ZAKROS - 2007

Zakros. E. Platon (ASA) reports on a study season focused on pottery from excavations conducted by N. Platon in the M palace and town of Kato Zakros. Pottery from rooms 44 and 45 of the S workshop sector comprises coarse household ware, strengthening the interpretation of the assemblage as linked to the production and storage of foodstuffs and other goods. The relatively few examples of LMIB painted ware were accompanied by animal bones, including jawbones of ovicaprids and bovids. The pottery from areas 70 and 71 in the E wing comprises undecorated vessels for the storage of liquids. In the town, the pottery retained from building Y was studied. The discovery of part of a probable LMII Ephyrean goblet from the area immediately N of the building shows that the area was reoccupied almost immediately following the destruction of the settlement and the palace at the end of LMIB, and that there were links with Knossos, from where table vessels of high quality were imported. Pottery from the upper terrace on the slope of Ag. Antonios included vessels for liquids, mostly handleless conical cups and kyathoi, many preserved more or less intact. This supports N. Platon’s interpretation that the artificial terraces constructed from large unworked stones were used as a kind of open-air sanctuary.