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Pseira, a tiny islet near the coast of eastern Crete, has been
called a priceless jewel in Crete's archaeological crown. In 1906
and 1907, the American archaeologist Richard Seager unearthed the
extensive remains of a Bronze Age village here. Little was known
about this site until a joint Greek-American project directed by
Philip P Betancourt and Costis Davaras returned to the island in
1985. This is the first volume in a series of final publications on
the joint excavations.The site is a seaport dating from the end of
the Final Neolithic until the Late Minoan period. This volume
presents a series of houses whose main period of occupation is Late
Minoan IB. The architecture is constructed of stone and remarkably
well preserved. The text includes detailed catalog entries, profile
drawings, and stone-by-stone architectural plans.
Richard B. Seager excavated the Minoan town and cemetery at Pseira
in 1906-1907, but the work was not fully published. The Temple
University excavations (1985-1994) under the direction of Philip P.
Betancourt and Costis Davaras conducted an intensive surface survey
of the island. The results of the survey on the small island off
the northeast coast of Crete are published in two volumes. Pseira
IX presents the results from the intensive surface survey.
Richard B Seager excavated the Minoan cemetery on Pseira, a small
island off the northeast coast of Crete, in 1907, although this
work was never published. More recently, the Temple University
excavations (1985-1994) under the direction of Philip P Betancourt
and Costis Davaras conducted an intensive surface survey of the
cemetery area, cleaned and drew plans of all the visible tombs, and
excavated tombs that had not been previously investigated. The
results of these new excavations are published in two volumes. This
volume, Pseira VI, covers the methodology that was employed in the
investigation, the topography of the cemetery area, details of
Seager's campaign, the ceramic petrography for the cemetery
pottery, and the results of the intensive surface survey. The
survey showed that the cemetery was first used in the Neolithic
period, and that it was abandoned in Middle Minoan II, before the
expansion of the nearby town in the Late Minoan I period. It also
demonstrated that the cemetery was larger than the area suggested
by Seager, and that the funerary customs included burial in jars,
even though no examples of this burial type have been excavated.
Richard B. Seager excavated the Minoan town and cemetery at Pseira
in 1906-1907, but the work was not fully published. The Temple
University excavations (1985-1994) under the direction of Philip P.
Betancourt and Costis Davaras conducted an intensive surface survey
of the island. The results of the survey on the small island off
the northeast coast of Crete are published in two volumes. Pseira
VIII presents the results from the corollary studies that accompany
the surface survey. The surface survey is presented in Part IX.
Richard B. Seager excavated the Minoan cemetery at Pseira in 1907,
but the work was never published. The Temple University excavations
(1985-1994) under the direction of Philip P. Betancourt and Costis
Davaras conducted an intensive surface survey of the cemetery area,
cleaned and drew plans of all visible tombs, and excavated tombs
that had not been previously excavated. The results of the cemetery
excavations on the small island off the northeast coast of Crete
are published in two volumes. Pseira VII presents the results from
the excavation and cleaning of the 19 tombs that still exist at the
Pseira cemetery. The cemetery is remarkable for the diversity of
its tomb types. Burials were in cist graves built of vertical slabs
(a class with Cycladic parallels), in small tombs constructed of
fieldstones, in house tombs, and in jars. Burials were communal, as
is usual in Minoan cemeteries. Artifacts included clay vases, stone
vessels, obsidian, bronze tools, jewelry, and other objects.
The Hagia Photia Cemetery takes its name from the nearby village on
the northeast coast of Crete, 5 km east of modern Siteia. This
large Early Minoan burial ground with over fifteen hundred Cycladic
imports was discovered in 1971. A total of 263 tombs were excavated
as a rescue excavation in 1971 and 1984. Among the 1800 artefacts
are some of the earliest known Cretan discoveries of several types:
the grave goods come mostly from the Kampos Group, an assemblage of
artefacts known mainly from the Cyclades. Similarly, the tombs
represent an architectural style and a series of burial customs
that are foreign to Crete but familiar from elsewhere within the
Aegean. In fact, the cemetery has such close parallels from the
Cyclades that it has often been regarded as a Cycladic colony. The
burial contents are an extremely interesting body of evidence for
the study of the formative phases of Minoan Crete.
The finds from the cave at Hagios Charalambos in the Lasithi Plain
illustrates secondary burial practices in Early and Middle Bronze
Age Crete. The cavern adds to our knowledge of Early and Middle
Minoan Lasithi and illuminates the function of the cave at Trapeza,
which has close parallels for most classes of objects found at
Hagios Charalambos. Most of the pottery from the site is made
locally, but a selection of imports from elsewhere in Crete ranges
in date from EM I or earlier to MM IIB. The pottery shows a shift
in the use of imports during the site's history, reflecting a
change in economic and/or political dominance and influence in
Lasithi. Typical of pottery associated with burials, the types of
vessels were mostly used for pouring and drinking liquids. Other
small vessels probably contained precious oils, liquids, and
unguents. The local offering tables would have been carried by a
short stem and could hold a liquid or solid offering. The pottery
shows that the people who deposited their dead in the secondary
burial cave at Hagios Charalambos were in contact with ceramic
production centers in East Crete, the Mesara, Knossos, the Pediada,
and Malia. This range of influences speaks not only of trade
relations and political spheres of influence but also of tastes in
pottery production and consumption.
This book is the tenth volume in the series of excavation reports
about the harbor town of Pseira, which is located on the island of
the same name, just off the northeast coast of Crete. The book
focuses on the excavation and interpretation of the architecture
and material culture in Block AF. This southern group of buildings
is one of the most important areas in the settlement because of its
long succession of building phases. Block AF provides the fullest
sequence of building phases from any one area at Pseira, with
habitation extending from before MM II to LM III. It has examples
of complex architectural details including a "pillar crypt,"
elaborate upstairs floors, a well-preserved U-shaped staircase, and
a well-designed kitchen, all of which contribute significantly to
our knowledge of East Cretan building practices. In addition to
domestic pottery, the houses furnish examples of stone tools, stone
vessels, loom weights, inscriptions in Linear A, cult objects,
animal bones, marine shells, and a wide range of material recovered
from water sieving. This latter category, with burned grain, fish
bones, shells, and other categories of materials, fills many gaps
in our knowledge of Pseiran life.
This is the first of five planned volumes to present the primary
archaeological report about the excavation of the cave of Hagios
Charalambos in eastern Crete. The Minoans used this small cavern as
an ossuary for the secondary burial of human remains and grave
goods, primarily during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. The
geography and geology surrounding the cave is discussed along with
the methodology of the excavation. A portion of the pottery and all
of the small finds are presented with many illustrations.
One of the most important sites for the early history of dyeing
ever found in Minoan Crete was discovered in 2007. A Middle Bronze
Age (Middle Minoan IIB) workshop for making natural dyes and using
them to color fabrics included several basins carved into the soft
limestone bedrock. Excavations uncovered pottery and stone vessels,
stone tools, animal bones, and botanical remains among other types
of artifacts. Pefka is of great importance for the history of
Bronze Age technology as well as for the light it sheds on what was
clearly a major Minoan industry. The evidence provides information
both for the manufacture of dyes and for the broader issue of the
economic foundation for Minoan trade in textiles during the period
of the Old Palaces.
Contributions by 37 scholars are brought together here to create a
volume in honor of the long and fruitful career of Costis Davaras,
former Ephor of Crete and Professor Emeritus of Minoan Archaeology
at the University of Athens. Articles pertain to Bronze Age Crete
and include mortuary studies, experimental archaeology, numerous
artifactual studies, and discussions on the greater Minoan
civilization.
This handsome volume describes and illustrates the excavation of an
artificial rock shelter in Crete, Greece. Minoan pottery and small
finds such as stone tools, loomweights, and ecofactual remains were
recovered. The ceramics elucidate the style and chronology of East
Cretan White-on-Dark Ware, which dates to the end of the Early
Bronze Age.
The small site of Aphrodite s Kephali, among several other Minoan
and later sites, took advantage of the valley topography in the
Isthmus of Ierapetra in eastern Crete by establishing themselves
along the nearby hills, resulting in easy access to the natural
trade route between the Aegean and the Libyan Seas. A discussion of
the architecture, artifacts, and ecofacts are presented from the
excavation of this Early Minoan I watchtower. The conclusions
challenge some of the commonly held views about Crete in the third
millennium B.C. It is suggested that rather than being a precursor
to a socially complex state that would arise later, early polities
involving several communities probably already existed in the
isthmus during the EM I period. Social and economic differentiation
existed on a regional, not just a local level, and decisions for
mutual defense could involve collaboration by groups of workers,
including the building of the watchtower that is the focus of this
volume."
The publication of the Hagia Photia Cemetery is planned in three
volumes. The first volume, which has already been published
(Davaras and Betancourt 2004), presented the tomb groups and the
architecture. The second volume about the excavation of the Hagia
Photia cemetery focuses on the pottery. The third volume will
present the obsidian, stone finds, metal objects, and other
discoveries. The Early Minoan I tombs at Hagia Photia included the
largest assemblage of vessels in Cycladic style known from Crete as
well as vases from production workshops in Crete. The pottery is
extremely important for several reasons, including the definition
of the EM I ceramic styles that were being used as funerary
offerings in this part of Crete, the establishment of the
chronological synchronisms between Crete and the Cyclades, and
information on the history of the Minoan pottery industry. When
compared with other deposits from EM I Crete, the pottery helps to
establish a better understanding of the ceramic development within
the first Minoan time period.
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