KNOSSOS - 2008

Knossos Little Palace N. E. Hatzaki (BSA/Cincinnati) reports on the 2008 study season.
The earliest activity on site dates to EMIII−MMIA, represented by fill dumped in a shallow E-W ditch. The substantial landscaping of the FPalatial period (LMII− LMIIIA2) eliminated all traces of Neopalatial occupation surfaces and obliterated the drain running N of the Little Palace. This major landscaping is associated with white plaster floors on 2 levels bordered by an ashlar-faced wall running N-S and abutting the Little Palace façade immediately N of room 11. The space created was filled in, during 2 major dumping episodes represented by highly fragmented ceramics of the FPalatial−Postpalatial periods dating to LMIIIA2 and LMIIIB E, respectively. Neither deposit can be interpreted as redeposited destruction debris; further study of the faunal and archaeobotanical remains in relation to the ceramic material will clarify the nature of these dumps. The next building activity took place during the Postpalatial period (LMIIIB L−LMIIIC), contemporary with renewed construction at the Stratigraphical Museum extension site to the W. Sections of the Little Palace N façade were demolished while others were incorporated into building 1 (previously designated the ‘Re-used Ashlar Building’). Most of the building’s N façade and associated levels were removed during the EIA, but further disturbance of the shallow LMIIIC levels occurred during Evans’ excavations. A succession of LMIIIC dumps in the narrow space created between the Neopalatial NE platform and the building 1 W façade might be associated with the use of the latter. These levels were sealed by a paved court constructed one terrace up and associated with building 2, also dating to LMIIIC. The upper levels of building 2 were heavily disturbed by EIA activity but a small deposit of advanced LMIIIC (M or L?) implies some activity taking place outside this structure after its abandonment.
The project is producing highly detailed datasets which will enable reassessment of the coarse stratigraphical picture available from the Little Palace and the rich and complex stratigraphy of the Minoan Unexplored Mansion, and be linked to the wider picture of LBA activities in the core élite sector of urban Knossos.

Neolithic. V. Isaakidou (BSA/Sheffield) and P. Tomkins (BSA/Sheffield) report on study for publication of the material from the excavations of J.D. Evans (1959−1960, 1969−1970) in and around the M palace. Studies of the faunal remains, chipped and ground-stone tools, and human figurines have been completed, while the ceramic study is close to completion. A digital archive of the excavation records has been compiled, and interim studies involving a range of questions and materials have been published in V. Isaakidou and P. Tomkins (eds), Escaping the Labyrinth: New Perspectives on the Neolithic of Crete (Oxford, Oxbow 2008).

Palace. C. Macdonald (BSA/Edinburgh), C. Knappett (BSA/Toronto), and I. Mathioudaki (Athens) completed the pre-publication study of MMIII deposits from the palace at Knossos, in order to determine how the structure was transformed between the Protopalatial and Neopalatial periods. Study of ceramic deposits in their architectural contexts has clarified the relatively obscure MMIII A and MMIIIB periods at Knossos, and indicates that, although the palace underwent important structural changes in MMIII, there was no wholesale rebuilding and redesigning, so it is not accurate to think of a ‘New’ palace replacing the ‘Old’. The research will be published as a Supplementary Volume of the BSA.

SW houses. C. Macdonald (BSA/Edinburgh) reports that study of the ceramics of 2 of the SW houses has been completed.
This MMIB−II residential quarter was constructed on terraces descending SW from the palace. Complementing the 4 MMIB−II deposits published recently, smaller deposits of these periods have been studied throughout the SW houses, including a MMIB deposit from S.VI.4 with a clay ‘pommel’ sealing. Two successive MMIIIA deposits were studied in the N-S passage and in S.VII.4, where the later MMIIIA was associated with the earliest ashlar house wall outside the palace. Within S.VII, a large destruction deposit of LMII, belonging to the first phase of the building, was studied; it includes a large number of melon-shaped loomweights in a phyllitic fabric, probably not local.