PALAIKASTRO - 2012

Palaikastro. C. Knappett (BSA/Toronto), N. Momigliano (BSA/Bristol) and A. Livarda (BSA/Nottingham) report on the 2012 survey season. The project created a high-resolution, GIS-based, geodatabase for the integration of georeferenced material. To supplement satellite imagery, a series of high-resolution vertical aerial images of the entire urban site were taken through kite photography which allowed the generation of orthorectified images of the area and a very high-resolution digital terrain model of the site. A geophysical survey, utilizing magnetometry and ground penetrating radar, was also conducted.

A number of terraces, check-dams, enclosures and surface scatters were discovered, variously dating from the end of the Neolithic to the modern period. These include a number of 10x10m megalithic structures in the Sikia and Vayies zones, Final Neoleithic/Early Minoan I scatters in the Agios Nicholaos zone, and Mycenaean surface scatters in the Kouremenos area. Finds include a fragment of a stone offering table with a Linear A inscription from the Petsophas peak sanctuary.