Late Bronze Age Apsidal Buildings in Greece and Adjacent Areas, BSA 84, 1989, 269-288 (original) (raw)
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Life and Death of a Bronze Age House: Excavation of Early Minoan I Levels at Priniatikos Pyrgos
In 2010, a portion of a well-preserved domestic building dating to the later part of Early Minoan (EM) I was excavated at Priniatikos Pyrgos, east Crete. Though only a small portion of this house was available to investigate, there was clear evidence for several architectural and habitation phases. The final domestic activities were particularly well preserved because the building was deliberately destroyed in an event that included burning. There was a distinct and clearly defined ritual component to this event, including the decommissioning of household objects. Because of the rapid abandonment and destruction of this building, the excavated area contained well-preserved evidence for the character of use of the building in its final days. This preliminary discussion focuses primarily on this portion of the house and contextualizes it within the overall excavation at Priniatikos Pyrgos, its environs recorded in the Vrokastro Survey Project, and EM I Crete more generally. It provides detailed analyses of industrial, domestic, trade, and ritual activities through the study of stratigraphy, architecture, ceramics, faunal remains, plant remains, obsidian, metal, and plaster. It concludes with a discussion of the character of activity that took place when the building was abandoned.* * We wish to thank the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) for its unstinting support in the conduct of the excavation and study phases of this project. The support and encouragement of the staff of the KD' Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities made this work and publication possible. We are grateful to the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens and the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete for providing ongoing logistical infrastructure. The Mediterranean Archaeological Trust also provided assistance. We have been fortunate to have strong support from many individuals; in particular, we thank V. Apostalakou, C.
Life and Death of a Bronze Age House: Excavation of Early Minoan I at Priniatikos Pyrgos
In 2010, a portion of a well-preserved domestic building dating to the later part of Early Minoan (EM) I was excavated at Priniatikos Pyrgos, east Crete. Though only a small portion of this house was available to investigate, there was clear evidence for several architectural and habitation phases. The final domestic activities were particularly well preserved because the building was deliberately destroyed in an event that included burning. There was a distinct and clearly defined ritual component to this event, including the decommissioning of household objects. Because of the rapid abandonment and destruction of this building, the excavated area contained well-preserved evidence for the character of use of the building in its final days. This preliminary discussion focuses primarily on this portion of the house and contextualizes it within the overall excavation at Priniatikos Pyrgos, its environs recorded in the Vrokastro Survey Project, and EM I Crete more generally. It provides detailed analyses of industrial, domestic, trade, and ritual activities through the study of stratigraphy, architecture, ceramics, faunal remains, plant remains, obsidian, metal, and plaster. It concludes with a discussion of the character of activity that took place when the building was abandoned.* * We wish to thank the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) for its unstinting support in the conduct of the excavation and study phases of this project. The support and encouragement of the staff of the KD' Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities made this work and publication possible. We are grateful to the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens and the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete for providing ongoing logistical infrastructure. The Mediterranean Archaeological Trust also provided assistance. We have been fortunate to have strong support from many individuals; in particular, we thank V. Apostalakou, C.
The excavation of the foundation shafts for the pillars of the new shelter over the site of Akrotiri in Thera (1999-2003) necessitated the continuation of archaeological investigations around Sector Alpha, which, until then, was the northernmost excavated area of the settlement. The area presented in this paper extends to the north of the House of the Ladies and Sector Alpha, as well as to the northeast of Sector Alpha. Our research was based initially on the information from the archival data of the first excavations in the vicinity, as well as that of the tunnels during those same years (1967-1969). Spyridon Marinatos, when first faced with the problem of an ancient site shrouded in tons of volcanic pumice, tried to investigate it by opening (underground) tunnels in the pumice, in order to track buildings but also leave the landscape above ground intact. The method was abandoned and the tunnels with time collapsed. But what prompted this paper was the (deluge of) new information from investigations in connection with the construction of a new shelter: surface volcanic materials were removed, and proper archaeological excavations took place where the new shelter pillars would be erected. The presentation follows a chronological sequence from the earliest levels to the latest, and follows the evidence of human activities and interventions from the Early Cycladic period until the latest pre-eruption phase.