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Excavations at Palaikastro, 1987

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

J.A. MacGillivray ,
L.H. Sackett ,
J. Driessen ,
C. Macdonald  and
D. Smyth
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Abstract

A second season of new excavations was undertaken at Palaikastro in 1987 in the area of Building 1, partially revealed last year, and in the adjacent fields to the south. Two new structures were denned, Buildings 3 and 4, and most of the plan of Building 1 traced. Features suggesting that Building 1 was public and played a role in the religious life of the town in LM I are the high quality of its construction, a possible grandstand with stone horns of consecration, a large well-built drain at the entrance, its unique orientation, and the discovery of the torso and arms of a male chryselephantine statuette fallen from an upper storey into an open area near the building. The other buildings are not yet well-defined. Building 3 was constructed in LM I and re-occupied in LM III, but no inner partition walls have been found. An area with pier-and-door partitions and mudbrick walls was built against the southwest wall of the building and destroyed in LM IB. Building 4 seems to belong to the LM III period, although we have not yet investigated below the floors of the re-occupation period. Destruction deposits of the LM IIIA2/B period suggest an earthquake.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 83 , November 1988 , pp. 259 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1988

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References

Abbreviations other than those in standard use

PK I–VII. ‘Excavations at Palaikastro I’ to VII. I in BSA 8 (1901–2) 286–316; II in BSA 9 (1902–3) 274–387; III in BSA 10 (1903–4) 192–321; IV in BSA 11 (1904–5) 258–308; V in BSA 12 (1905–6) 1–8; VI in BSA 60 (1965) 248–315; VII in BSA 65 (1970) 203–242.

PKU. The Unpublished Objects from the Palaikastro Excavations 1902–6 (BSA Supplementary Paper 1), 1923.

PKU II. ‘Unpublished objects from Palaikastro and Praisos’ BSA 40 (1939–40) 38–59.

PK Settlement. ‘Minoan Settlement at Palaikastro’ Darcque and Treuil (Eds.), L'Habitat Egeen Prehistorique, Paris, forthcoming.

PK Survey, ‘An Archaeological Survey of the Roussolakkos Area at Palaikastro’, BSA 79 (1984) 129–159.

PK 1986. ‘Excavations at Palaikastro, 1986’ BSA 82 (1987) 135–154.

Zakros. Platon, N., Zakros, New York, 1971.Google Scholar

1 The work was carried out under the auspices of the British School at Athens and we are grateful to the Managing Committee of the School for continued support and encouragement. We are also grateful to Dr I. Tzedhakis and Dr N. Papadakis for permission to excavate and for providing K. Kotzagiorgi as the enthusiastic representative of the Greek State. Funding was provided by the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the British School at Athens and the William and Mary Greve Foundation. Without the combined support and assistance of all of the above the work could not have taken place.

The excavations were directed by L.H. Sackett and J.A. MacGillivray. The architect was J. Driessen, the surveyor D. Smyth, and A. Thomas and S. Tate were the Administrative Assistants. Trench supervisors were C. Macdonald, A. Moore, M. Prent, S. Thorne and A. Zissimatou assisted in the field by S. Huxley, C. Broodbank and O. Matzari. The video notebooks were kept by C. Gansa. The apotheke was run by M. Webb, who was also excavation archivist. Ceramic petrology was carried out by P. Day with the assistance of E. Papapanayiotakis. Soil sampling and processing was supervised by C. Rushe, assisted by T. Rhinelander and S. MacGillivray. The recovery and marking of bones was also supervised by C. Rushe assisted by Eion Patterson. Conservation was carried by S. Sanders and S. Katsarakis. Special conservation of the ivory statuette was performed by A. Moraitou and A. Nikakis, both kindly provided by the Archaeological Service for the purpose. An average of eighteen workmen each day were supervised by the School's foreman, N. Dhaskalakis, and three washerwomen were supervised by E. Petrakis.

The aerial photographs of the site and excavations in Plates 41, 42 and 50 were taken by W. and E. Myers financed by a special grant for the purpose from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory.

This report was written by MacGillivray and Sackett incorporating texts by Driessen and Macdonald. The plans are the work of Driessen and Smyth, the photography is by Sackett and the drawings of pottery by J. Clarke.

2 For an aerial view of the fields before the start of excavations see PK Survey, Pl. 8.

3 A similar chasm was found in the sounding in Area DD, PK VII, 212 Fig. 7.

4 For other explanations of the Minoan practice of building with projections and set-backs see Palyvou, C. in BSA 81, 1986, 192–4Google Scholar; and Driessen, J. in JSAH 46, 1987, 59–65.Google Scholar

5 Betancourt, P.P. in The History of Minoan pottery Princeton 1985, 139Google Scholar assigns the style to LM IB, but a close parallel for our example from Knossos, PM II, 437 G. 254, was found in an LM IA context, indicating the style may have begun during LM IA.

6 Some dimensions of broken mudbricks recovered are: 0.24 × 0.17 × 0.11 m.; 0.17 × 0.12 × 0.10 m.; 0.19 × 0.15 × 0.10 m.; 0.13 × 0.13 × 0.12 m., and 0.26 × 0.26 × 0.13 m.

7 PK 1986, 140 notes 8 and 9. The threshold ends at approximately the same point as the fine cape sidero slablying in front of it. The threshold is also 2.20 m. long but the door which stood on it may have been about 1.00 m. wide, the cuttings being a later modification in the threshold. At present, the space for the doorway on the threshold is exactly opposite the east passage in Area 10.

8 A similar series of three internal structural alterations within the LM I period was noted just inside the street door of Block B in a very parallel position, PK VII, 204–7.

9 PAE 1967, pl. 158β.

10 Warren, P.M., Minoan Stone Vases, Cambridge 1969, 75 P406 D226.Google Scholar

11 PM I, 226 G. 171a; see also Macdonald, C. and Driessen, J. in this volume and Shaw, J., ASAtene XLIX, 1971, 126–134 with references.Google Scholar The problems of drainage were noted by the early excavators: several thresholds, floors and steps had to be raised and a kerb was made in the street between Blocks B and M to direct rainwater down the hill (PK II, 288). Streets with gutters were also noted during the early excavations but these did not have cover slabs (PK II, 278; IV, 259).

12 The total thickness of the slab is 0.08 m. with the circular thickening (diameter 0.36 m.) comprising 0.03 m. of the thickness. The slab, which is broken, was originally square.

13 Hood, M.S.F. in ILN Feb. 22nd, 1958, 301.Google Scholar

14 CMS V, 201.

15 PM IV, 467.

16 PKU Plan 1, areas Ε–6, Ε–33, Γ–19, χ–62 and west of χ–2.

17 Staircases accessible from the vestibule are common at Roussolakkos, e.g. Β–12, Γ–23, Δ–12, Ε–36, χ–2 and χ–62.

18 We may wonder to what degree the symmetric east façade of Building 1 was significant. Similar imposing façades exist at Tylissos (House E, East Façade), at Palaikastro (Block X, South and East Façade: central part projecting), Palace of Mallia (West Façade), and Knossos (West Façade) etc., see Hallager, E., The Master Impression, Goteborg 1985, 21.Google Scholar

19 According to the early excavators, the largest mudbricks at Palaikastro measured 0.56 × 0.42 × 0.14 m., the most frequent dimensions being 0.40 × 0.30 × 0.10 m. – PK 1, 315.

20 Zakros, 117 top.

21 The second base from the north-east is a heavily eroded ammoudha T-shaped door-jamb base (0.50 × 0.28m.) and the two south-western ammoudha slabs have cuttings along the long sides of c. 0.40 m., see Plate 46d. Rooms surrounded by polythyra are very rare in eastern Crete; the present example is the first known from Palaikastro, the others are in the palace at Zakros, see Zakros, 176–7. For a discussion of the possible function of this feature see Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. in OpAth XVI, 1986, 57–73Google Scholar, and Driessen, J. in Acta Archaeologica Lovaniensia 21, 1982, 27–92.Google Scholar

22 This type of construction, with upright mudbricks, is reminiscent of the interior partitions of the Shrine Area at Zakros, , see Zakros, 134, 151.Google Scholar

23 The columns bases measure 0.28 m. in diameter. The threshold, which is c 1.20 m. long, shows clear traces of wear by the sliding of the door (a parallel series of semi-concentric circles). The threshold, which is badly preserved –he pivot-hole being hardly distinguishable, may have been re-used in the wall. Its surface is 0.29 m. below the surface of the two column bases, but since no good floor levels were found in this area, it is not possible to decide whether or not the latter form part of the same architectural arrangement or are later than the threshold.

24 The corner of a room with walls 0.80 m. wide preserved to a height of 0.25 to 0.45 m. above the floor is visible beneath the later walls. A rough bench, made up of two slabs and rubble, could be identified along the east wall.

25 Popham, M.R., The Miman Unexplored Mansion at Knossos, Oxford 1984–1985, 169, Pls. 62e–fGoogle Scholar; 63e, and 153, 1–2.

26 LM I buildings cleared out after the LM IB destruction and reinhabited with few alterations are known from Roussolakkos (Block I), Knossos, (Unexplored Mansion) and Chania, , see AAA 17, 1984, 13.Google Scholar

27 Popham, M.R. in The Relations between Crete and Cyprus, ca. 2000–5000B.C., Nicosia 1979, 188 c. 7.14.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., 182 G. 3.1–3.

29 See PK Survey, 158 Deposit B no. 8 for references.

30 AR 29, 1982–3, 77 G. 37.

31 Hallager, E. and Tzedhakis, I. in AAA 16, 1983, 3–16Google Scholar; 17, 1984, 3–20; Shaw, J. in Hesperia 48, 1979, 170CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Platon, N. in PAE 1959, 198 G. I.Google Scholar

32 Hayden, B. in Expedition 1983, 18Google Scholar; Hesperia 52, 1983, 385.

33 These walls together with those on the Promontory and East Beach (PK Survey, 137–140 GS. 4, 5) and the visible remains of an apsidal building in the sea about 20.00 m. south of the Xiona Taverna show that the sea level is much higher now than in antiquity.

34 PK VII, 240–2.

35 Travels and Researches in Crete I, London 1865, 207–211.

36 Papadakis, N., Sitia, Siteia 1983, 52Google Scholar; and PK I, 288.