KNOSSOS - Kephala - 2009
Informations Générales
Numéro de la notice
1812
Année de l'opération
2009
Chronologie
Mots-clés
Nature de l'opération
Institution(s)
Localisation
Toponyme
Knossos, Knosos, Cnossus, Cnossos
Knossos, Knosos, Cnossus, Cnossos
Notices et opérations liées
2009
Description
Kephala. P. Tomkins (BSA/Sheffield) reports on a project to publish the Neolithic stratigraphy, architecture and ceramics, and to reconstruct the subsurface Prepalatial stratigraphy and architecture on the Kephala hill.
The growth of the Neolithic settlement is reconstructed via a combination of archival research, macroscopic ceramic study, geophysical survey and GIS modelling, which relates more than 200 separate earlier excavations in 3D. The hill originally consisted of two knolls, connected by a saddle to form a north-south ridge beneath the west wing of the Palace. The earliest settlement phases (Initial and Early Neolithic) were focused on the gently sloping terrain immediately east and southeast of this ridge, and ran up and probably over the saddle.
Following the work of Evans, it has been assumed that the extensive leveling and terracing which transformed the hill from a place of residence to a place of ceremony was associated with the construction of the MMI palace. It now appears that the transformation occurred more gradually, in a series of episodes. The earliest, at the very end of the Final Neolithic (FNIV), created a formal open space or court on the site of the later Central Court, flanked to the west by two houses. Early in EMI, these houses were rebuilt or modified and the court surface relaid, while the entire northern slope was transformed into a series of wide eastwest terraces, stepping down from around the level of the present Central Court to that of the present North Front. EMI−II deposits on these terraces have generally been seen as mixed fills, but most are stratified deposits in which floors and, more rarely, house architecture can be identified. An EMI house can be detected below and to the east of the North East Hall, via pottery from the 1903 and 1905 tests, walls sketched by Fyfe and walls still visible. Similarly, EMIIA or IIB structures are noted below the North Portico, around the North Lustral Area and below the North East Magazines. Study of a series of tests around the Early Keep revealed that these correspond to a massive and deep Middle Neolithic to FNI and EMI-III fill, which provides an EMIII terminus post quem for the construction of the Keep. Elsewhere around the hill there is evidence for additional, major terracing operations in EMIIAE and L, EMIIB, EM III and MMIA. The Central Court rests on a platform that probably reached its present extent during EMII.
In 2009, a geophysical survey, conducted in collaboration with D. van der Roest (GT Frontline) and the Free University of Amsterdam, aimed to map and visualize the subsurface archaeological and geological deposits on the Kephala hill. The prospection system combined a transverse- mounted Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) antenna with Direct Contact continuous measurement of minor differences in the natural potential of the earth, giving very high-resolution shallow and deep measurement irrespective of the conductivity of the soil.
The growth of the Neolithic settlement is reconstructed via a combination of archival research, macroscopic ceramic study, geophysical survey and GIS modelling, which relates more than 200 separate earlier excavations in 3D. The hill originally consisted of two knolls, connected by a saddle to form a north-south ridge beneath the west wing of the Palace. The earliest settlement phases (Initial and Early Neolithic) were focused on the gently sloping terrain immediately east and southeast of this ridge, and ran up and probably over the saddle.
Following the work of Evans, it has been assumed that the extensive leveling and terracing which transformed the hill from a place of residence to a place of ceremony was associated with the construction of the MMI palace. It now appears that the transformation occurred more gradually, in a series of episodes. The earliest, at the very end of the Final Neolithic (FNIV), created a formal open space or court on the site of the later Central Court, flanked to the west by two houses. Early in EMI, these houses were rebuilt or modified and the court surface relaid, while the entire northern slope was transformed into a series of wide eastwest terraces, stepping down from around the level of the present Central Court to that of the present North Front. EMI−II deposits on these terraces have generally been seen as mixed fills, but most are stratified deposits in which floors and, more rarely, house architecture can be identified. An EMI house can be detected below and to the east of the North East Hall, via pottery from the 1903 and 1905 tests, walls sketched by Fyfe and walls still visible. Similarly, EMIIA or IIB structures are noted below the North Portico, around the North Lustral Area and below the North East Magazines. Study of a series of tests around the Early Keep revealed that these correspond to a massive and deep Middle Neolithic to FNI and EMI-III fill, which provides an EMIII terminus post quem for the construction of the Keep. Elsewhere around the hill there is evidence for additional, major terracing operations in EMIIAE and L, EMIIB, EM III and MMIA. The Central Court rests on a platform that probably reached its present extent during EMII.
In 2009, a geophysical survey, conducted in collaboration with D. van der Roest (GT Frontline) and the Free University of Amsterdam, aimed to map and visualize the subsurface archaeological and geological deposits on the Kephala hill. The prospection system combined a transverse- mounted Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) antenna with Direct Contact continuous measurement of minor differences in the natural potential of the earth, giving very high-resolution shallow and deep measurement irrespective of the conductivity of the soil.
Below the Central Court, the GPR detected a dense array of features at different depths down to ca. 4.5m. In the first, 0.5m below the surface, it is possible to observe one or perhaps two drainage systems, the southern retaining wall of the Court (reconstructed by Evans) and the position of tests dug by Evans and Mackenzie between 1901 and 1904. Also detectable are portions of walling that correlate with the FNIV house excavated by Evans and Mackenzie in 1924 and an earlier eastern retaining wall for the Central Court, immediately to the west of the present one and recorded on an early plan by Fyfe. Most enigmatic is a feature that appears to be on the same orientation as the court and thus may belong to an earlier phase of the Palace. Direct Contact data from the Central Court cannot be separated into specific depth slices, although image intensity gives an approximate indication of relative depth (lighter features being high, darker features low). Several features, familiar from the 0.5m GPR image, show up as intense pale features (e.g. a drainage pipe, early tests, terrace walls). However, the Direct Contact image also shows a set of very dark linear features absent in the GPR data and therefore probably deeper than ca. 4.5m. These are clearest below the southern half of the Central Court, where the walls of two large structures, oriented northeast-southwest and separated by a wide northeast-southwest passage, appear. In the middle of the Court, these dark linear features are interrupted by trench AC (excavated to bedrock by John Evans in 1957-1960), before resuming immediately to the north. The orientation of the two southern structures parallels the orientation of the contours of the bedrock in this area as well as the orientation of an Initial Neolithic wall, excavated in 1970 in trench X at the southern edge of the Central Court. It is thus highly likely that the two southern structures belong to the very earliest phase of occupation at Knossos (ca. 7000-6500/6400 BC) and consequently are the earliest known farmer’s dwellings in Greece. If so, the dark linear features on the Direct Contact image are likely to correspond to mud-brick architecture in use during the Initial and Early Neolithic. At present, the dark linear features beneath the northern half of the Court appear, on the basis of their relationship with mud-brick structures recorded in area AC, most likely date to the Early Neolithic.
Images from other areas of the hill confirm that coherent, high-resolution imaging of walls and structures is not confined to the Central Court. Highlights include probable EMI structures immediately north of the North West Platform and a series of probable EMII structures beneath the western half of the Theatral Area and the Royal Road.
Images from other areas of the hill confirm that coherent, high-resolution imaging of walls and structures is not confined to the Central Court. Highlights include probable EMI structures immediately north of the North West Platform and a series of probable EMII structures beneath the western half of the Theatral Area and the Royal Road.
Auteur de la notice
Don EVELY
Références bibliographiques
Unpublished field report, British School at Athens
Légende graphique :
localisation de la fouille/de l'opération
localisation du toponyme
polygone du toponyme Chronique
Fonctionnalités de la carte :
sélectionner un autre fond de plan
se rapprocher ou s'éloigner de la zone
afficher la carte en plein écran
Date de création
2011-02-09 00:00:00
Dernière modification
2023-10-06 11:13:56