AGIOI DODEKA APOSTOLOI - 2002

Agioi Dodeka Apostoloi. G. Biondi (SAIA/CNR Catania) reports on EIA tombs excavated in 2002 to the north of Prinias and the known necropolis at Siderospilia, following the chance find of an iron spearhead, parts of a krater and a pithos.

A funerary enclosure contained six cremation burials. Just to the east was Tomb 1, a pithos-inhumation to which the chance finds belonged. The pithos was laid on its side, mouth to the west. Associated (and much damaged) were an aryballos handle and sherds of a Geometric cup, along with the bones of a child.

The enclosure (2.6 x 2.4m, oriented north-south) was built of regular, unworked limestone blocks on three sides, with a bedrock outcrop on fourth (north). It was filled with randomly placed medium-sized stones. Tomb 8, in an Early Geometric pithos (Fortetsa B II), was in the northeast corner of the enclosure, with a broken krater. The remains of an adult were accompanied by an aryballos and a round stone slab. In association were a Protogeometric globular jug, an iron axe and a Late Geometric skyphoid krater, parts of which lay under tombs 7 and 8, perhaps deliberately placed. Tomb 7, to the west, was an adult burial in a pithos resting on the upturned base of the krater; it contained two iron pins and an aryballos. The pithos in tomb 6 was decorated with bands above a solidly painted base: with the cremated material was an iron item (a pin?) and an aryballos. Tombs 2-5 date later than 6-8. Tomb 2 contained an ovoid urn, set vertically, with banded decoration. Tombs 3 and 5 were similar, with the base of the urn set into the stone fill (tomb 3 also contained an aryballos). Tomb 4 differs only in that the urn rested on the stones.

The funerary complex matches others of this date at Prinias, and in Crete generally, e.g. in the inversion of certain vases and the offering of aryballoi. Unusually, the urns have no surviving lids.

The enclosure lies ca. 250m north of Siderospilia, with no evidence of antiquities in the intervening area. Ca. 300m further north, at Kali Vrisi, two vessels (a krater with concentric circles and a black-glazed cup) were contemporary with the cemetery. It is unclear whether the Ag. Apostoloi complex was a decentralized part of the larger Siderospilia cemetery or whether it served a small settlement in the agricultural zone controlled by Prinias. A large Hellenistic-Roman settlement is recorded at Kali Vrisi. At Platia Sphaka, 200m southwest of Ag. Dodeka Apostoloi, were fragments of Minoan pithoi and two rock-cut tombs of presumed Late Imperial date.