ELEUTHERNA - 2007

Eleutherna. The discovery by N. Stampolidis (Crete/Museum of Cyc Art) of 3 Geo pithos burials (ranging from the L8th to M−L7th Ct BC) is reported. The pithoi (ca. 2m h.) were set on their sides between 2 parallel stone walls and had stones arranged over them, forming a sort of false vault as they rested on the curve of the vases. The interconnection of the 3 was emphasized by their being laid so that the base of one closed the top of the other. All contained skeletons (at least one adult and some children) and grave goods. A marker further identified the spot.

The earliest burial had 3 bodies: perhaps one interred before the other pair. The oldest person, a female, had a gold sheet diadem attached to the forehead by a now perished cord. Finds associated were gold pins, beads of rock crystal, carnelian and other stone, and a scarab with winged deities. An impressive bronze ladle had a deep bowl and a 0.5m l. handle with a bird terminal: by the mouth of the pithos was an 8th Ct Cypriot oinochoe. The 2nd pithos held a single skeleton associated with one gold and one iron pin. The last pithos too held one body, with a necklace of gold sheet rosettes, a gold relief bead with a head in EIA style and more pins of bronze and iron.
The goods in the first pithos resembled others found earlier in a pit grave which held the burnt remains of a ‘warrior prince’. The excavators surmise that there may be earlier BA burials in the area − perhaps the source of offerings such as sealstones and stone vases in Geo burials.
Also in this area is a Geo structure of the 8th Ct BC, partly sunk into the ground. It is not fully excavated, but has substantial walls (2m h. x 1.5m w.), stone benches and tables inside and is equipped with kraters and many cups. The report speculates on a possible connection with rites for the dead.
Finally, 3 ash urns were found, similar to those associated with the warrior-prince pit burials; they had been closed by bronze bowls imported from Egypt or Asia Minor.

Further press reports describe a unique item that is compared with the Antikythera mechanism and interpreted as a Rom lock. Recovered in 2002, it has been subjected to extensive scientific examination at Rethymnon (D. Kalligeropoulos and S. Vasileiadou). It was recovered in a pottery store of a small Rom bath-house, the roof of which collapsed in the 365 AD earthquake, killing at least one person. Probably once attached to a ceiling beam by its 10-link chain (0.53m l.), a potential key to it was located nearby. The mechanism is cylindrical, around 1kg in weight and of metal: it has further bands of bronze attached to the exterior. The interior was divided into 2, with 3 cogged wheels of iron set on a pin and a further ovoid plate.