East Crete Research Articles

Supplementary Materials for 'From the Ground Up: Modelling Agricultural Landscapes in Early Iron Age East Crete Using Legacy Survey Data and GIS'

Supplementary materials for the article 'From the Ground Up: Modelling Agricultural Landscapes in Early Iron Age East Crete Using Legacy Survey Data and GIS', which can be found at the following address: https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMA/article/view/26676

Exploring connectivity in Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Greece and the Balkans using cranial non-metric analysis

The present study aims to explore connectivity and networking in Late Bronze Age (LBA)/Early Iron Age (EIA) Greece and the Balkans using morphological biodistance analysis and test the potentiality of newly introduced statistical tests, which were designed for challenging datasets, in this particular cultural area. Cranial non-metric traits were recorded in ten skeletal collections, spanning from East Crete to Romania. We followed an experimental statistical approach encompassing two different measures of divergence, the conventional and well-tested mean measure of divergence (MMD) and the newly introduced untransformed measure of divergence (UMD). Though different, results based on these two measures are mutually supporting and show that biodistances in our regional case studies mainly follow the isolation by distance model. This cautiously confirms our main hypothesis that during the LBA and EIA periods in Greece and the Balkans, personal mobility was a slow process characterized by integration, rather than displacement or transformation. The current study is the first one to infer biological affinities using cranial non-metric analysis combined with artifactual evidence, in LBA/EIA Greece and the Balkans. Building a larger dataset through future non-metric analyses will better enable exploring networking and mobility to further complement ongoing bioarchaeological, genetic, and material culture studies.

Culinary practices and pottery use in Minoan Crete. Integrating lipidic residue analysis in the study of cooking vessels from Sissi and Malia

Minoan cooking practices and subsistence strategies have been an integral part of the archaeological discourse in Aegean prehistory for the past 20 years, although the focus was largely on feasting deposits and food consumption. Given that the spectrum of human activities related with food production and preparation is wide and complex, shedding light on pottery use can reveal important information on the resources available and the practices of cooking involved, as well as their social repercussions.We report on the analytical investigation of cooking vessels from two neighboring Minoan settlements, Sissi and Malia, both located in north east Crete. In particular, eleven (11) samples were selected from cooking pottery excavated in Area Pi, district of the Malia palace dated to the Neopalatial period. Another twenty-nine (29) cooking pottery samples were chosen from Sissi dated from Neopalatial to Postpalatial periods and therefore extending the chronological scope of the project. Molecular analysis was implemented, as part of an integrated approach on study of cooking vessels, aiming at exploring the resources available, food habits and vessel use during Middle and Late Minoan period. To this end different vessels of common cooking types were analysed, such as tripod cooking pots, cooking jars and cooking dishes. The data generated revealed the use of beeswax and Pinaceae resins, as well as the preservation of lipids derived from plant and animal fats.Significant data on vessel use through time was generated, providing significant insights on the manifold relationship between food procurement, preparation and consumption practices and on the potential of new research methods in their investigation in Minoan Crete.

TWO SIZES TOO SMALL: TWO CATEGORIES OF MINIATURE POTTERY IN MINOAN CRETE

Often assumed to be ritual votives or toys for children, miniature ceramic vessels in the Bronze Age Aegean have been afforded little thorough study. Their presence at peak sanctuaries, sacred caves and shrines on Crete has led to their uncritical association with ritual activity, even outside of sacred areas. When miniature pots are found in domestic spaces, they are often dismissed as objects of household ritual or simple toys. Yet miniature vessels, diverse in form and context, are so common in archaeological investigations of Minoan settlements that they merit further comprehensive study. Considered alongside the abundance of small-scale Minoan material culture, including figurines, seals, miniature wall paintings, and models, miniature pottery appears to be one facet of a larger semiotic ideology – one well-versed in the language and power of the miniature. By analysing 504 miniature pots from 13 sites in central and east Crete, this paper explores the wide range of miniature vessel types used in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial periods and applies contextual analysis to draw out their meanings. Contextualisation and data analysis reveal two distinct categories within the corpus of miniature pots: ‘micro-miniatures’ and ‘small miniatures’. While micro-miniatures were indeed inherently cultic, small miniatures served a variety of practical functions within the world of Minoan Crete and should not be assumed to relate to ritual. To differentiate between the categories, the relationship between the miniature and its prototype, as well as its semiotic meaning are considered. By applying Peircean understandings of iconicity and indexicality to these two categories, the use and significance of Bronze Age miniature vessels are further illuminated, in ritual and beyond.

The settlement patterns of the Ierapetra Isthmus (East Crete) from the Archaic to the Venetian periods, as revealed through the SettleInEastCrete Program

The project, SettleInEastCrete. Spatial Dynamics and Settlement Patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian Period, sets out to determine the pattern of development of the settlements in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian period. The goal is to shed light and explain the transition from the ancient autonomous city-states to the medieval cities and villages. Special attention is given to the economic, social, political and also environmental issues that influenced that evolution. Concentrating on the eastern part of Crete was particularly effective: in the same territory and over a long chronological period, and living under very different administrative systems, we were able to trace how the population responded, moving between centralised and dispersed modes of settlement. We also looked to see if some places enjoyed longer-term occupation and the reasons for such.

On some late Prepalatial pricket lamps in White‑on‑Dark Ware from beneath the North Wing of the Malia Palace

In 2021, eight pricket lamps were identified during the study of pottery from the sounding undertaken by Olivier Pelon in 1978 and 1985 in Room IX b, located in the North Wing of the Malia Palace. These lamps, contained in an EM III–MM IA assemblage from the northern part of the room, are local productions in semi‑fine red fabric that imitate the elaborate patterns of the White‑on‑Dark Ware, the hallmark of the late Prepalatial productions of East Crete. These elaborate white‑on‑dark pricket lamps from the late Prepalatial levels of the Malia Palace seem to represent the prototype of the later pricket lamps, well-attested across the Malia site from MM I to MM II. This paper aims to present the eight lamps and their context, to provide parallels both from Malia and Minoan Crete, and to trace the development of this specific shape from late Prepalatial through the Protopalatial period in the whole island.

Landscape injustices in polarised communities: unearthing perceptions at Sitia UNESCO Geopark, Greece

ABSTRACT Local planning conflicts can stem from perceived inherent landscape injustice. This article explores how conflicting community perceptions of such injustice can be analysed through local collaborative decision-making processes. A theoretical framework to analyse landscape injustice is proposed and applied to the Sitia UNESCO Geopark (East Crete, Greece). This paper thus examines whether, as part of the knowledge formation processes for the holistic treatment of landscape, landscape planning should explicitly analyse landscape visions, values, threats and injustice at a local community scale, and explores how their explicit consideration can contribute to planning processes in polarised communities. The case study results indicated that polarised (pro-environment vs pro-development) community stakeholders shared visions and values of their ideal landscape, including common root causes of perceived injustice. The analysis of landscape injustice revealed state and external interventions leading to local people’s loss of land ownership and procedural marginalisation from decision-making processes regarding the landscape and its future use.

SOCIOECONOMIC CRISIS AND CULTURAL INNOVATION: THE LBA‐EIA EAST MEDITERRANEAN VIA A CASE STUDY OF LASITHI, CRETE

SummaryThe collapse of states c.1200 BC in the east Mediterranean is one of the best‐known socioeconomic crises of the ancient world. The period also witnessed notable innovation in a range of cultural spheres. The more general historical relationship between crisis and innovation can be productively explored using the increasingly detailed data available on this period and region, including case studies like the present one. This focuses on the north Lasithi area of east Crete in connection to recent archaeological work there, particularly at the site of Karphi and on its finds. It is contextualized in terms of the wider Mediterranean crisis context and the particular cultural responses seen in the Aegean. The paper explores the cultural contexts and outcomes of state collapse in ways which can help to interrogate received general models of historical innovation drivers. Does crisis in fact tend to produce technological regression and simplification, as elites disappear and complex sociopolitical systems break down? Do crisis‐spurred population movements have a direct role in transforming technology? Alternatively (or at the same time) does crisis provide a freed‐up social and economic space in which latent local innovation can emerge? In the multi‐context approach to interpreting cultural change adopted here, spheres of technological innovation which have already been intensively studied for the relevant period (e.g. iron introduction) are assessed from new angles, and less‐discussed/‐researched innovations (e.g. in textile making) are explored at a detailed scale through the case study, allowing evaluation of potential cross‐stimulus between different innovation spheres in the context of crisis.

137Cs ocean distribution and fate at East Mediterranean Sea in case of a nuclear accident in Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

A 3-D hydrodynamic model, coupled with a Lagrangian drift model, was applied to simulate the dispersion of derived 137Cs activity concentration in case of a nuclear accident in Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) located at the East Mediterranean Sea. The simulated near surface circulation presented a good skill in reproducing observed patterns from satellite altimetry data and existing literature. The dispersion pattern of dissolved 137Cs was investigated on an annual and seasonal basis. In all seasons the dominant pathway of released 137Cs had a westward direction, following the prevailing currents. The different dispersal patterns are mainly related to the intensity of the Asia Minor Current and the local circulation in the vicinity of the Akkuyu NPP. 137Cs was transported during the first month to the neighboring coasts of the NPP, while after the fourth month the distribution of the plume was extended in areas of the Eastern Aegean Sea (including East Crete and Rhodes Islands), as well as at the Antalya coastline. After the 3rd month, the plume reaches areas in the Eastern Aegean Sea (including the Crete Island and Cyclades plateau) while after the 6th month it is spread gradually to the Ionian Sea and Levantine basin. At the end of the annual simulation, the plume appears significantly diluted, with relatively high concentrations found still in Dodecanese Islands and along the Aegean Turkish coast. The 137Cs activity concentration starts to decline after the 9th month in most of the studied areas at the East Mediterranean Sea. The particulate 137Cs was diminished within a month from the accident, due to sinking and its fast transformation to dissolved, showing a similar westward dispersion pattern.

The Late Cretaceous magmatic arc of the south Aegean: Geodynamic implications from petrological and geochemical studies of granitoids from Anafi island (Cyclades – Greece)

ABSTRACT In the Aegean region (Cyclades – Greece), a large part of the Island of Anafi consists of exhumed high-grade metamorphic sequences (amphibolites, serpentinites and metasediments) that have been intruded by Late Cretaceous intermediate and felsic granitoids. These correspond to I-type arc-related rocks, displaying calc-alkaline geochemical affinities. Variability in their petrographic features, mineral composition and geochemistry is assigned to differentiation processes that mostly involved plagioclase and/or K-feldspar, and to a lesser extent amphibole and biotite. Mineral chemistry and geochemical results suggest that the Anafi granitoids are highly comparable with the Late Cretaceous granitoid intrusive rocks from East Crete and Donousa island. The amphibole and zircon saturation thermometry yields relatively moderate temperature crystallization conditions (~790°C) for the intermediate granitoids and lower for the felsic granitoids (~630°C). Geobarometric calculations based upon the chemistry of magnesiohornblende, as well as the normative (Qz), (Ab) and (Or) contents clearly point to shallow intrusion conditions (~2.0–6.5 kbar), corresponding to an estimated depth of crystallization of ~12 ± 4 km. The thrust sheets that overly the Palaeogene flysch in Anafi (metasediments with serpentinized peridotites, amphibolites and metabasites), constitute a subducted and metamorphosed oceanic sequence. These metamorphic units likely represent a part of the Pindos – Cycladic Blueschist Unit domain that was subducted at an earlier pre-Campanian stage. In the hydrated mantle wedge, incorporation of shallow level granitoids within metamorphic units was likely facilitated via corner flow intrusion mechanisms. Following the intrusion, the granitoid rocks were exhumed in a syn-convergent setting, along with the metamorphic thrust sheets, by continuous underplating of more external units, thus, escaping penetrative ductile deformation.

Mediterranean polyculture revisited: Olive, grape and subsistence strategies at Palaikastro, East Crete, between the Late Neolithic and Late Bronze Age

This paper examines agriculture, farming and dietary resources in east Crete, and re-evaluates the role of grape and olive in its prehistoric economy, these being key in debates on the emergence of social complexity. To do so bioarchaeological, paleoenvironmental and landscape survey data from the Bronze Age town at Palaikastro and its territory are combined. The results indicate a highly compartmentalised landscape, including intensive crop cultivation and extensive animal herding with careful monitoring to maintain productivity. A heightened specialisation in ovicaprine management at Palaikastro and east Crete seems to be delineated. Marine resources were regularly exploited from easily accessible coastal areas. Other activities included viticulture since the Early Minoan period, with the possible involvement of several houses in wine-making. A final important activity in the area was large-scale olive tree management since the Final Neolithic period and through to the Late Bronze Age, that seems to be entangled with ovicaprine herding and grazing. Thus, the demand for olive oil production does not seem to have been the driving force behind the intensification of the tree management, at least initially, but a corollary of its use in other aspects of the local economy.

Rapid Condition Surveys of Archaeological Excavations: Training Professionals in Two Minoan Sites on East Crete, Greece

Over the past century, monumental architecture has been at the center of attention of heritage professionals, stakeholders, and the public. On the contrary, vernacular architecture, which constitutes the majority of our built heritage, especially at rural sites in the provinces of Greece and other Mediterranean countries, has been mostly neglected and often has fallen into disarray. As a result, we now witness the severe degradation of several important settlements, which are threatened due to long exposure to the elements and lack of conservation, maintenance, and management plans. Since 2015, the Architectural Conservation Laboratory, University of West Attica, organizes a field-training program at the Minoan sites of Mochlos and Pseira on East Crete, aimed at addressing the challenges of vernacular architecture and raising awareness. The program provides on-the-job training opportunities to heritage professionals in surveying, assessing, and documenting the condition of architectural remains and finally establishing the conservation priorities. This paper discusses the approaches and the goals of the program, as well as the potential for the integration of cost-effective digital documentation techniques, such as photogrammetry, into the systematic monitoring of archaeological sites under threat. The preliminary results of the condition survey of Pseira and the challenges in the application of image-based 3D modeling on site are also reported.

Settlement location models, archaeological survey data and social change in Bronze Age Crete

This paper builds spatial models of Bronze Age settlement using published survey datasets from the Mirabello region in east Crete. Methodologically, we examine how point process modelling can account for uncertainties in legacy survey datasets, and thereafter can highlight patterns of both cultural change and continuity in Mirabello settlement. Comparison of fitted models over different chronological periods gives an insight, we argue, into the kinds of settlement and subsistence choices that lay behind settlement patterns, holding constant the broadly similar environmental constraints faced by inhabitants throughout the Bronze Age. Overall, the results suggest prehistoric preference for, and exploitation of, agriculturally favourable parts of the landscape, although contrasting emphases in different periods do emerge despite this unsurprising overall preference. Many of the analytical results prove robust to a sensitivity analysis which addresses commonplace uncertainties associated with settlement survey data. The results also dovetail well with previous archaeological interpretations of changing settlement and Bronze Age life in the Mirabello region. Survey datasets are also relatively common in other archaeological settings worldwide and we advocate for more widespread application of similarly formalised methods to them.

A NEW HELLENISTIC AMPHORA PRODUCTION CENTRE IN WEST CRETE (LOUTRA, RETHYMNON): STUDY AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE

The presence of Hellenistic amphora production centres in central and east Crete was demonstrated in the 1990s through the survey carried out by J.-Y. Empereur, Ch. Kritzas and A. Marangou. In addition, more recent studies have placed emphasis on wine as a major component of the rural economy of Crete during that period. However, archaeological evidence from excavated sites and well-stratified contexts remains scarce. The rescue excavation carried out in a private plot at Loutra (Rethymnon, west Crete) by the 25th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities brought to light a Hellenistic farmstead with an olive beam press and a pottery kiln mainly producing amphorae. In this study we focus on the ceramic assemblage from the site. The study of the pottery, coupled with thin-section petrography, adds new evidence for the production of amphorae in west Crete during the Late Hellenistic period, and allows the investigation of issues such as the use of raw materials, the clay pastes and the technology of pottery manufacture. Moreover, the proximity of the kiln to the olive beam press sheds light on the use of amphorae for the trade in olive oil on a local and regional scale.

Bronze Age Metal Objects from East Crete, Greece

Bronze Age Metal Objects from East Crete, Greece

Trading, the Longboat, and Cultural Interaction in the Aegean During the Late Fourth Millennium B.C.E.: The View from Kephala Petras, East Crete

Trading, the Longboat, and Cultural Interaction in the Aegean During the Late Fourth Millennium B.C.E.: The View from Kephala Petras, East Crete

Fusion of multi‐resolution surface (terrestrial laser scanning) and subsurface geodata (ERT, SRT) for karst landform investigation and geomorphometric quantification

ABSTRACTA multi‐method research design based on terrestrial laser scanning, GIS, geophysical prospecting (electrical resistivity tomography, refraction seismics) and sedimentology is applied for the first time to investigate enclosed karst depressions in an integrated way. Fusing multi‐resolution surface and subsurface geodata provides profound insights into the formation, geometry and geomorphologic processes of dolines. The studied landforms, which are located in the Dikti Mountains of East Crete, are shown to be filled by loose sediments of thicknesses of up to 30 m that mainly consist of fine‐grained material overlying solid bedrock at depths below 35 to 45 m. By combining subsurface observations with geomorphometric calculations, local doline genesis can be traced back to initial collapse of fractured bedrock followed by subsequent infilling with colluvials. In order to define crucial methodological requirements and guidelines for data fusion, both the impact of different elevation models and the influence of data resolution are assessed. Surface volumes of depressions derived by the digital surface model are 7–21% higher than the results obtained from the terrain model due to vegetation. Similarly, estimates of infill volume calculated on the basis of geophysical outcomes and elevation data differ by up to 13%. Calculations of the landforms' current volumes (i.e. total surface and subsurface volume), however, are fairly insensitive to raster resolution. Hence, the distinct geomorphologic properties of landforms (e.g. shape, terrain roughness, slope inclination) substantially determine the geomorphometric analysis of both surface and subsurface data. As shown by the findings, data fusion to integrate digital terrain, geophysical and sedimentological datasets of varied resolutions benefits geomorphologic studies and helps provide a comprehensive image of landforms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Crucibles from Palaikastro, East Crete: insights into metallurgical technology in the Aegean Late Bronze Age

The recovery of two groups of crucibles from the Neopalatial and Postpalatial phases of the Bronze Age settlement at Palaikastro on Crete permits the investigation not only into how their fabric was made up, how they were used and what materials they were producing, but also to what extent these matters had changed in the two intervening centuries in the third quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. Though the same resources were tapped by both sets of artisans, different preferences and prevailing habits can be discerned. The Neopalatial set shows a bias towards one non-calcareous clay source, for phyllite inclusions and animal hair tempering; the Postpalatial for a range of clays subjected to a uniform preparation with the addition of sand and vegetal temper. Both preferred to include their fuel within the crucible charge, which was thus heated from the inside, but the Neopalatial craftsmen arguably also used an external heat source. The ability of the Neopalatial artisans to access tin may be reflected in its higher presence then, as opposed to the leaded bronzes visible later.

Book Review of The Sanctuary of Hermes and Aphrodite at Syme Viannou. Vol. 4, Animal Images of Clay, by Polymnia Muhly

The volume under review is the most recent contribution to the series published by the Archaeological Society at Athens presenting the results of research carried out in the extra-urban sanctuary at Kato Syme in east Crete.

Book Review of Minoan Kato Zakro: A Pastoral Economy, by Judith Reid

This study, based on a Ph.D. thesis presented at the University of Wellington, New Zealand, in 2005, offers a fresh look into the landscape of Zakros in east Crete by linking the town and palace of Kato Zakro to the hinterland and the wider environmental setting of the region. In the light of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory and of strategies of adaptation to the environment, Reid examines Kato Zakro in close relation to the natural environment of the region, which is favorable for pastoralism.