Mochlos - 2009

Additionally in 2009, three buildings dating to MM IIIA were identified under LM I remains in the area of access to the SW corner of the ritual building, where two human skeletons were identified in 2008. The excavators believe that ancestral worship took place here before the destruction c.1430 BC and that a terrace was constructed around the area accordingly.The MM IIIA buildings were of rough construction with small rooms and narrow walls, unlikely to have supported a second storey. A large hearth and complete cooking vessels were found outside one of the buildings, as well as a three-sided steatite seal of Malian production (“atelier des sceaux”). The seal depicted a spiral, two standing figures with a large saw, and a bucranium with “arrondies” type horns. The seal confirms connections between Malia and Mochlos at the end of the prepalatial and the beginning of the neopalatial periods.

Further trenches revealed a NE-oriented continuation of an MM IIIA road identified in 2005. Two Minoan buildings were excavated on either side of the road. Building C.11, on the western side, is an extensive and well-preserved building with internal staircase, basement and second storey. Its period of use is not certain but it was restored in LM IB. It was looted extensively at the end of its occupation but bronze tools and a stone blade with handle indicate the wealth of initial contents of the building. On the other side of the road, another building had an MM IIIA floor, some LM I levels and some Hellenistic destruction. The northern extent of the road has not been investigated.