantine mythology, while there is also
evidence of fusion with local customs and ideas.
Christofilis Maggidis
“Divine politics”: Cemetery and sanctuary as arena for political domination
and social transformation in Minoan Crete
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
Religion can be highly effective as a control mechanism due to its powerful social effect, integrative force, and inherent conservatism. The strong emotive and
socially bonding force of religion reaffirms collective identity and forges communal
solidarity through beliefs and ritual, while sanctuary and cemetery function like
territorial markers, sanctifying community rights on land and natural recourses. Apart from the reality of societal unity, however, cult or funerary ritual creates and promotes yet another reality, that of difference in the form of internal divisions (inclusion/exclusion, active/passive participation, type/level of involvement,
quantitative and qualitative differences of offerings) which reflect socioeconomic
differentiation and define social ranking. Furthermore, by being highly impervious to change, religion preserves not only its own traditional beliefs and rituals, but also the intertwined social structures which support them. The appropriation, therefore, of religion by political hierarchies can effectively paralyze social resistance, integrate diverse populations into a homogeneous culture and centralized socio-political structure, and consolidate the power of the dominant hierarchy by legitimizing its authority and the social order.
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Competing elite factions and emerging palatial hierarchies in Minoan Crete
gradually asserted control and gained restricted access to both cemeteries and sanctuaries by systematically re-organizing and standardizing burial and sacred space,
by formalizing and regulating ritual, crystallizing a coherent ideology, and ultimately by claiming a mediator role and monopolizing a privileged physical and
ideological connection to gods and ancestors through mythical and lineage ties,
thereby complementing their physical and socioeconomic separation from the mass
with another, cognitive level of differentiation. This paper attempts to study diagnostic cases of religion appropriation for political domination in Minoan Crete,
outline their spatial distribution and temporal development, and trace patterns
of variation and uniformity; the ultimate aim is to reveal mechanisms employed
by controlling hierarchies and to conglomerate a complex process of social morphogenesis which is based on the dynamics of a constant dialogue and interplay
of politics and religion. The socio-political process of gradual appropriation of religion by ruling elite groups and later by palatial hierarchies can be documented
by tracing schematically the temporal and spatial development of five distinct patterns in the course of the advanced Prepalatial, Protopalatial, Neopalatial, and Final-Palatial period (EM II–LM IIIA1): (i) typological standardization of sacred
and funerary architecture; (ii) ‘metastasis’ of sacred space, involving relocation,
diffusion and centralization of cult; (iii) systematic spatial organization, formalization, and institutionalization of ritual, including emergence of organized priesthood and organic association of calendar and production with religion; (iv) increasing social ranking; and (v) emergence of individualism in cemeteries and sanctuaries. The comparative examination of these variables reveals how emerging palatial hierarchies manipulated, appropriated and eventually monopolized both funerary and cult ritual, thereby consolidating their power and legitimizing their
political authority in an admirable symbiosis and interplay of politics and religion.
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Çiğdem Maner
abstracts
Across the sea: Minoan building techniques at the end of the MBA and in the
LBA in southeastern and central Anatolia
a1
The Minoans were indeed very good architects. For them, the esthetic as well as
the steadiness of a building were very important. The technique of attaching beams
with pins to stone was applied by the Minoans on Crete in the Middle Minoan
III period. Craftsmen were drilling holes in stones to attach the wooden beams
of the framework. This technique was also applied at the end of the Middle Bronze
Age in Tilmen Höyük and Alalakh VII in Southeast Anatolia. The Hittites (ca. 1511 BC), were using these building techniques as well. Hundreds of dowel holes
on building stones in Hittite sites indicate that they were using the same building technique as the Minoans. In this paper the building techniques of the Mi1
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
noans and the MBA and LBA Anatolian sites will be compared. It will also be discussed whether Minoan building techniques have travelled across the sea to Anatolia or if these building techniques have travelled from Anatolia to Crete.
Manolis Melas
The politics of colonization: Continuity, change and acculturation in the Minoan periphery
The notion of ideology pervades modem archaeological theory and more specifically Marxist and post-processual schools of thought. Ideology is here taken in
a Marxian sense of using ideas and other facts of discourse as a means of creating and consolidating social boundaries. As a matter of fact, in archaeology this
kind of approach employs material culture as a social and political strategy employed by past agents or present interpreters.
From its outset, Minoan archaeology has been developed along ideological
premises. Evans himself interpreted his discoveries on the basis of a Victorian model of imperial grandeur (cf. «Palace of Minoans») and colonial expansion (cf. «Minoan thalassocracy»). Greek mythology was called forth to support such explanations, which dominate literature till today (cf. «Minoan colonization»). Exceptions
are few (e.g. Melas 1, 11). These draw attention to a misinterpretation of data,
which led among other biased inferences, to the «identification of pots with people», that is to say that imported goods, craft, and other ideas are necessarily accompanied by incoming people (= colonists).
A current archaeological survey on Karpathos appears to discourage colonial
interpretations. What is undeniable is that during the formative period of the «first
palaces» on Crete radical changes occur in the South Aegean, culminating in the
«second palace period». Those changes originate from Crete, a major cultural centre, and spread to its periphery. Technology seems to form the first more significant change in Karpathos and elsewhere, including the plough. This led to another most important change, population movement from rocky coastal heights
to inland cultivable lands: fertile plains and valleys. Other changes involve crafts,
such as the potters’ wheel and associated kiln, Minoan culture traits, such as artistic trends in vase painting, and ceremonial practices in festival occasions involving
massive use of conical cups.
On the basis of various forms of «contact» and social theories and anthropological analogies, all these changes may well be accounted for as borrowings
effected through mechanisms such as trade and exchange of services, as well as
by the sporadic presence of Cretan residents. This model appears to be aided by
two major cultural aspects that remained unchanged: architecture and religious
topography and customs. On Karpathos, small local hill-shrines continue,
whereas peak sanctuaries of Minoan type are absent.
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Flora Michelaki
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Mortuary architecture and depositional behaviour in the tholos cemeteries of
south-central Crete, 3000-1700 BC: The case of Kephali Odigitrias at “Skaniari
Lakkos”
A substantial amount of evidence for Prepalatial and Protopalatial Cretan societies derives from the mortuary record of the tholos tombs, found mainly in southcentral Crete. Despite the severe looting of most of these sites, important architectural elements along with significant quantities of material culture have survived. The longevity of these monuments due to their repeated use, repair and elaboration through time, stresses their significance to the burying groups, symbolising lineality and stability in the face of significant changes in society. A few recent site publications and synthetic studies have recognised that the development
of individual cemeteries is complex, with new buildings added and others going
out of use, accompanied by changes in the way the dead and artefacts were deposited in these changing spatial contexts through time.
The site at Kephali Odigitrias, at the location of «Skaniari Lakkos» is an unpublished complex tholos cemetery comprising several mortuary buildings. The
site was initially excavated in 1 by Dr C. Davaras, following the thorough looting of the main tholos. Further looting destroyed sections of additional funerary
buildings in the unexcavated area of the cemetery, as well as disrupting deposits.
Further rescue excavations by Dr A. Vasilakis took place during 14-5. This material is being studied as component of broader research on complex tholos cemeteries. The present study will present an overall picture of the architectural development and changing patterns of use and deposition during the long history
of use of the mortuary complex.
Soledad María Milán Quiñones de León
A theoretical model for the design of the palatial territory of Malia
abstracts
a1
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a theoretical approach to the possible
palatial territory of the Minoan palace of Malia through the application of the Spatial Archaeology models and the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) that
consist primarily in a methodological tool to organize, analyze and visualize the
combined information of archeological, topographical, environmental and statistical data. During the last decade, the use of digital cartography and GIS has
been one of the principal technical revolutions for the study of the landscape in
Archaeology.
During the Middle Bronze Age, in the Protopalatial period, a number of architectural monumental buildings sharing several features arise in different parts
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
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of Crete and are generally known as ‘palaces’. The appearance of these monumental
structures implies the existence of a special form of political, economic and social power with a specific functionality. Probably, the Minoan palace was a centralized redistributive center for a wider hinterland and that is why some scholars identify its emergence with the origin of a centralized state in Crete. Thus, the
palatial system, for its maintenance and development, needs a territory for its support that exceeds the exploitation of its immediate environment. We start from
what we are certain of, and that is the existence of the three main Minoan palaces
that are evidenced in the Protopalatial period, Knossos, Phaistos and Malia, and
we apply the two models borrowed from the disciplines of Spatial Analysis and
Ecology, that are very much suitable for our objectives: the site catchment analysis related to the exploitation areas from a site in relation to its distance; and the
nearest neighbor analysis that allows us to obtain the grouping or dispersion of a
distribution of points. The analysis is also based on the fact that the establishment
of settlements is not a matter of chance but the result of the application of certain rules of human behaviour that determine the settlement of groups within a
certain area. In addition, we analyze and evaluate the currently available archaeological data, paying special attention to the distribution of ceramics and their different styles. The combination of the spatial analysis approach, GIS tools, and the
available ceramic studies allows, under a theoretical point of view, to design this
territory, measure it and outline a possible hierarchical settlement model.
Pietro Maria Militello
An einer Stange hängende Gefässe. Notes on a seal motif
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
One of the motifs known on MM seals from Crete shows a series of circular objects linked by two or, sometimes, three strips to an elongated rectangular object.
Since Evans’ analysis, this motif has been interpreted as “vases hanging from a pole”,
and described as such in CMS (an einer Stange hängende Gefässe). Nevertheless,
two different hypothesis have been also proposed, according to which the motif
should represent a series of potter’s wheels linked to a wall, seen from above (Branigan), or a series of loom-weights hanging from the inferior bar of a loom (Burke).
Our paper will try to analyze this motif first from a strictly iconographical and
iconological approach in order to check the three interpretations, and secondly
through their historical inferences.
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Emily Miller Bonney
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
A phenomenological analysis of the tholos tombs at Lebena, Crete
Analyses of the tholos tombs of the Asterousia and the southern Mesara Plain have
focused on the evidence they provide for the formation and function of networks
of power and trade leading to the centralization of authority at Phaistos. Recent work
at Trypiti and Moni Odighetria has expanded our appreciation for the role that the
Asterousia communities played in the evolution of social hierarchies in the Old Palace
period. This paper adopts a different strategy and examines the social dynamics within these communities as revealed by a phenomenological consideration of the tombs,
their location, construction and use. The cemetery of Gerokampos, on the south
coast of Crete, is one of the most completely published of these mortuary complexes
and provides a unique opportunity to examine the social structure of these prepalatial communities. Preserved from serious damage by tomb looters, the tholoi at
Gerokampos were essentially intact and provided a record of depositions from the
very end of the Neolithic through the MM I ceramic phase. The tombs’ situation
relatively close to but not dominating the settlement reflects the ambiguously intimate relationship between the respective communities of the living and the dead.
Unlike the monumental tombs which are characteristic of other early cultures, the
tholos at Gerokampos would have appeared a natural part of the already rocky and
mountainous environment. Construction of the tomb would have forged significant kinesthetic memories among the participants who importantly decided to work
only the exposed interior and exterior surfaces of the larger blocks and who acquired
and transported the exceptionally large blocks for the trilithon entry and the blocking stone. Both the expenditure of physical labour and the duration of these activities over time would have become part of the shared narrative of the tomb itself.
The evidence for steady and apparently uninterrupted use of the tomb over the centuries emphasises the importance of the associated sensory experiences. Each removal and replacement of the bloc king stone required physical exertion s not part
of daily life. The repeated entries involved all the senses –sound, sight, smell, taste,
touch– as skeletons were rearranged, flesh scraped off bones as necessary and the
stack of skeletons and burial debris constantly rose. These encounters were part of
the lived experience of the survivors. The burial parties encountered pottery the semiotic significance of which was a lost to them as the identities of the long desiccated bones, and the constant rearrangement belies the preferential treatment of any
particular set of remains. The evidence for wealth and status is minimal. Instead the
grave goods, like the burial practices themselves, imply a heterarchically ordered
society. The absence of clear indicia of power associated with individual bodies and
the burial process itself by which body after body was simply inserted in to the tomb
reflect an essentially egalitarian culture. Individual power and wealth were contingent
so that within the larger society all the dead once safely decomposed were reintegrated into the entire community of the living.
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Maria Mina
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ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Minoan metal objects on Cyprus: Evidence for the construction of social identity and ethnicity
Scholars have studied the metallurgy of prehistoric Cyprus intensively and successfully, mainly regarding aspects of technology, typology and economy. However, there has been little debate of the role that metal products played in the construction, embodiment and communication of social identity in Bronze Age Cyprus.
This paper focuses on the final stage of metallurgical production, that is, the finished metal product. The discussion concentrates on the circulation and use of metal objects and in particular imported Minoan metal objects in Bronze Age Cyprus.
The evidence discussed for the purposes of the paper is restricted to metal objects
of personal use, such as weapons, jewellery, attire-related accessories and toilet articles. Objects of personal use are considered anthropologically as an extension of
the physical and social body, a thesis that has been employed successfully in archaeology.
It is now accepted in archaeology that material forms are shaped intentionally by people, but can also have an effect on human agents through their mutually shaping relationship. Objects of personal use prove ideal candidates for the study of social identity and ethnicity, as they constitute an extension of the physical body.
The chronological parameters of the discussion also provide an interesting
framework for the study of ethnicity on Bronze Age Cyprus. The possible movement of populations in the Philia phase in the Early Bronze Age and the subsequent apparent isolation of Cyprus in the Middle Bronze Age periods, present an
interesting backdrop against which we can investigate the presence of Minoan metal imports. Though the number of such imports on Cyprus is limited, we can nevertheless explore the impetus behind their circulation and use in a non-Minoan
cultural context. The discussion ultimately explores how Minoan metal products
of personal use were involved in the expression, embodiment and communication of social, gender identity and ethnicity and their significance in the prehistoric cultural context of Cyprus.
abstracts
Nicoletta Momigliano
Minoan Crete and the stage
a1
4
Since its rediscovery, the material culture of Minoan Crete has offered a rich source
of inspiration to modern writers and artists (such as painters, sculptors, and even
architects), but its impact on the performative arts has largely been neglected. This
paper explores the connections between Minoan Crete and early th-century performative arts, especially dance and drama, examining works by artists such as
Vaslav Nijinsky and Gabriele D’Annunzio.
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Barbara Montecchi
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
Minoan feasting: An epigraphic perspective
From ethnographic studies we learn that feasts occur in every society and in every
time and that they can be performed by every social group, from the family to an
entire society. The occasions include any event, throughout the year, that people choose
to celebrate: from birth to death, to mark the harvest, for purification, and so on.
In Mycenaean times feasting is documented by palaeobotanical and zoological remains, pottery deposits, iconographic representations and archives documents written in Linear B (tablets and sealings). On the contrary, while Minoan processions
and feasting are archaeologically well documented, it is not, or at least not yet, at
the epigraphic level, because Linear A is not deciphered. Aegean feasts were performed for religious reasons and for practical and social benefit, as mechanisms for
holding together the fabric of the society and for redistribution of foodstuff. The
texts obviously provide us only with the central administration point of view and
focus on feasting that was economically significant to be recorded. The aim of the
paper is to compare the tablets in Linear B that record equipments, agricultural commodities and animals intended for feasting and the tablets in Linear A that show
similarities, to explore whether the latter played analogous functions. For example,
it was suggested that the purpose of the Ta series from Pylos is to record an audit
of the palace’s equipment for banqueting, including cooking equipments (tripod cauldrons) and table-ware. On the other hand, the Linear A tablet from Haghia Triada HT 31 is an inventory of vases of different shapes: tripods, probably bronze lebetes, 371 conical cups (skoutelia), 1 piriform jars without handles, 1 piriform
amphoras, at least 4 vases not marked with ideograms and/or whose ideograms
are now lost. The aim of this record might be the preparation of an official feast,
keeping in mind that the Lebetes and the other bronze vessels found in the Villa at
Haghia Triada were interpreted as cultural equipments for religious activities held
under the control of the Villa administration. Other Linear A tablets possibly related with the organization of ceremonial banquets are HT 7a, , 4a and 1.
These tablets record personnel in the first section and agricultural commodities in
the second (*303, corresponding, in our opinion, to Linear B *121/HORD, figs, wine
and olive oil). The commodities are not in fixed and precise proportions and I would
rule out that they were records of substantial rations. Rather, because of the amount
and type of the commodities, above all the wine, a luxury product, I suggest that
the commodities were distributed during the religious ceremonies, as the commodities
recorded in the Linear B tablets of the Fn series from Pylos and, perhaps Av, from
Thebes. Evidence for state-organized banquets in the Mycenaean world is provided also by the Wu sealings from Thebes and by Un and Un 13 at Pylos. These
documents deal with the animals provided for feasting. Minoan nodules can’t be
related to this topic, but we can recognize some registration of small number of animals, for example PH(?) 31, that might have a similar function.
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Kathrin Müller
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
Ιn search for criteria: Minoan “cult rooms” in the architecture and art of the
Palatial period
Recognizing and identifying “cult rooms” in Minoan Crete has 1ong been a topic of research in Bronze Age archaeology. The exact definition of a room as “cu1tic”
has often been based only on the objects found in it, whereas the scientific foundation of this interpretation has been neglected.
My paper aims at questioning the usual approach and examines ways of identifying ‘cult rooms’ other than those solely based on the objects found within them.
It covers the time span of the O1d and the New Palace periods. By means of giving some significant examples, Ι will discuss the conditions that can lead to the
identification of a so-called cult room. Are investigated: the topographical setting
of a room or a series of rooms, the architectural form, furnishings and decoration, the impression of the whole establishment and also the rooms adjoining or
annexing the particular “cult room”. It can also be examined whether sometimes
a so-called temenos area existed around specific “cu1t rooms”. The main aim of
my lecture is to show ways of identifying and defining Minoan “cult rooms” on
the basis of architectural remains and, in a second step, with regard to iconographic
representations.
Before analysing the archaeological material, Ι will discuss the criteria
which are important for identifying a “cu1t room”. This part is mainly based on
the investigations of C. Renfrew («The Archaeology of Cult», 15). Although some
of his criteria are overlapping or too specified, they are –in a modified form– convenient as a methodological basis for every research in the field of “cult rooms”.
In the following, some characteristic rooms are selected as examples of ‘cult rooms
and investigated in terms of the above criteria.
Α second aspect of my lecture treats the problem of identifying “cu1t
rooms” or “cult areas” in iconographic representations. Α small assemblage of potential depictions and models are examined regarding their ways of indicating “cultic rooms”. If an action is depicted in the image or model, a brief insight into the
sphere of ritual is also ventured. The depictons are then connected and compared,
formally and functionally, as far as possible with the real archaeological remains
of “cult rooms”. This inνestigation forms a more cautious way of identifying “cult
rooms” that also allows other interpretations.
Finally, my lecture attempts to refocus on the critical interpretation of a room
as “cultic” and create a new basis for the identification of “cult rooms” applicable
for future research.
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Walter Müller
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ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
The multiple function of Minoan and Mycenaean seals and signet rings
Most Aegean seals were used for securing containers or documents. Ample evidence for this most probably primary function is provided by ancient clay impressions. However, the archaeological contexts and the state of preservation provide indications that the seals and the signet rings were also used in other ways
and were of significance in non-sphragistic contexts. The research, which also takes
into account peculiarities of shape and material, provides an overview of the multiple use of seals, from Neolithic stamps to the extremely worn lentoids of the end
of the Bronze Age. In order to take into consideration statistical aspects, the contribution is also based on the database of the whole Corpus of Minoan and Mycenaean Seals available online at ARACHNE, the object database of the German Archaeological Institute and the University of Cologne.
Céline Murphy
A study of gesture in Minoan iconography: Towards the recovery of messages
lost in time
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
Classified as a means of non-verbal interaction, gesture is often relegated to the
back row in the arena of communication studies. Mostly regarded as an attribute secondary to speech or writing, gesture has not been exploited to its full, especially in the interpretation of Minoan iconography. By carefully studying the
contexts in which gesture appears in Minoan wall paintings and Minoan peak sanctuary clay figurines, new light can be shed on the social significance of this material, and on their original meaning once lost in time.
This paper presents a study-in-progress of the gestures produced by the figures
in the wall paintings of Thera, and by the clay anthropomorphic figurines from the
peak sanctuary of Gonies-Philioremos in north-central Crete. It is clearly a deliberate choice on part of the Minoan artists and potters to have frozen their characters in specific positions. Why so? Do the depicted gestures best epitomise the subject of the scene, or represent an expressed feeling in the most accurate manner?
My approach to the study of gesture in Minoan iconography is twofold: I shall
consider both the communication occurring between the artefact and the onlooker,
and the communication between the depicted figures themselves. Associations
between certain gestures and contexts, genders, types of dress, or colour will appear. The interpretation of the data, accompanied by a hermeneutical discussion,
may tell us more about the nature of human relationships in the Minoan world.
Certain Minoan practices of exchange or mimics may even be recognised.
This approach may reveal an aspect of the material which has not been previ7
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
ously addressed. Less presumptuous and simple meanings may emerge from the paintings and figurines, questioning the validity of the commonly accepted ritualistic and
religious interpretations. It is important to remember that wall paintings and figurines
are artefacts, bearing no superior informative qualities than pottery, tools and jewellery. They existed in Minoan daily life too. Could these representations of gesticulating anthropomorphs have served as vehicles in the formation of individual and
communal identity, which vocal communication could not render so powerfully?
Argyro Nafplioti
Mortuary variability, social and biological status in Middle Bronze Age
Crete: The case of Aïlias (Knossos)
The study of organisation of past societies has been demonstrated to greatly benefit from analysis of mortuary practices, as reflected in funerary architecture, intra- and/or inter-cemetery spatial patterning, grave goods or archaeologically inferred rituals of the given communities. The relationship, however, between status in life and treatment at death is not straightforward, as it may be conditioned
by factors such as ideologies of the community pertinent to death and identity,
circumstances of death, or competitive display and “agency” of the funerary group.
Thereby, a contextual reading of archaeological material culture data from cemetery sites is needed in order to reliably reconstruct social structure of past communities. Moreover, analysis of the skeletal biology of past populations can provide an insight into actual living conditions of these people and thereby, deepen
our understanding of social ranking and stratification.
This paper uses the results of the study of the human skeletal collection from
the Middle Minoan cemetery at Aïlias (district of Knossos) on Crete in order to
deepen our understanding of the ‘nature’ of the Middle Bronze Age society on the
island. In particular, kinship and issues of intra-population biological variation
in this cemetery are explored through metric and non-metric morphological analysis of the cranial and dental remains from this site. In addition to any kinship connotations of mortuary variability in the Aïlias cemetery, this paper also investigates the relationship between mortuary variability and biological status. The biological status and the quality of life of the individuals examined will be assessed
through analysis of dental and skeletal health, and the level and type of activityrelated stress on the musculo-skeletal system. Finally, in addition to indirect dietary evidence, the results of stable isotope ratio analysis will be discussed as part
of a reconstruction of the quality of living conditions for the Aïlias population.
In conjunction with material culture data these results will be used to further investigate into intra-population variation in living conditions and the relationship
between social and biological status in Middle Bronze Age Crete.
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Lucia Nixon
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
Investigating Minoan sacred landscapes of the Mesara Plain
This paper will look diachronically at the Minoan sacred landscapes of the Mesara
Plain. Thanks to the work of numerous scholars, we now have good analyses for
the different kinds of Minoan cult site, such as caves, peak sanctuaries, and the
structures associated with town, palace, and house cults. Though there have been
some recent studies of Minoan religion focusing on more than one type of sacred
site, we still do not really know much about how these different cult places functioned together, period by period.
Archaeological survey in Crete has shown us the value of looking both synchronically and diachronically at areas that include a number of sites. Combining these two approaches means that it is now possible to to investigate Minoan
sacred landscapes, as well as the individual sites of which they are composed, and
to compare Minoan sacred landscapes with those of other times and places.
Focussing on the Mesara Plain will enable us to clarify the nature of the sacred landscape here in the Palatial period, and also to recognise characteristics
of Pre- and Post-palatial sacred landscapes in this area. The Plain includes a wide
range of Minoan palatial and post-palatial cult sites, such as the Kamares Cave,
the peak sanctuary at Kophinas, and cult areas at major sites like Phaistos and minor ones like Koumasa. The EM tholos tombs provide abundant evidence for ritual behaviour for the pre-palatial period. The publications of extensive fieldwork
in the Mesara Plain, both excavation and survey, have made much useful evidence
available for the study of sacred landscapes in this area.
In this paper I shall draw on concepts developed in my own work on Cretan
sacred landscapes of later periods, relating to work on the Iron Age, and also to
my study of outlying churches and eikonostasia in Sphakia (A.D. 1-). Although there are inevitably many gaps in evidence and analysis, there is enough
information to suggest that different religious systems do use similar types of locations and explanations in order to construct and account for their sacred landscapes. Because the same factors recur –examples are visibility and coincidence
of sacred structures– it is possible to compare the different systems, and as a result to learn more about the Bronze Age. I shall consider the evidence for religious
activity in the Mesara Plain, from EM to LM, in order to see how the sacred landscapes here changed and developed over time.
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Krzysztof Nowicki
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Lasithi before Karfi: The history of settlement in the Bronze Age
Tha Lasithi Plateau and the mountains around it constitute a unique Cretan landscape with a unique history of settlement. The area has been archaeologically investigated since the late nineteenth century and, as a result, a general pattern of
prehistoric settlement has been reconstructed, with a major cult cave-site at Psychro, an important LM I-III settlement at Plati, burial caves at Tzermiado Trapeza
and Agios Charalambos, and perhaps the best known of all Lasithian sites, that
of a LM IIIC settlement at Karfi. However, more thorough and intensive field work
undertaken in the last few decades, in particular in the mountains which encircle the plateau, has brought to light many new sites, among which several are of
key importance for the understanding of early Cretan history. This paper focuses on some of the problems, mainly on the changes in location of main settlements
in the plateau from the Final Neolithic through the Bronze Age, and the possible borders between the territories of the Lasithi inhabitants and their lowland
neighbours. The settlement pattern which was established somewhere between
the end of the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age survived until some moment
in the late MM II period. Afterwards it was substantially modified, though the
largest LM settlements continued in general at or below the main Protopalatial
centres. Such was the case of the Plati settlement which went down from the cemetery hill nearby. It has been long accepted that Plati was the main LM settlement
in this region, but the size and history of other extensive LM I-III settlements at
Mesa Lasithi, Agioi Apostoloi and Tzermiado Agia Anna indicate that the social
and political organization of Lasithi was more complex. The surface material from
these and from other little known sites will be presented in this paper.
Brandel Ossi Nisch
An ivory pyxis from the Fosse Temple at Lachish, Israel
abstracts
a1
1
A remarkable ivory pyxis with a lid was found in 13 at the Fosse Temple at
Lachish, Israel. In the 1's, additional fragments of this pyxis were found in the
storage rooms of the Israel Antiquities Authority at the Rockefeller Museum. After performing restoration work in the conservation labs of the Israel Museum,
we were able to add important pieces to the sequence of the scene of the box.
The pyxis is a fine example of the “international style” typical of the later Bronze
Age. Through this vessel we can see that the Canaanites were influenced by the
cosmopolitan world during the later Bronze Period. The vessel was probably made
by a local artisan who was familiar with styles and motifs from throughout the
region: Egypt, Greece, Syria, and Crete.
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In this lecture, I intend to present, for the first time, the results of the lab work
and my understanding of the scenes depicted on the pyxis.
th
ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
Nikos Panagiotakis, Charalabos Fassoulas,
Doniert Evely, Marina Panagiotaki
Quarries in the Pediada region in Central Crete
The Pediada Survey Project, directed by Nikos and Marina Panagiotaki has recorded a large number of quarries of all periods in the Pediada region.
Most Bronze Age settlements took advantage of the nearest bedrock outcrops;
the same economy prevailed during later antiquity too. There are, however, some
instances, when stones were transported to a site from a distance, because of their
special qualities.
The basic visible bedrock in the Pediada is limestone (the marly Neogene and
the Mesozoic Tripolitsa limestone). As marly Neogene limestone is easier to work,
it was used extensively during the Bronze Age, as well as later.
In this paper we shall present a series of quarries. We shall discuss the quality of their stone and make an attempt to put them in a chronological perspective. The last is done on the nature of the visible quarrying marks, the debris around
them (especially the pottery sherds present) and their proximity to well-dated sites.
Constantinos Papadopoulos, Yannis Sakellarakis
The “Ceramics Workshop” at Zominthos Revisited: Archaeology, Ethnography and Computer Visualisation
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
Zominthos was discovered in 1, when Professor Yannis Sakellarakis was excavating the Idaean Cave. The excavation which is still in progress has revealed
a monumental Central Building that covers an area of 1, square meters, developed from the 17th century onward. At the northeast corner of the so-called
Central Building, Room 13, which has been characterised as a ceramics workshop,
was unearthed in 1. It is a 15-square-meter area with more than 5 vessels
for everyday use, some bronze and stone tools (including a knife, blade, and tongs),
a basin in the middle of the room and a potter’s wheel. Ceramics had been placed
on two benches running along the northern and southern walls, some of which
were found in situ.
Conventional methods, such as architectural drawings and photographs, only
offer a bi-dimensional depiction of the excavated data, and as a consequence a great
part of the debate regarding their interpretation remains untouched or not perceived. Virtual archaeology provides multiple ways of manipulating the archae11
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ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ
ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ
ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ
INTERNATIONAL
CRETOLOGICAL
CONGRESS
ological data that not only produce engaging imagery but also provide direct answers to research questions. A three-dimensional visualisation of the so-called ceramics workshop at Zominthos has provided experimentation opportunities regarding several issues that occurred during the interpretative process. An illumination analysis, with natural and flame means, was undertaken to approach the
absence of any openings that would have facilitated the potter’s work. Alternative
(re)constructions, based on archaeological and ethnographic correlates were also
produced to overcome the interpretive leaps that should be made when the excavated data are not sufficient to clearly support an argument. Lastly, it was tried
to reach a conclusion concerning the potential uses of this space as revealed through
the decision making process and the resultant virtual products. This paper will
discuss the results and the constraints of this research. It will also address problems and innovative components, suggesting potential solutions and recommending
additional work for the future.
Thanasis Papadopoulos
Minoans in western Greece and Italy. An overview of the archaeological evidence
In recent years considerable information is available by new excavations and archaeological finds for the presence and activities of Minoans in Western Greece
and Italy and continuous research in both areas reveals steadily new evidence. In
this paper an effort is made to present and briefly overview the available archaeological evidence.
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
1
Lena Papazoglou-Manioudaki
A stag’s head rhyton from Pylos. The Minoan connection
The study of the fragments of an ‘’animal pot’’, found in Tholos tomb III at Pylos and summarily published by C.W. Blegen, lead to the identification of an animal head rhyton in the shape of a stag’s head, dated in the 14th century BC. Animal head rhyta were introduced from Crete to the Greek Mainland at the time
of the Shaft Graves. Their distribution is mostly limited to Mycenae and to the
islands (Cyclades, Dodecanese) while isolated specimens are found in Tiryns or
the sanctuaries of Methana and Delphi. The stag’s head is added to the repertoire
which comprises specimens in metal, stone or clay, predominantly in the shape
of bull, but also of lion, ram, hog or even fish. While stags are well represented
in Μycenaean pictorial pottery, seal engravings and wall paintings, they are extremely rare in clay. The presence of a unique stag’s head rhyton in Messenia, where
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one of the locations in the province of Pylos, is mentioned in the Linear B archive
as ‘’e-ra-po ri-me-ne’’, Ελάφων Λιμήν-the port of the deers, seems quite appropriate.
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Katia Perna
Materiali del TM IIIC dal deposito sul margine orientale della Patela di Priniàs
Nel 1, durante una campagna di scavo condotta dalla Missione Archeologica dell’Università di Catania sulla Patela di Priniàs, Dario Palermo scoprì, all’interno di un anfratto roccioso sul margine orientale della spianata, un deposito di
materiali con diversi frammenti di statue di divinità dalle braccia levate e di ceramica databile ad un periodo compreso tra il TM III C e l’età arcaica. Tali rinvenimenti, che andavano ad aggiungersi ai materiali votivi rinvenuti in quell’area
da Federico Halbherr all’inizio del secolo scorso e ai frammenti di ceramica TM
III C trovati in superficie o in strati post-minoici, contribuirono ulteriormente a
definire la fisionomia del più antico insediamento sulla Patela, che si presentava
del tutto simile agli abitati montani dello stesso periodo, in gran parte caratterizzati dalla presenza di un sacello della dea dalle braccia levate.
Oggi, il quadro della prima fase di vita dell’abitato è reso più chiaro dall’individuazione dei livelli TM IIIC, messi in luce durante le campagne di scavo del
3 e del 5. Contestualmente, l’esame dei materiali rinvenuti nell’anfratto roccioso, che si intende presentare in questa sede, assume un nuovo significato. L’analisi tecnica e tipologica della ceramica ha rivelato, infatti, che a differenza di quanto constatato negli altri gruppi di materiali rinvenuti sulla Patela e sempre caratterizzati da un’alta percentuale di ceramica fine, nell’anfratto roccioso i frammenti
del TM IIIC appartengono esclusivamente a vasi di fattura grossolana e a forme
tipiche dei contesti di culto del periodo. Ciò, oltre a confermare che l’occultamento
dei materiali votivi nell’anfratto non fu casuale, consente di mettere meglio a confronto il complesso votivo di Priniàs con gli altri contesti sacri coevi.
Ingo Pini
Divergent developments of the iconography of soft and hard stone seals in the
Late Minoan period
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Following studies on the iconography of Late Minoan soft stone seals which I presented at the Marburg seal Conference in October , I intend to extend my
studies to other groups of motifs. The already existing results point to a divergent
development of soft stone versus hard stone glyptic art.
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Staple storage in Late Minoan IIIA2 Hagia Triada on Crete: The “House of the
decapitated rooms”
This paper deals with an unpublished building that has been excavated in the northern sector of Hagia Triada in the western Mesara (Crete): the “House of the decapitated rooms” (HDR). It consists of an L-shaped corridor that divides two groups
of square, door-less rooms built with broad walls and founded directly on the
bedrock. Its peculiar name is due to its walls having been razed when this area
was completely transformed in ripe LM IIIA and new structures were built in
the Northern sector of the settlement. In this period, the palace of Knossos was
destroyed. Linear B documents of its archives confirm that the western Mesara
was dependent on Knossos up until LM IIIA. Thanks to comparison with storage areas discovered at Mycenae and Hattusa, which were comprised of several
door-less spaces, it is possible to suggest that HDR contained a range of six silos
for long-term storage of cereals, and functioned as a facility for the local storage
of crops prior to the collapse of the Knossos palace. The later construction, in ripe
LM IIIA, of buildings which replicate the layout of the demolished structure on
a larger scale, seems to underscore an enormous increase in the space devoted to
storage in LM IIIA-IIIB, which hints at a substantial shift in the local management of arable land after the collapse of the Knossos palace.
Dario Puglisi
Ritual performances in Minoan lustral basins: New observations on an old hypothesis
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abstracts
The lustral basin in Xesté 3 at Akrotiri shows strong architectural analogies with
some other similar devices in Cretan villas and palaces. This evidence, supported by the magnificent frescoes from Xestè 3, strengthens the hypothesis that these
lustral basins were used for performing a female rite of passage and allows new
observations about the way of execution of the ceremony.
Arianna Rizio
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Agricoltura e culti agrari nell’Egeo e a Creta nel II Millennio a.C.
Le conoscenze acquisite attraverso le ricerche e gli studi di carattere archeologico certamente oggi non ci consentono di delineare un quadro esaustivo dell’agricoltura e dei culti connessi al mondo agrario nell’Egeo ne tantomeno a Creta.
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Tenteremo tuttavia un raffronto tra alcune categorie di dati e di trarre alcune riflessioni da queste analisi.
Certamente trattare dell’agricoltura in ambito egeo implica 1’analisi di diversi
tipi di dati archeologici: da un lato quelli archeobotanici, dall’altro quelli epigrafici.
Diversa e per certi versi più complessa e labile e l’analisi connessa a eventuali culti agrari che si basa sull’interpretazione di materiali archeologici svariati, i quali
soprattutto sulla base della tipologia potrebbero essere interpretati come utensili
di carattere agrario, ma che per traslazione potrebbero essere intesi come testimonianze di carattere cultuale qualora il contesto di rinvenimento lo consenta.
Lo studio di eventuali culti legati all’agricoltura o, meglio, a determinate fasi
del ciclo agrario, implica inoltre la riflessione su aspetti etno-antropologici che vanno confrontati con quelli archeologici e che consentono talvolta di individuare eventuali sopravvivenze nel contesto attuale. Si tratta dunque di uno studio a tutto campo che prevede un plesso di fonti di informazione che vanno integrate tra loro.
Per quanto riguarda i dati archeobotanici va rilevato che essi si limitano soltanto ad alcuni siti e che il lasso temporale a cui si riferiscono e circoscritto. Relativamente a Creta, verranno analizzati dei siti paradigmatici dell’Età del Bronzo e
si tenterà di tracciare un quadro delle principali produzioni e delle testimonianze
di carattere agrario riferibili all’ambito cultuale.
I dati epigrafici si riferiscono per lo più alla circolazione di prodotti agricoli,
a determinate offerte rivolte a determinate divinità, hanno fondamentalmente un
carattere inventoriale e lasciano ampio spazio all’interpretazione. Le informazioni che esse ci offrono sono tutt’altro che esplicite e possono essere desunte
soltanto in maniera indiretta sia per quanto riguarda le applicazioni agricole in
senso lato che per quanto concerne i culti stagionali a cui sembrano far riferimento
alcune offerte rivolte a divinità di cui si riferisce nelle tavolette in Lineare B.
Frumento, ulivo e vite, la cosiddetta triade mediterranea, si impone a partire
dalla Media Età del Bronzo ma orzo e grano risultano essere anche sulla base delle
testimonianze epigrafiche i prodotti più diffusi, a cui si aggiungono le colture di vite,
ulivo e fico a completare il quadro della base alimentare dell’Età del Bronzo Recente.
Laura-Concetta Rizzotto
Sounds from the sea: Conch shells in the Bronze Age on Crete
a1
Different species of conch shells have been found in Crete and on other Aegean
sites, in burial as well as in cult contexts. The best known is the triton shell, Charonia nodifera and Charonia sequenzae, in scientific terms a Mediterranean species,
which was also often imitated in clay, faience or stone.
Already Evans and later Renfrew and Younger proposed to see the triton shell
as a natural musical instrument, which functioned in the Bronze Age as a trumpet. This interpretation has often been debated and recently rejected, one of the
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arguments being that the shells were rather used as rhyta. I do not agree with limiting conch shells to one exclusive function and I will instead take into account
that by handling conch shells, different senses are stimulated and, consequently,
that several uses derive from different sensory perceptions. In fact, reconsidering the testimonies from Aegean Bronze Age ritual and funerary contexts as well
as comparative ethnographic evidence, I suggest to regard conch shells as objects
with manifold functions. They could have been used as rhyta, containers or ladles, but they were mainly linked to the sense of hearing.
Based on different evidence, I intend to support the theory that considers conch
shells musical instruments. Furthermore, I will focus on the acoustic phenomenon called «the sound of the sea«: no matter how far away from the sea, holding
a conch shell to your ear, you will hear the roar of the waves rolling onto the shore.
In the archaeological record no attention has been paid to this important natural phenomenon, which could indeed provide some insights into the relationship
between Aegean Bronze Age people and their world as well as on synesthetic implications and ritual performances.
Harriet B. L. Robinson
Specialization in pottery production during the Minoan Palatial era
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Interest in the beginning of specialization in pottery production has led some scholars to believe that ceramic specialization began in the Neolithic. This paper will
explore whether there were specialties within pottery production in MM II-LM
III. Some archaeologists have suggested that pithoi were made by separate specialists. What about cooking pottery vs fine wares vs ceramic figurines? Linear B
texts show us that there were different specialized jobs associated with textile production in LM III. Unfortunately the tablets do not help us understand pottery
manufacture. Using evidence from ceramic fabrics, manufacturing techniques, and
firing information, the author concludes that each general class of pottery was made
by different specialists.
abstracts
Dieter Rumpel
Homer und die “Schnittervase” (“Harvesters’ Vase”)
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Bei Homer kommt die Zahl zwanzig verhältnismäßig häufig vor, evtl. zur generellen Charakterisierung einer mittelgroßen Menge und/oder als Rudiment eines
indogermanischen Vigesimalsystems.
Spezifischer ist wo die Verwendung der Zahl bei Schiffen zu sehen: Ruderer hatte in der Ilias das Schiff, das Chryseis zurückbrachte.
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abstracts
In der Odyssee rät Athene dem Telemach für die Schiffsreise nach Sparta zu
Gefahrten, und er beantragt ein rüstiges Schiff mit zwanzig Gefahrten.
Zwanzig tapfere Männer nehmen die Freier an Bord des Schiffes, das dem Telemach auflauert.
Der Keulenrohling des Kyklopen erscheint dem Odysseus geeignet als Mast
für ein zwanzigrudriges Schiff.
Normalerweise werden die “schwärzlichen” Schiffe aber apostrophiert als “Ruderschiff, meerdurchwallend, schnellgerudert, langberudert”, aber dann auch als
“viel gerudert, zwiefachrudernd (Di-ere), gleichberudert, fünfzig [Mann] in jedem,
bemannt mit zweiundfünfzig Jünglingen (Phäaken)”. Bei den Zwanzigruderern dagegen scheint es sich um eine Klasse von kleinen schnellen Schiffen zu handeln.
Das Reliefband der in Hagia Triada gefundenen «Schnittervase» wurde in der
Originalveröffentlichung von Luigi Savignoni als militärischer Aufmarsch interpretiert, aber bereits ein halbes Jahr vor deren Erscheinen hatte N.M. Bosanquet in einem Bericht die Vase kurz erwähnt und als landwirtschaftliche Erntefeier (“Harvesters’ Vase”) gedeutet. Letztere friedfertige Deutung hat sich unglücklicherweise durchgesetzt und zu krampfhaften, anachronistischen und technisch unbrauchbaren Vorschlägen geführt, wie die auf der Vase abgebildeten Dreizacks als landwirtschaftliche Geräte zu nutzen wären. In diese Reihe gehört auch
die unsinnige deutsche Benennung «Schnittervase», obwohl überhaupt keine schneidenden Sensen oder Sicheln im Relief zu erkennen sind.
Auf der Vase sind 7 Personen zu sehen. Für die Gruppe von 4 Sängern hat
F. Blakolmer nachgewiesen, daß sie seitlich vom Marschzug stehen und somit nicht
dazugehören bleiben 3. Drei Personen fallen im Zug durch Ihre exponierte Stellung auf: Der voranziehende Chef im Küraß, und nach drei Vierteln des Zuges
–in der ansonsten in Zweierreihen marschierenden Formation– ein einzeln marschierender Mann, der sich herumgedreht hat und anscheinend keinen Dreizack
trägt, sowie einen geduckten oder gestolperten Mann, der kein Uniform-Barett
trägt. Bleiben übrig .
Folgen wir der Savignioni-Interpretation, so läßt sich die Szene leicht deuten:
Die Besatzung eines -rudrigen Schiffes kehrt nach erfolgreicher Mission
heim und wird von einer Sängergruppe begrüßt. Neben den Ruderern sind an
Bord: Der Chef (und Steuermann?), ein 1. Offizier und ein Gefangener. Die hakentragenden Dreizacks sind stachelbesetzte Enterhaken, die wo beim Kampf zwischen offenen Booten eine ähnliche Rolle gespielt haben, wie später bei gedeckten Schiffen die Enterbrücken (corax) der römischen Marine.
Auch weitere Details fugen sich zwanglos in diese Interpretation ein und werden besprochen.
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Anna Sacconi, Massimo Cultaro
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Un fragment de vase avec inscription en linéaire B de Prinias
Nous présentons un fragment de vase porteur de deux traces de signes en linéaire
B provenant de la nécropole ouest de Prinias. Le fragment fait partie d’un groupe
de céramiques (TM IIIB – III C1) trouvé dans un coin de la nécropole de Siderospilia
dans les années 7.
Vasif Şahoğlu
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a1
1
Ceşme-Bağlararası: A western Anatolian harbour settlement with Minoan links
Ceşme-Bağlararası is a recently discovered Bronze Age site excavated by Ankara
University Research Center for Maritime Archaeology (ANKÜSAM) within the
framework of the Izmir Region Excavations and Research Project (IRERP). The
site is located at the westernmost tip of the Urla Peninsula in the modern town
of Ceşme, facing Chios. The site had been inhabited from the Early Bronze Age
until the later part of the Late Bronze Age with substantial chronological gaps in
stratigraphy. The reason behind the «gaps» should be sought in the horizontally shifting location of the settlement due to changes in the coastline and the riverbed
adjacent to the settlement. Future investigations are expected to fill in these gaps
and give us a fuller picture of the settlement history at this important Bronze Age
harbour settlement.
Ceşme-Bağlararası acted as one of the gateways of the Anatolian Trade Network opening to the Aegean during the later Early Bronze Age II. Following a «gap»,
the site reflects an extremely well preserved settlement with insulae of houses divided by streets during the Middle Bronze Age.
The Middle Bronze Age settlement reflects close contacts with the Minoan
civilisation during the MM III-LMIA period. Imported Minoan/Minoanising Cycladic and Eastern Aegean pottery and other objects found in sealed contexts indicates that Ceşme-Bağlararası was an important trading post involved in the Minoan Sea Trade Network. The site also reflects close contacts with the Central Anatolian cultures of this period and, in this respect, offers us a unique chance of investigating the chronological correlations and cultural contacts among the important
Anatolian and Aegean cultures of the nd Millennium BC.
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Ann-Louise Schallin
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Wall coating in LM II and IIIA1 Chania: Evidence from the Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli
This paper presents the plaster and fresco evidence from LM II and LM IIIA1 levels from the Greek-Swedish excavations at Chania. The material in Level 5 from
GSE Kastelli belongs to a phase immediately after the great catastrophe in LM IB,
when large parts of the Minoan town were burned and destroyed. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, when the inhabitants tried to get a new grip of their situation and habitation was recommenced at the site, there is evidence of refurbishing
and cleanups. During this phase, the old architecture was sometimes reused, but
much of the old was torn down and put in big rubbish dumps. And among this
rubbish, there are quite a lot of fragments from old wall coatings. The plaster material in Level 5 is thus a mixture of old and new, reflections of a Late Bronze Age
town with a formidable history and great hopes for a new beginning.
Norbert Schlager
Livari in context: EM Mesara-type tholos tombs and their respective settlements
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The EM Mesara-type Tholos Tomb I at Livari, Skiadi in SE Crete appears to be an
alien in a more extensive Bronze Age cemetery with different forms of burial. Regarding chronology, of three early settlements in the near neighbourhood, FN Katharades, MM/LM Cheromylia and EM Kastrokephalaki, only the inhabitants of the latter site or a certain number of them would plausibly have been responsible for the
erection of Tholos Tomb I. By comparing EM tholos tombs and their respective settlements in south central Crete and elsewhere on the island, this paper intends to clarify the specific role of the Livari Tholos Tomb as related to the accompanying settlement, and assess its social importance in a wider regional context.
abstracts
Martin Schmid
Architecture minoenne à Malia: Restitutions
a1
Plusieurs monuments de Malia ont fait l’objet d’études de restitution : le Palais, le
Quartier Mu, la Crypte Hypostyle, le Sanctuaire aux Cornes, la Maison Da.
Des maquettes ont été réalisées pour le Palais et le Quartier Mu ; ce dernier
monument a aussi été restitué en images 3D présentant les volumes intérieurs et
extérieurs.
L’état de conservation des monuments, l’identification des objets tombés de
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l’étage et l’identification d’escaliers rendent possible une restitution assez vraisemblable des espaces et volumes d’un niveau supérieur, voire de plusieurs niveaux
dont les restitutions sont cependant plus hypothétiques.
Les comparaisons de vestiges conservés sur d’autres sites dont Théra ainsi que
de représentations de constructions ont contribués aux choix des restitutions proposées.
Manuel Serrano, Michal Bzinkowski
Ένας Πολωνός στην Κρήτη, στις αρχές του εικοστού αιώνα
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Στις αρχές του ού αι. το νησί της Κρήτης έγινε αυτόνομο υπό την επίβλεψη των
Μεγάλων Δυνάμεων της εποχής. Σε μια από αυτές τις αποστολές ήρθε ο Μ.
Τσερμίνσκι (Marcin Czerminski), Πολωνός ιερέας, ο οποίος έγραψε ένα βιβλίο,
στο οποίο αφιέρωσε εκτενές κεφάλαιο για την παραμονή του στην Κρήτη. Η
ανακοίνωσή μας προσπαθεί να εμβαθύνει στο έργο του συγγραφέα μέσα από τα
αρχεία της Πολωνίας.
Marsia Sfakianou Bealby
Through Egyptian eyes: Processional scenes of Aegeans in the Theban Tombs
of the Nobles. A macroeconomic approach
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abstracts
a1
This paper aims to briefly discuss a number of processional scenes depicting groups
of Aegean porters bearing their wares, as seen on the wall paintings of some early and mid Eighteenth Dynasty elite Theban Tombs. Among the most characteristic
Aegean processional displays, one should mention the ones in the richly-decorated tombs of the Pharaohs’ officials Senenmut, Puimre, Useramun, Mencheperresonb and Rekhmire. The Aegean emissaries are represented carrying luxurious commodities of Minoan and foreign production in order to offer them as
a generous gift to the Egyptian Court, in acknowledgement of the Egyptian power in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the relevant hieroglyphic inscriptions,
which accompany the scenes, these gift-bearers are designated either as ‘Kft(j)w‘
(vocalised as ‘Keftiu’, a name generally identified with Crete and its inhabitants)
or as ‘Iww hryw-ib nw W3d-wr’, i.e. people from the ‘Isles in the Midst of the Great
Green‘ (customary taken to mean the Aegean Islands under Minoan influence).
The fact that the majority of the Aegean processions appear in the tombs of officials who are linked to the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, should not
be considered as just a coincidence. The depiction of Aegeans in the Theban tombs
has been widely discussed, from both the archaeological and artistic point-of-view.
Particular attention has been paid to the wares of the Keftiu and the Aegean Is-
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landers, as well as their physical characteristics, clothing and hairstyles, which have
all been widely examined by previous scholars. To avoid repetition, this paper will
not focus on the artistic details of the Aegean processions; rather, it will ‘retouch’
upon the historical reality of these scenes and how they can illustrate Aegean-Egyptian relations under a macroeconomic and world trade system approach.
Maria Shaw
The Labyrinth fresco
Χωρίς περίληψη.
Evi Sikla
The authority of the bull: Beyond Knossian ideology as legitimization
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
It has been convincingly argued that one aspect of the symbolism of the bull in
Bronze Age Crete was the ideological function it had for the socio-political authority whose seat was the Palace of Knossos. The argument is primarily based
on the large number of wall paintings with bull-related iconography that decorated exclusively the walls of the Knossian palace. It has often been discussed that
the authorities of Knossos appropriated religion and ritual in order to propagate
and legitimate Knossian supremacy over the island, at least during the Neopalatial period. The semantic content of the relevant bull iconography has been studied extensively along those lines.
In this paper, I suggest to explore further what the appropriation of the religious symbol of the bull by the Palace of Knossos in the MM IIIB-LM IB period
referred to and how this was done, so as to deepen our understanding of the nature of the Knossian ideology. I submit that we can do so by investigating the use
contexts of objects with bull representations in more detail. This is because the
ideological and religious meaning of the bull, as any cultural meaning for that matter, does not consist only of ideas and concepts, but also of social practices. As a
result, the bull as a symbol gains meaning through context.
The study of the use contexts of two classes of objects, the Knossian wall paintings with bull iconography, elite objects par excellence and, the rhyta with bull
representations, some of which are also elite objects, reveals certain patterns of
social practices. It also reveals how these contexts are related via the symbol of
the bull, which shows that aspects of its meaning expressed in different types of
objects were interconnected. These interconnections strongly indicate that the socio-political authority of Knossos did not just appropriate religious symbolism for
ideological purposes. Instead, it actively constituted new meanings for the bull
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through the interplay of new and old symbolism. I suggest that the scope and influence of Knossian ideology derived from the fact that, on the one hand, it reproduced existing, important social traditions, and, on the other hand, it modified them and used them as platforms on which novel meanings were created. It
seems that the authority and power of the Knossian palace was materialized in
bull iconography at least as much as the authority of the bull formed a constitutive part of the Knossian power.
Anna Simandiraki-Grimshaw
Pots as people, people as pots: Minoan anthropomorphic vessels
This paper explores anthropomorphic vessels from Bronze Age Crete not simply
as ritual equipment, objects d’art or representations of personages. Instead, it uses
a combination of three lenses which has to date been relatively underused for the
examination of such vessels: pottery-regionalism-the human body. Through the
investigation of temporally and spatially situated anthropomorphic vessels as corporeal reconfigurations, I aim to shed new light on their ontological significance.
Consequently, what emerges more clearly is the micro-relationship between pots
and people, as well as the shifting conceptualisations of vessel and human bodies through Minoan phases and regions. Furthermore, the otherwise ‘mundane’
interaction between a person and a pot can be recast as a mode of corporeality
that fuses user and used, container and contained, consumer and consumed.
Thomas F. Strasser, Eleni Panagopoulou, Curtis Runnels
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
a1
The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods on Crete: Chronostratigraphic evidence from the Plakias survey
The Plakias Survey identified archaeological sites from both the Palaeolithic and
Mesolithic periods in southwest Crete, and can provide concomitant Pleistocene
and early Holocene geologic and chronostratigraphical contexts for both periods.
The survey employed a site-location model used to identify Mesolithic sites on
the Greek mainland. It was originally a “directed survey” aimed at environments
that Mesolithic peoples would have exploited and where their artifacts would be
visibly preserved. The survey focused on fresh-water estuaries associated with southfacing limestone caves and steep bathymetric descents close to the modern shoreline. The areas of Plakias and Ayios Pavlos in the Rethymnon Nomos, on the southwest coast, were chosen because they fulfilled those environmental criteria. During the - seasons the survey discovered over 1 Mesolithic lithic artifacts from locations. An unexpected discovery was evidence for Lower
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Palaeolithic occupation in the form of Acheulean artifacts from nine locations.
The Mesolithic artifacts were primarily made of milky quartz as well as small
amounts of red and black chert similar to known assemblages on the mainland.
The Mesolithic assemblage from Plakias has many features common to the Mesolithic industry from the mainland and islands of Greece, and is probably contemporary
with them. The sites are found on the present day coast at elevations that were below sea level during most of the Pleistocene based on our understanding of uplift rates and using correlations with algal reefs that formed underwater but are
not exposed. The sites appear to belong to the early Holocene.
The Lower Palaeolithic artifacts, including bifaces and cleavers, are also made
from quartz and have affinities with the Acheulean technocomplex (sensu lato).
Several approaches were used to date the Palaeolithic sites to the Pleistocene. At
Preveli, two artifacts are associated with marine terraces at different elevations (4
and masl) dated to ca. kyr and 11 kyr based on the rate of uplift of local
rock anchored by a radiocarbon date of ca. 45-5 kyr from marine shells from a
terrace at ca. masl. At Preveli, seven artifacts were found sealed in paleosols
(fossil soils) with maturity rates indicating an age of greater than 13 kyr. The contexts and radiometric dating confirm the Middle Pleistocene age for the Lower
Palaeolithic assemblage.
Evidence for the Mesolithic (5-7 BC) on Crete is important, but not
a surprising fact in light of the Mesolithic sites reported from Cyprus, Kythnos
and the Sporades islands. The implication of the Lower Palaeolithic artifacts is that
the history of seafaring in the Mediterranean is much older than previously imagined. Crete has been an island since the Messinian Event that occurred over 5 million years ago. Consequently, Palaeolithic artifacts represent seafaring in the Middle Pleistocene and indicated that the radiation out of Africa of early forms of the
genus Homo involved transpelagic movements.
Amalia Synodinou
Minoan cats: Revealing their secrets
abstracts
a1
Felines have often been incorporated in the symbolic and artistic toolkit of many
cultural entities, both in prehistoric and historic times. Unlike lions, the most powerful representatives of the family, which have therefore received the appropriate
attention by scholars, cats, apart from the egyptian ones, have remained on the
margins of archaeological interest.
The aim of this paper is to shed more light on various aspects of the iconography of cats in the Μinoan world, in an attempt to investigate their religious, social and other possible roles. Inevitably, references to Egyptian cats will be involved,
to the extent that the subject imposes a comparison.
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Annette Teffeteller
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abstracts
a1
4
Ahhiyawa, Akhaia, a-ka-wi-ja
Ahhiyawa, the ethno-toponym found in the Hittite documents referring to the land
of the Mycenaean
Greeks, occurs first as Aææiya in a text dating from the late 15th century (the
Indictment of Madduwatta), in which reference is made to the ruler of Aææiya,
Attarissiya, who commanded an army of infantry and one hundred chariots on
the Anatolian coast, and was of some concern to the Hittite king. In a subsequent
document, the Tawagalawa letter, sent in the mid-13th century by Hattuåili III,
the ruler of Ahhiyawa is addressed in terms which accord him status as an equal
of the Hittite king. But some years later (half a century perhaps) the Aææiyawan
ruler of the day is apparently no longer in favour in Hattuåa; on the draft tablet
of the Hittite treaty of Tudæaliya IV with Åauågamuwa of Amurru in the latter
years of the 13th century, the king of Aææiyawa was initially listed as a Great King
of equal rank with the Hittite king, along with the kings of Egypt, Babylonia, and
Assyria, but the title was erased by the scribe, leaving us in perplexity as to the
import of both the listing and the erasure. It was first suggested by Emil Forrer
in 14 that the people of the region or the political entity known to the Hittites
as Ahhiyawa in fact were the people known to us as the Mycenaeans, in the form
of the name familiar from Homeric epic and subsequently: Akhaioi (Akhai(w)oi
/ Achaeans). We know from the ancient writers of many places with the Greek
name Akhaia in the first millennium BC, from the Peloponnese to Crete,
Rhodes, Anatolia and the east shore of the Black Sea. And since 17, when a bilingual inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician was found at Çineköy
in southeastern Turkey, we also know that a form of the Hittite term was used in
Anatolia in the early first millennium for the region of classical Cilicia: Hiyawa,
with aphaeresis of the initial vowel typical of Luwian dialects. In addition, we can
now link the forms of the toponym used in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age though
our first attestation of the term in Akkadian: Hiyawa, used of ‘Hiyawa-men’ in the
Lukka lands of the late second millennium. What is missing—or was until the Linear B tablets came to light—is an attestation of the Greek form of the name from
the second millennium. And this is what the tablets from Knossos give us: our
only attestation from the Bronze Age of the Greek ethno-toponym Akhaiwia (
‘ΑχαιFία). On the tablet KN C 14 we have a record of a shipment of fifty rams
and fifty he-goats (a sacrificial hecatomb?) sent by a certain Pallantios to a-kawi-ja, with the -de suffix marking the form as a place-name, as already noted by
Ventris and Chadwick (): a-ka-wi-ja-de. As V&C also note, the designation
may be of a place in Crete, or it may be a location overseas since “there is no reason why sheep and goats should not be carried by sea”. Crete, as mentioned above,
had a city named Akhaia in the later period, attested to by the scholiast to Apollonius Rhodius (4.175). Whether or not the Akhaiwia of the tablet is the same,
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the attestation is invaluable, giving us the ‘missing link’ in the temporal and geographical distribution of the ethno-toponym Akhaiwia/Ahhiyawa.
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abstracts
Simona Todaro
Prepalatial Phaistos from a diachronic perspective: The formation of a Cretan tell
L. Pernier, working in the area that was later occupied by the palace, thought that
the Prepalatial deposits at Phaistos had been mostly swept away from the hill by
the levelling activity that took place during its long occupation, while the Neopalatial and Post-palatial stratigraphies were characterised by in situ re-building.
His excavations at the site revealed several structures attributed to the Greek period that were built above the ruins of the Second Palace, which had in turn been
constructed c. 1.5 m above the ruins of the First Palace. Levi’s excavations clarified that in situ re-building was also attested during the Protopalatial period, and
revealed so many cases of this that it is not surprising that he eventually interpreted
the remains of the south-west block of the first palace as three superimposed palaces
that were destroyed and, each time, sealed by astraki fill and used as a platform
for the palace of the new phase.
The resumption of excavations at the site in , in the area of piazzale I and
on the western slope of the hill, have clarified that in-situ rebuilding had been a
distinctive characteristic of the stratigraphy of the site since the Neolithic period, and seems to set Phaistos apart from the other sites of the region that, when
not occupied for just a single phase, were characterised by a frequent shifting in
the locus of habitation, thus preventing the formation of continuous stratigraphies.
This paper seeks to explore the reasons that led to the adoption of this particular building practice at Phaistos, and in particular aims to ascertain whether it reflected continuity of occupation, or was rather the outcome of a periodic re-visiting of the same location, with resumption of activities at a higher level.
Helena Tomas
Development of the Cretan palm-leaf shaped clay tablet
a1
On several occasions, including the past Cretological Conference, I have argued
that tablets should not be treated secondary to sealings in our comparisons between
Minoan and Mycenaean administrative systems, and consequently I presented similarities and differences between Minoan and Mycenaean page-shaped tablets. Since
this was not the only type of tablet used, this conference provides a good opportunity to address the other principal Aegean tablet-type, the palm-leaf shaped tablet.
It is generally understood that the introduction of this latter type, unknown
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to LM IB Linear A, was the main Linear B pinacological innovation. But we must
not forget that MM II Linear A had knowledge of palm-leaf shaped tablets, as did
the contemporary Cretan Hieroglyphic. Not only were these different from later Linear B examples, but palm-leaf tablets underwent significant transformations
even within the Mycenaean administrative system. For example, in the RCT deposit most palm-leaf shaped tablets are extremely small and have a minimal amount
of text; they are larger and textually more complex in the other Knossian deposits,
and then largest and most rich in text in the Pylian archive. This shows that the
document went through numerous changes in its size, quantity of text, and in its
administrative function. My paper will present a diachronic study of the Aegean
palm-leaf shaped tablet from its earliest modest examples in the MM II period
on Crete to the latest numerous and complex examples on the LH IIIB mainland.
Evangelia Tsangaraki
Human figures vis-à-vis bovines: A quantitative and qualitative statistic comparison of two naturalistic motifs on neopalatial sealings
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
Human figures and animals have inspired Minoan engravers more than any other pictorial theme in Neopalatial Crete. They are among the most favourite naturalistic motifs in the glyptic repertoire of the Neopalatial period and those that
have mostly captured the attention of modern scholars.
Here, I focus on figural motifs as well as on depictions of bovines attested on
neopalatial sealings. Through a close comparison of these two sphragistic designs,
I am trying to investigate the divergences and/or convergences that mark their use
in the neopalatial administrative system, paying attention on a vis-à-vis statistic
analysis of parameters such as: their frequency of appearance in sealing practices,
their geographical and intra-site distribution, their archaeological contexts, the
types of sealings on which they appear, the types of seals being used for their impression, their relation to the so-called Multiple Sealing System and to the bureaucratic practice of inscribing sealings with Linear A signs, etc.
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether human figures did indeed have
a special significance and a more prominent role than other motifs in the neopalatial sealing administration, as is usually argued, or not.
Loeta Tyree
a1
The significance of pottery from Minoan sacred caves
Renewed interest in Minoan sacred caves including recent publications of previously excavated material suggests the need to analyze both older and newer pub-
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
a1
lications to learn more about these ritual places. Pottery from Minoan sacred caves
will be assessed both typologically and chronologically. The range of forms will
be compared by periods to determine if any particular set is present during the
same chronological period and whether that ritual set of vessels changes in the
different periods when the caves were used – Protopalatial, Neopalatial, and Late
Minoan III, from ca. 1 to 11 BC. The size and quality of the vessels will also
be taken into consideration. Comparisons will enable, both contemporaneously
and diachronically, the suggestion of hypotheses concerning the role of pottery
in cave rituals.
George Varoufakis
Copper Minoan statuettes and their contemporary iron seal rings
The present metallurgical study (conducted in association with archaeologist Dr
Efi Sapouna-Sakellarakis) of 45 Minoan statuettes and of two iron seal rings leads
to the interesting conclusion that Minoan artisans were excellent metallurgists.
The art and skills involved in the actual casting were, paradoxically, better advanced
in the Early Minoan period than in the Middle or Late Minoan eras (17th-15th
centuries BCE). This is confirmed by the author’s comparison of statuettes dating to these periods. The skills of the artisans of the first two periods are, thus,
admirable given that they had no alternative but to work with a bronze alloy with
very little tin. In contrast, the Mycenaeans, although they had the technical ability to add more tin in the alloy, therefore endowing the liquid alloy with better
castability (which ensured easier dissemination into every nook and cranny of the
mould), produced statuettes of inferior quality and artistic value. Generally, we
notice a certain decline in the quality of copper statuettes during the 15th century BCE.
The paper also reports on the study of a seal ring whose bezel forms a figure
of eight shields, as well as of a smaller one discovered by archaeologist Yannis Sakellaris in Arhanes, Crete. The examination of these two seal rings yielded results
which were then compared, by this author, with similar results of earlier research
in seal rings of the same period unearthed in the Peloponnese, and studied by archaeologist Agni Sakellariou.
The above demonstrate that iron was known even to the Minoans, at least in
the context of jewelry making. Of course, this does not mean that they were producing iron in that remote time, and it is most probably that raw material used
to produce those iron seal rings was meteorites. However, a question is still begged:
Why did it take almost .5 years before iron production was developed, given
that the iron ore deposits were more abundant all over the Greek mainland, than
their equivalent copper deposits? Why such a “delay” in the coming of a metal that
was to cause such great tumult in social, economic and cultural relations, that Hes7
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
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abstracts
iod was moved to curse his birth during the Iron Age? “...I wish I did not live among
people of the fifth generation, but to have perished earlier or to have been born
later; now, we are a generation of iron, and people get no respite from fatigue and
sadness...”. The paper concludes with the effects of this magical metal in speeding up the flow of both technological innovation and of history itself.
Andrea Vianello
Minoan foundation deposits of Palatial period
Some deposits found in Minoan palaces are occasionally labeled as “foundation”
deposits. This definition is however loosely applied and foundation deposits are
not sharply recognized as it is the case for Egypt or the ancient Near East. In some
cases (e.g. Kommos) this type of deposits is so common that the generic term of
“floor” deposit is employed, while in other cases (e.g. Knossos) several terms are
used haphazardly. Focusing on some of the oldest such deposits in palatial contexts, it is often possible to determine the practices that lead to their creation and,
less frequently, their meaning can be recognized. The goal of this paper is to present recent research that should help in correctly identifying and understanding
foundation deposits, and provide a first step towards some coherent definition of
the various types of deposits found under the floors of Minoan palaces and other palatial structures.
These deposits may have had utilitarian, religious and social significance in
a varying combination depending on their location, historical time and context.
Genuine foundation deposits appear to have been much more rare than in Egypt,
and probably were adapted to local practices. They are therefore not a good source
of information to assess the relationship between Minoan polities and eastern ones.
However, they can reveal much more on the social structure of the Minoan society since evidence of hierarchy can be occasionally recognized. Many deposits
are probably a rare manifestation of Cretan beliefs among the population (the
builders) rather than evidence of formal ceremonies and the paper will compare
formal and non-formal manifestations of beliefs linked to such deposits in chronologically similar contexts in an attempt to reveal some of the differences in how
religious practices and beliefs played within different social classes.
Maria Vlasaki, Louis Godart
a1
Two new Linear Inscriptions from Kastelli Khania
Maria Vlasaki in a recent excavation in Kastelli Khania made the discovery of two
new linear tablets: a linear A document written by a scribe who is also respons-
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able of other linear A documents from Odos Katre and from Aghia Aikaterini square
and a linear B tablet which gives a man’s name known from Mycenae.
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Constance von Riiden
The Prince of the Lilies in Egypt. The relief paintings from Tell el Dabca in the
eastern Nile Delta
At the site of Tell el Dabca in the Eastern Nile delta a huge amount of wall paintings have been brought to light since the beginning of the 1s. Beside numerous fragments of flat plaster decorated with Aegean motives and painted in fresco technique, the site of Tell el Dabca produced a big amount of relief paintings.
Like the former, they adorned Palaces F and G in the palace district of the Tuthmoside Period, at the western edge of the Ancient site of Avaris, on the eastern
bank of the former Pelusiac branch of the Nile. Composition and technique of these
hardly known pieces reflect those of their Cretan counterparts remarkably closely. The motives also seem to find their closest parallels in the relief plaster and small
finds of the island of Crete. A man with a staff in his right hand and the legs of
bulls remind us of the reliefs formerly displayed in the palace of Knossos.
The aim of my paper is to present and discuss the largely unpublished material from Tell el Dabca and compare it with the material from Crete. In doing
so, I will at first discuss technological aspects in order to better comprehend transfers of technology between Crete and Egypt and afterwards turn to considerations
of iconography to retrace possible ways of the adoption of Cretan motives and stylistic elements in Tell el Dabca. Apart from the well-known question of who produced the relief paintings in Tell el Dabca, I will place particular emphasis on how
these Aegean paintings were perceived in the Egyptian palaces, which –particularly with respect to the strong axiality of their layout– differed markedly from
those architectural contexts in which Aegean wall-painting had originally developed;
this will provide a starting point for considering their possible meanings within
the framework of the material culture of Egypt.
abstracts
Saro Wallace
Collapse landscapes: A case study at Karfi, Lasithi
a1
Recent years have seen the frightening collapse of complex economies, with related social and political upheaval, across the world. While events at the end of
the Late Bronze Age were more directly catastrophic in their effects, recent occurrences cause us to wonder how inevitable collapse and crisis are in human societies, how far they follow a predictable pattern, and in which ways their dev
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astating effects can be avoided or averted. Developments in Crete were clearly drastic enough to permanently dislocate existing ways of life for the entire population
– settlement, cult and subsistence systems were all re-orientated. This strategy seems
to have been effective in keeping populations secure in a dangerous and unstable environment, but must have involved deep disturbance to social norms and
concepts. Karfi is one of the best known settlements established during these radical changes and occupied for only about years following them. Seventy years
after its first excavation, following the discovery of numerous contemporary sites
sharing some of its characteristics, it remains in the largest size category and is
the only site in this category to be excavated. The 13s excavations focused only
on one district of the town (approximately a fifth of the total area) and produced
a record which was, by modern standards, limited in detail. Thus, returning to
study the site in its wider landscape context, in a research perspective centred on
understanding the social and cultural transformations involved in collapse, seems
worthwhile. The results of new pilot excavations in , presented here, confirm
the value of the Karfi record in elucidating how Cretans responded to and worked
through collapse.
Peter Warren
A Minoan shrine on Gypsadhes, Knossos
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abstracts
a1
3
The lower, northern slopes of Gypsadhes, overlooking the palace of Knossos, formed
the southern part of the Bronze Age city from MM I to LM IIIA, with MM tombs
on higher ground to the south. Excavations by Hogarth (1) and by Hood (155) revealed LM I ashlar masonry buildings (Hogarth’s Houses) and there have
been surface finds over many years, culminating in the survey of the current Knossos Urban Landscape Project. The recently started Gypsadhes Project will certainly
reveal much more. Among the discovered material there is a remarkable number of (fragmentary) stone rhytons. Several of the fragments with relief decoration are well known as individual pieces, but the evidence has not previously been
assembled for discussion as a group. Of no fewer than ten pieces four have relief
decoration, three others are fragments of bull’s heads, two are marble and one Egyptian alabaster. The paper proposes that the material will originally have formed one
or more shrine treasuries like those of the Central Treasury in the palace of Knossos and the Shrine Treasury in that of Zakros. Such a treasury or treasuries would
have been located in an important LM I building, or more than one, on Gypsadhes,
and they thus indirectly indicate a shrine. Whether such a shrine was located inside a building such as one of Hogarth’s Houses or in a more important construction,
or whether the treasury was a store for rhytons to be carried in procession to an
external sanctuary remains unknown.
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Judith Weingarten
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A test of measurement
William Flinders Petrie discovered two wooden measuring rods in a 1th Dynasty
rubbish dump at Kahun in Egypt. The gradations on the rods indicated a foreign
measuring system which he believed had been adapted to imitate the Egyptian
standard cubit. He assumed that such rods had been used by foreigners living at
Kahun – presumably by those residents whose pottery is now recognized as Aegean
and Syro-Palestinian wares, both imported and locally-made imitations. These
people(s) may have formed a significant proportion of the workmen and artisans
involved in the construction of Sesostris II’s pyramid complex at nearby Lahun
(c. 1 - 17/15 BCE).
The foreign nature of the two measuring rods (now Petrie Mus. UC 1747 and
Science Mus. 135.41) is disputed: it has been argued that the exceptional units
do fit an unusual Egyptian measure, the /nbi/. «A Test of Measurement» suggests,
however, that Petrie was correct and the rods are Aegean in concept, having demonstrable links with measurements on Minoan Crete. At the same time, we present
the results of microscopic analyses (done by Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) of the wood from which the rods are made.
Todd Whitelaw, Maria Bredaki, Andonis Vasilakis
Prehistoric Knossos: Τracing its long-term history through its surface record
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ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
abstracts
a1
The Knossos Urban Landscape Project, a synergasia between the British School
at Athens and the 3rd Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, conducted
an intensive surface survey of the urban site of Knossos (.5 sq. km) and the surrounding cemeteries (another 1 sq km), involving fieldwork in 5, 7 and
. Some 4, sherds of all dates were recovered, all located on a m grid,
the vast majority from the city site. The systematic collections have produced substantial and spatially well-controlled samples which allow detailed studies of the
spatial development and differentiation of the community through all periods of
occupation.
While subject to intensive investigation for over a century, major excavations
have concentrated in the area of the Minoan palace, while the numerous rescue
excavations have rarely penetrate below Roman remains and have been limited
to the areas under threat from recent development. As a result, very considerable
areas of the Prehistoric site, now documented as extending over more than a square
kilometre, have never previously been investigated.
Initial study of the ca. 3, Prehistoric sherds recovered allows a comprehensive reconstruction of the development of the centre from the Neolithic through
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the end of the Bronze Age, particularly when the new surface data are used to contextualise and reinterpret over a century of investigations.
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ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ
ΕΙΣΗΓΗΣΕΩΝ
Assaf Yasur-Landau with Eric H. Cline, Nurith Goshen
New Aegean-style painted plaster from the Canaanite palace at Tel Kabri
The excavations at Tel Kabri, the capital of a Middle Bronze Age Canaanite kingdom located in the western Galilee region of modern Israel, lasted from
1 June to 3 July . A highlight of the season was the discovery of numerous fragments of painted plaster, from both a previously unknown Minoan-style
wall fresco with figural representations and a second Aegean-style painted floor.
These are, to date, the first wall paintings with blue background found either at
Tel Kabri or in all of Israel. This unusual blue background or large solid blue fields
is not typical of Cycladic wall paintings, nor is it common in Middle Kingdom
or early New Kingdom Egypt, but is more frequently found in the approximately-contemporary Neopalatial frescoes at Knossos (e.g. The Sacred Grove and Dance,
the Toreador fresco, the Ladies in Blue) and the Minoan Toreador fresco from Tel
el Dab’a, as well as in later frescoes at Mycenae on the Greek mainland. Moreover,
they may contribute to a resolution of the chronological question for these paintings, for the fragments –which form only a small portion of the original fresco–
can only have arrived at the secondary context in which they were found via human agency, such as being reused as temper in mudbricks which subsequently fell
onto the crushed lime floor during the final destruction of the palace or being reused
to patch the floor of the final palace (set face down into the floor, only the white
back of the fragments would have been visible). As such, they would seem to support our previous suggestion (Cline and Yasur-Landau 7) that the Aegean-style
paintings adorned the penultimate palace of Kabri and were removed during the
subsequent renovation phase which resulted in the final, undecorated, phase of
the palace at the site.
abstracts
Evgenia Zouzoula
The Bird-ladies of Minoan iconography: Artistic fancy or religious icons?
a1
3
The winged female figure with the bird-head in place of a human head is listed
among the range of composite imaginary beings of Minoan iconography. Depicted
on Aegean LBA sealstones, the figure was identified by V.E.G. Kenna as a “birdgoddess”. J. Younger, in a brief discussion of the Aegean monsters in glyptic art,
included in his study of The Iconography of Late Minoan and Mycenaean Sealstones
and Finger Rings (1), very accurately pointed out that types other than the grif-
11
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th
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fin, the sphinx and the “Minoan genius” have been relatively understudied, citing the so-called lady-eagle among those “minor” monsters. The situation has not
been remedied in the ca. twenty years since his observation.
Accordingly, this report is an attempt to achieve a deeper understanding of the
motif and the way it was used within the Minoan repertoire. The corpus of extant
representations of the bird-lady figure is by no means as extended as that of the
better known imaginary beings and presents therefore limited opportunities to the
researcher. Nevertheless, it is still worthwhile to examine it closely with the intention
of ascertaining whether the motif represents a merely decorative artistic creation
or, conversely, offers insight into the beliefs and ideology of the period.
In order to realise this, more recent archaeological finds need to be looked
into, together with the context(s) within which the type in question and its illustrations were created. The study of the particular iconographic traits of the figure may also prove fruitful, especially in association to gender issues. Finally, since
the griffin, the sphinx and the Minoan genius, all constitute imported figures in
Aegean art, the Near Eastern connection is not to be ignored either in the case
of the bird-lady. On the contrary, it will be sought after, so as to assess whether
this figure represents a transferred motif or an indigenous Cretan creation.
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33

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