The settlement at Sissi during the Protopalatial period: a preliminary examination of the MM II pottery (original) (raw)

2022, Protopalatial pottery: relative chronology and regional differences in Middle Bronze Age Crete INSTAP Workshop - 10-12th June 2022

The present paper will present the first results of the study of the Protopalatial pottery brought to light within the settlement of Sissi, excavated under the auspices of UCLouvain/EBSA since 2007. Contrary to the cemetery which attests to an intense use during the Protopalatial period (studied by I. Caloi), the contemporary occupation of the settlement is seemingly quite scarce, a fact accentuated by the lack of stratified material and the often secondary – possibly mixed - nature of the excavated deposits. Nevertheless, the examination of selected contexts excavated in buildings located on the summit of the hill (Buildings CD, E and HB) allows a preliminary reconstruction of the local sequence of MM IIA and MM IIB ceramic phases. Evidence of MM IB pottery and occupation at Sissi is still lacking outside if the cemetery. Firstly, I aim to discuss two MM IIB deposits from respectively spaces 4.5 and 5.10, mostly composed of drinking and cooking vessels. Interestingly, the mendable vessels suggest the presence of a late MM IIB phase at Sissi, since both assemblages show similar typo-stylistic features comparable with the destruction level of Quartier Mu at Malia. Secondly, I will argue that an assemblage excavated from the North Terrace (space 8.8), constitutes a possible closed context dated to the MM IIA phase, on the basis of comparisons with Malia, Knossos and Mochlos. Finally, discussing the developments of specific shapes and decorative patterns, in comparison with other sites but also, more specifically, compared to the well-identified MM IIB horizon at the site, I will attempt to define local criteria to distinguish MM IIA from MM IIB. While the definition of the MM IIB phase in ceramic terms is well circumscribed at the site as well as all around Crete, the MM IIA phase is still hardly recognized and characterised, especially in East Crete.