PAPADIOKAMBOS - 2008
Informations Générales
Numéro de la notice
1792
Année de l'opération
2008
Chronologie
Mots-clés
Nature de l'opération
Institution(s)
Localisation
Toponyme
Papadiokampos
Papadiokampos
Notices et opérations liées
Description
Papadiokambos. Ch. Sophianou (ΚΔ' ΕΠΚΑ) reports on the 2008 season of excavation in the Minoan settlement (Fig. 1), which also produced some Hellenistic finds. House remains have been located along a 250m long stretch of cliff.
House A1 (Fig. 2), by the sea to the northwest, was a two-storeyed structure with a yard and perhaps a garden to the south (a stream-course runs nearby). Ten rooms remain on the ground floor, with two more probably lost to the sea; some walls stand to 1.4m high. Downstairs rooms, with hearths, were used for food storage and processing. Finds comprise some 500 pots (many associated with foodstuffs -such as cooking pots including one with a modelled agrimi head on it, basins, jars and jugs), 200 stone tools, two bronze daggers, a lead weight and a sealstone. Two architectural phases are known: MMIIIB to LMIA, ended by the Theran eruption (noting pumice in the debris), and then LMIB, restricted to the northern rooms only, which is clear evidence of the consequences of the disaster. One hundred and fifty metres to the east are other structural remains: the massiveness of one façade, with large dressed masonry, as well as associated finds (a copper ingot [Fig. 3] and a bronze dagger [Fig. 4]) indicate the superior status of the building, though it too has lost rooms at the north to the sea.
House B1 (Figs 5-6) to the southwest had (below a thick destruction deposit) remains of a well-beaten earth floor and a hearth from an upper storey (Fig. 7). Associated vases include two amphorae, two bridge-spouted jars, a cooking jar, and sundry cups and juglets (Figs 8-9), all LMIB in date. Stone weights, two querns, two stone tools (for making vases), a clay loomweight and a bronze fish-hook comprise the other finds. On the ground floor two complete pithoi were found set in pits: one was stamped (Fig. 10) 10 times by two seals on its rim and handle bases. The seals bore the motifs of a boat and a palm tree between hands: they look to be from a prism seal with hieroglyphic signs (such as those produced in the MMII Malia workshop). This and the pithos shape suggest they were made in MMII-III and would have been ‘heirlooms’ by LMIB.
Surface finds of LMIIIB pottery include a kylix.
Environmental research is an important goal of the project. Some 350 samples have been collected from various layers, hearths and inside pots. For example, house A1 (room 5) has yielded olive pips and grape seeds. Workshop activities were investigated by sampling stone tools and storage vessels, which indicated the household processing of oil and wine. Fig seeds, almond and lentils have also been found. From the hearth and floor of house B1 came more olive pips and lentils, and from the pithoi (Fig .11), seeds of grapes (Fig. 12), perhaps from wine production. The large quantities of olive pips found in the hearths of two houses argue for their use as a fuel (as does the scarce indication of carbonized wood). Animal bones indicate that the inhabitants of house A1 ate goat, sheep and pig meat, and were especially partial to seafoods. More than 50kg of various shell and crab remains were collected. Even at the time of the destruction, they were preparing such fare in the yard: as demonstrated by a plate of bivalves and a bronze knife. A skeleton of a small dog covered by stones was found at the east of the yard.
Prospection and survey of the site and its hinterland indicate that this was a large town (5-8ha) with a local strategic role, located as it is between two major Minoan centres at Mochlos and Petras (Fig. 13). Its inhabitants also traded: pots from the Dodecanese appear in house A1 and the ingot in house B1 came from Cyprus. The role of the Thera eruption in its LMIA destruction is strengthened by a 0.15m deep layer including tephra over the ruins in the eastern part of the town.
Auteur de la notice
Don EVELY
Références bibliographiques
AEK 1 (2010), 134-42 Kentro 12 (2009), 6-9
Légende graphique :
localisation de la fouille/de l'opération
localisation du toponyme
polygone du toponyme Chronique
Fonctionnalités de la carte :
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Date de création
2011-02-07 00:00:00
Dernière modification
2023-10-06 10:52:35
Figure(s)
Fig. 1/ The Minoan settlement.
Fig. 2/ Plan of House A1.
Fig. 3/ Piece of copper ingot.
Fig. 4/ Bronze dagger.
Fig. 5/ Aerial view of Area B.
Fig. 6/ Plan of House B1.
Fig. 7/ Plan of upper storey of House B1.
Fig. 8/ Jug(a) from House B1.
Fig. 9/ Jug(b) from House B1.
Fig. 10/ Stamped pithos.
Fig. 11/ Pithoi.
Fig. 12/ Seeds of grapes from pithoi of House B1.
Fig. 13/ Map of eastern Crete.