Azoria - 2016

Azorias - Kavousi - Ierapetra. Donald C. Haggis (American School of Classical Studies) reports on the excavation of four areas of the archaeological site of Azorias in northeastern Crete (Fig. 1).

The excavation of the Western Building revealed an independent structure consisting of nine interconnected rooms arranged along a broad terrace, with evidence indicating that it functioned primarily as a storage facility for agricultural products and may reflect centralized organization and management of food supplies (Fig. 2,3). The northernmost room, D3300, contained evidence of fire as well as considerable quantities of grains and legumes, while D3200, the largest room, contained numerous pithos bases, storage vessels, a stone-lined container, a platform, and deposits of burnt animal bones interpreted as a structured deposit associated with the abandonment phase. D2500 contained a dense concentration of broken pithoi and other vessels, with particularly abundant olive remains. D3400 included a stone bench and a built container, together with pithoi, fine wares, weights, spindle whorls, and stone tools, while D3100 produced a dense assemblage of storage vessels, including pithoi and amphorae, as well as remains of olives and grapes. D2800, which had several pithos bases, yielded predominantly grape remains and may have been used for the storage of wine, at least during the abandonment phase.

The excavation revealed also three adjoining rooms (B6900, B6400 and B7000), which allow the reconstruction of a Hellenistic building dating to the late 3rd–early 2nd century BC (Fig. 4). The building was constructed within the architectural framework of earlier Archaic structures, which had been partly demolished or rebuilt with Hellenistic masonry. The best-preserved room, B6400, contains several built features, including a central stone bench and platforms or bins in the corners, alongside stone tools, querns, grinding implements, loom weights and metal objects. The neighbouring room, B6900, contained a paved section, various stone and metal tools, and an Ierapytnaean bronze trihemiobol dated between 230/220 BC and the first quarter of the 2nd century BC. Two Archaic rooms were also revealed at the southern end of the western terraces of the Archaic Banqueting Building (Fig. 5). Room A3600 preserves part of a clay floor, while the adjacent room A2500 is well preserved and forms a small rectangular space. Finds from A2500 include bronze, iron, and stone objects, as well as pottery dating mainly to the 7th–6th centuries BC. On the eastern side of the supporting wall, another narrow room without access was uncovered. The latest pottery from both rooms dates to the 6th century BC, suggesting that they were constructed during the rebuilding of the area in the late 7th century BC and fell out of use before the abandonment of the area in the 5th century BC.

The excavation of the southern side of the Southwestern Buildings revealed several rooms and occupation phases dating primarily to the 6th century BC (Fig. 6). Room B6800 is a large space with a well-preserved floor and a central column base. The thick deposit above the floor contained very dense concentrations of pottery and animal bones, apparently representing refuse, including large quantities of drinking, eating, serving, and cooking vessels, together with loom weights, spindle whorls, a lead fishing weight, a bronze sheet fragment, a terracotta votive plaque, an animal figurine fragment, a bronze blade, three metallurgical furnace bottoms, pumice fragments, and stone tools. Four small rooms belonging to the Early Archaic Building were also found, revealing evidence for changing uses of the spaces, including storage, a possible basin, and metallurgical activity. B6300 was a narrow rectangular room with a clay floor laid directly on the bedrock and a large semicircular basin sunk into the floor in front of the doorway to B5800. A later phase of the room is associated with a metallurgical furnace, represented by furnace lining, fired bedrock, fragments of pisé, vitrified stone, and traces of iron slag. Stone tools and pumice fragments were recovered from the neighboring rooms, while a stone crucible was found at the western end of B6300 and a metallurgical furnace bottom in B6800. The building was abandoned before the end of the 7th century BC.

Entry created by Katerina Gianna.