Minoan Prepalatial Peribolos of Amnissos, Crete (original) (raw)

2016, E. Papadopoulou-Chrysikopoulou, V. Chrysikopoulos and G. Christakopoulou (eds), ACHAIOS. Studies Presented to Professor Thanasis I. Papadopoulos, Oxford 2016, 165-176.

In the summer of 2008, during infrastructure works at the Teachers‟ Building Association plot, northeast of the cave of Eileithyia and about 250m. southeast of the hill of Paliochora at Amnissos, a minoan wall of Prepalatial period was revealed. As a consequence, a rescue excavation was undertaken by the 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. The research brought to light an elongated wall extending from east to west about 25m. in length. The construction is very rough and is consisted of unworked stones of different size, put in one course of almost horizontal arrangement. However, it is almost certain that the initial construction continued to the east and to the west, as it is suggested by a lot of rough stones scattered at the nearby fields, following the direction of the excavated wall. It is also probable that it had more than one courses, since a second course was discovered at two different parts of the wall. The width of the construction is differentiated. It is suggested that this long wall was part of the Minoan defensive system in the area, exercising access control from the coast to the hinterland. The pottery forms and decoration date the construction to MM IA, while a very small quantity of fragments could be dated to MM IB. The ceramic material shows close affinities with EM III late/MM IA contexts from Knossos. A detailed presentation of the pottery is presented in the paper.