CHANIA - 2005

Kastelli, Agia Aikaterina Square. M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki and Y. Tzedakis (KE’ ΕΠΚΑ), with E. Hallager (Swedish School of Archaeology) report on rescue excavations, notably in the area at the east side of the square, where a room with linear B tablets had been excavated in 1990. Finds covered a 5000 year period:

Christian era: trenches in the north revealed elements of the foundations of a Venetian cathedral and two poor Christian burials. The foundations of a minaret and pieces of mosaic from an early Christian basilica were also found.

Hellenistic period: a large number of tiles were found in a pit.

LMIIIB 2 –LMIIIC: in the past floors of this period have been found without objects or signs of destruction. This year ten clay objects interpreted as loomweights were found scattered on a floor. A kiln which had been destroyed by Geometric pits was also found.

LMIIIB 1: building 2, where three linear B tablets had been found in 1990, was further explored. In room F several steatite whorls, a terracotta figurine, a gaming piece with incision on its upper surface, and a painted juglet were found. In space H a large clay cup, a bone handle, part of a bronze pin and part of an ivory object with incised and sculpted decoration were found together with large numbers of bones. In room B an inscribed stirrup jar was found in a pit under the last floor level. The inscription has the name za-ta-ro accompanied by the syllable wa. The large building was destroyed by fire around 1250 BC, leaving a destruction layer 0.20-30m thick.

LM IIIA 2 and LM II: pieces of linear A tablets were found in an LM IIIA2 context and an LM II road.

Neopalatial: excavation further uncovered the remains of building III (discovered in 1990) and the square between buildings I, II and III. One room, with a hard plaster floor and a built platform of unknown function, was reused in LM II. Immediately outside were two bases, possibly for wooden columns, interpreted as an entrance way leading from the narrow street to the square between the buildings. Within the square were the cover slabs of a pipe and on the surface several conical cups (one with a potter’s mark), a decorated pithos, a red jasper bead, a loomweight, part of a crucible, and a clay sealing.

All trenches revealed a thick MM III layer on which the later Neopalatial buildings were founded. The layer consists of small stones and a large quantity of pottery (principally coarse ware and cooking pot). Visible everywhere under the Neopalatial layers was Prepalatial construction. A Protopalatial phase has been found but its traces were largely destroyed by the Neoapalatial buildings.

Prepalatial finds include a finely made stone arrow, part of an appliqué bird from the handle of a large vessel, an EMI clay metalworking mould, and murex shells. EMI architectural remains comprised a floor on the natural rock where some cavities were created for the placement of large pots.