Category Archives: Archaeology

Welcome

Early days: at the beach of Phalasarna, on the far western coast of Crete.

This blog recounts our experiences in January 2014, during a travel course across Crete – all across Crete: up mountains, through ravines, from coast to coast to coast. You will see that we devoted much time to the archaeology and history of this island, from the Bronze Age through World War II. And we hope you will also be interested in our investigation of Cretan identity: we asked all kinds of people if they felt more Greek or more Cretan, and thought about the shifting status of Cretans in relation to external forces – especially through years of occupation by Roman, Ottoman, and Venetian empires, and even by other European powers in the 20th century.

All the students enrolled in “Crete through the Ages” contributed to the blog, so you are sure to note the diversity of their interests and hopefully how committed they all were to getting the most out of our experience. If you want to follow chronologically, start at the bottom of this page!

Our last day: on the steps of the Hellenistic city of Lato

Cretan Religious Identity

The Late Minoan I town of Gournia

Crete, as we have certainly seen, has a complex religious history. From the Mycenaean introduction of early Greek deity names, Crete saw a devotional shift with each foreign occupation. Wednesday we visited three sites – Gournia, Panagia Kera, and Lato – where we saw three examples of devotional spaces wherein these fluctuations are manifest.
Gournia was originally excavated by Harriet Boyd Hawes, a Boston native and Smith College graduate, in May 1901; Boyd, having been blocked from participating in pre-existing major excavations on Crete, used her fellowship to fund her own excavations, and thus became the first woman to direct a major field project in Greece as well as the first to speak before the Archaeological Institute of America. Boyd’s excavation of Gournia uncovered both a Goddess with Upraised Arms and a sacred stone, or baetyl.

A short drive away we reached a monastery that some have called the most important Christian monument on Crete, Panagia Kera. Built in the late 12th century, the façade is unassuming, straightforward, making the interior frescos all the more impressive. Each aisle has its own decorative programme: the south aisle is dedicated to Saint Ann and illustrates her and Joachim’s apocryphal story as Mary’s parents; the north is dedicated to Saint Antony and illustrates the second coming; the central is dedicated to the assumption and illustrates, among other scenes, the last supper, Herod’s feast, and men and women in hell.

The frescos date to the mid and late 13th century, which makes the presence of Saint Francis of Assisi rather remarkable, particularly because he hold such a prominent position on the east-facing pillar, visible immediately upon entering. It is easy enough to attribute this oddity to Crete’s contemporary occupation by Venice, but that all these frescos survived intact throughout the long period of Ottoman rule is not so easily explained. Molly Greene says of the occupation:

By the time the Ottoman navy appeared off the island’s northwestern coast in the spring of 1645, Catholic and Orthodox Cretans had lived together for almost five hundred years in a relationship whose complexity had no rival in the Greek East. The Ottoman conquest added another layer to this already complicated past by setting off a process of conversion to Islam that resulted in one of the largest Muslim communities in the Greek world. (A Shared World, 2002, Princeton University Press)

Maybe it’s survival is evidence of lenience, or maybe simply of Ottoman priority on prominent monuments in large cities, such as Chania and Heraklion.

The “Large Temple” at Lato

At Lato (the Dorian form of the more recognizable “Leto,” mother of Apollo and Artemis), we saw a prytaneion, an agora, and an Hellenistic temple, which for us is a canonical example of a “Greek temple,” unlike most of the benched temples with central hearths we’ve seen before. Lato’s inhabitation, however, dates as early as the LMIIIC on the acropolis, indicating, perhaps, that this site was sacred well before developments such as cut-stone altars and massive cult-statue bases, visible today.

From these three close-together sites we saw and felt the development and inter cultural exchange of devotional practices through Crete’s immense and equally rich history. We will likely never fully understand the identity of a G.U.A. or the function of a lustral basin, the reason Panagia Kera was left untouched, or to which deity Lato’s temple was dedicated, but these open questions add up to a distinct Cretan identity that we were lucky enough to taste.

Artists, Ancient and Modern

For me, Monday was full of thinking about art and its many incarnations on Crete and beyond. We spent the afternoon following the journey of a pot at the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, an administrative center out of which excavations are run. Besides helping archeologists with the administrative parts of setting up an excavation, the center is also a place to process finds. First, an incoming piece of pottery from a place like Mochlos is washed and laid out in pieces on a large table.
Then, as sherds of the pot are identified (like puzzle pieces), they move on to a new artist – the conservator. She carefully reconstructs the pot with tape, glue and patch ceramic, using a range of technologies like X-rays along the way. Next, a pot might head to the artist’s studio. There, another creative person handles the ancient work, this time to accurately reproduce the pot in a book drawing. Ink drawings used to prevail, but now the art is all done on a tablet. Now the pottery, despite the many artists who have worked on it, likely does not go to a museum. Instead, it is labeled and stored in a giant basement among the other finds.

This trajectory is certainly not what a modern viewer has come to expect for a piece of artwork, including a Minoan pot. As many of us remarked at dinner, this art is approached differently, both in the Minoan world and in the world of archeology. Despite their communal goal, to recreate the work of the ancients, the staff at INSTAP are certainly individual artists. Likewise, I think we have all noticed the artistry of repeating Minoan designs (for example, sea creatures), even though ancient artists were privileging just a few pop images over the individuality we often value today. It’s a fascinating subject that was wonderful to discuss with my classmates, whose broad range of majors (History, Art History, Classics) brings to light ideas I never would have imagined as we enjoy the Cretan food that I’ve grown so attached to.

Minoan Culture Then and Now

For me, the greatest struggle of this trip is not to somehow clear plate after plate of delicious Greek food during meals or to stay awake during all the amazing (but tiring) activities we do, but to comprehend the culture of the Minoan civilization. I find it too easy to dismiss the Minoans as primitive, especially when touring the ruins of palaces and towns. After packing up and leaving the hotel at Sitia, we visited the settlement on the island of Mochlos, which includes ruins from the Byzantine, Hellenistic, Mycenean, and Minoan periods. We saw several features of Minoan architecture that we are now well acquainted with: a pillar crypt, some ashlar masonry, and a group of house-like tomb structures. Then Bryan pointed out a triangular purple stone in the floor of one of the buildings and talked about a pagan religion that was founded in the 70s and worships Minoan deities, particularly the Cretan Mother Goddess. A group of goddess-worshipping women visits this site and others, where they perform their own religious rituals. It was surprising to hear how such an ancient civilization still influences contemporary culture in such a profound and direct way.

A short drive and several ABBA songs later, we arrived at the INSTAP research center in Pacheia Ammos. Eleanor Huffman took us on a tour and showed us the process all the artifacts go through before they’re published. They collect the fragments and sort them based on where they were found, then they meticulously try to piece them together and draw the finished (or partially finished) product – a process that is now fortunately digitalized. The most intriguing aspect for me was how thorough the researchers were in using all the parts from the excavation site: not only do they analyze pottery sherds but also bones and even the soil. Eleanor mentioned that once when analyzing soil, a researcher found some parts from olives and used radioactive carbon dating to determine when the olives were picked. The basement was full of shelf after shelf of labeled and crated artifacts. Someone asked what the process was for discarding artifacts and Eleanor responded that nothing is discarded. Every single find remains in the basement or is sent to a museum.

Understanding the process by which artifacts are found and restored and how the ancient culture continues to shape peoples’ lives helps me comprehend that the Minoan civilization was more complex than the ruins suggest. And now when I walk into a museum and see a pieced together vase, I’ll think of the work that was behind restoring it and appreciate it much more.

Archaeolgical Museum of Sitia and Petsofas

Today’s visit to the Archaeological Museum of Sitia was an opportunity to view the amazing finds from archaeological sites in Eastern Crete such as Mochlos and Palaikastro. The Palaikastro Kouros is an ivory figurine found burned and in fragments in a shrine room at the Minoan town settlement of Palaikastro. The discoloration of the burning makes it clear the Kouros was burned after being broken, perhaps deliberately. This intricate and exquisite object has fascinated archaeologists and art historians due to to its aesthetic virtuosity. Some archaeologists even speculate it may have been a cult statue of a young Zeus, who, according to myth, was born on the island of Crete.

Not only modern archaeologists speculate about the usage of unusual found objects. The Archaeological Museum of Sitia also displays pygmy hippopotamus skulls and a pygmy elephant tooth found on the island from approximately 80,000-50,000 BCE. Some archaeologists believe that ancient people who saw these unusual skulls may have misinterpreted the hole where the elephants tusk would go as something else entirely: a single eye socket, thus explaining the origins of the mythological Cyclops.

We ourselves were archaeologists today when hiking up to the Peak Sanctuary of Petsofas, where thousands of pottery fragments serve as visual evidence for the many ancient pilgrimages to this sacred site. Investigating and imagining what the sherds originally belonged to, for example a human figurine or a vase, was a fun and exciting exercise!

Relaxing after our investigation of the Peak Sanctuary at Petsofas

Minoan Myths In and Around Knossos

It’s easy to say that most people who think of archaeology and Crete think of the site of Knossos. Knossos is the most publicized and well-trafficked of the Cretan sides.

It’s only 5 km outside of the bustling city of Heraklion (a bus even runs there from the city) and the site has been well publicized by it’s discovery and recreation by Sir Arthur Evans. The site unlike others on the island is partially reconstructed to more closely resemble its appearance in Minoan times. But what’s of interest to me is the strong cycle of myths associated with the area. King Minos, his family, and the myths involving him are strongly associated with the site of Knossos and the surrounding area.

The origin story of Minos starts with his mother, Europa. The story goes that Zeus came upon her, gathered with her friends in a field and was struck by her beauty. He turned himself into a bull that moved amongst the girls, until Europa climbed on his back. Then he took off, carrying her across the sea to the island of Crete. He convinced her to lie with him then, promising her that a continent would be named for her and her children would be kings. Eventually, she gave birth to Rhadamanthys, Sarpedon, and Minos.

Minos went on to become king of Knossos, marrying Pasiphae a daughter of the sun (Helios). Poseidon sent a bull from the sea many years later as a sign of auspicious rite and for it to be sacrificed in turn to him. Minos was so caught by the bull’s beauty that he didn’t sacrifice it and instead replaced it with another bull, not as shiny and white. In order to punish him, Pasiphae was cursed with an unnatural lust for the bull and she convinced the palatial architect to create a decoy bull so that she could mate with him. This union brought forth the Minotaur – half man, half bull – then concealed within the Labyrinth of Knossos. He remained there until killed by the Athenian Theseus with the help of Minos’ daughter Ariadne.

Walking around Heraklion, there was plenty of evidence of this mythological past. Streets named after Pasiphae and Ariadne lead the way to the Heraklion Archaeological museum, and the image of the bull is present in everything from t-shirts to graffiti. The art we saw at the Heraklion museum supported this connection to the past: images of women exotically “Cretan” and sexually vibrant, and bulls everywhere. You could feel the old stories as you walked the halls and streets, echoing the people currently walking them.

Yet this feeling wasn’t as present in Knossos. Perhaps this is partly Arthur Evans’ reconstructions. Here and there, bright red painted walls climb upwards mixed with Minoan ruins. The mix of old and reimagining tried to harken those times. The mythological past wasn’t part of Evans’ attempt to recreate the experience of being in the palace, nor did it seem evident in the more “untouched” areas of the ruins. Even the frescoes placed only harkened to a rare bull sighted. Where was the Labyrinth, even of myth? One sign was to look at the layers of ruins built on top of each other and the marks of the double headed axes about labrys. Perhaps it’s easier to imagine the mythological presence further away from these sites, rather than right on top of them.

Reconciling Ancient and Modern Crete

This trip we have not only been learning about ancient Greece and its inhabitants but also about the experience of modern Crete and the interactions of the island’s people with their rich history. We visited a weaving workshop in Zaros and met with Kyria Maria, who crafts her own designs, ones inspired both by ancient and modern motifs.

We also met with a potter who emulates the ancient pottery techniques but also creates his own modern designs.

Vassilis Politakis creating a clay vase on the electric wheel

These designs and themes remain similar across time, with the meander and rolling waves patterns, the octopus and dolphin images. Even the theme of the flora and vegetation of the island remain common embellishments like they do in Minoan wall frescos and pottery. There is a entire industry that thrives on producing replicas of famous archeological finds and I wonder how many of these artistic tropes and themes are a product of Greece capitalizing on what tourists expect to see and be able to purchase for their own mementos and how much of it remains in the artistic canon because of pride in their heritage. We have asked numerous people whether they consider themselves Cretan or Greek, and many responded that they are a Cretan first and a Greek second. This immense pride is evident in everything they do from creating textiles to producing olive oil and I’m sure that many of these artistic choices are deliberate in order to keep the Cretan spirit alive. Even with a history of 800 years of continuous occupation, the language, culture, and art of Crete has thrived and remains a core part of their identity today.

As an Art History and Classics double major, it’s extremely easy to only focus on the ancient side of things and forget that life continued beyond the second century A.D. This trip is not only about visiting as many archeological sites as possible but about experiencing the lives of the modern Cretans.

Heraklion Archaeological Museum and Gortyn

As an art history student, I am most intrigued by how the visceral and intimate relationship between artist and viewer gives insight into social climate and personal expression thorough aesthetic language. Today’s adventure, viewing ancient objects in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, after visiting the archaeological site in which the objects were found, Gortyn, was a particularly enriching experience.

Archaeological Site of Gortyn

Oftentimes it is difficult to reimagine the original context in which visual art objects functioned in antiquity. This task becomes especially difficult when we see these objects in pristine museums where the objects are displayed without context. Art objects existed in a certain time and place for a particular reason. As T.J. Clark, a prominent art historian, has noted, visual art objects represent history in a unique way; history is “actually there when the painter stands still in front of the painting, the sculptor asks his model to stand still.” Clark also describes how art represents the coalescing of a particular moment in time for both the artist and the society in which he or she lived. The opportunity to visit Gortyn helped achieve Clark’s mission for visual art objects; for the experience of viewing the art objects and understanding their social history was heightened after visiting the site.

Gortyn, a site in use from 700 BCE to 670 CE, was at its peak during the Roman era, when it served as the capital of the province of Crete and Cyrene. Gortyn’s importance to the Roman Empire is clearly communicated by the amount of imperial art depicting emperors, such as Marcus Aurelius.

Marble Portrait of Marcus Aurelius

Additionally, Gortyn asserts itself as a city that is powerful enough to commission grand and magnificent sculpture, such as a copy of the Hellenistic prototype, the Crouching Venus, and is thus able to construct a royal identity on par with that of Rome. By leveraging the visual arts as political capital, Gortyn also spreads imperial narratives by continuing Greek artistic traditions, such as the archaic and classical styles, and aligns itself as inheritors of the Greek civilization.

Though Clark characterizes art in contemporary life as powerless and ineffectual, clearly this was not always so. In antiquity, visual art played an important role is shaping political discourse and imperial narratives; Gortyn effectively used the visual arts to their advantage in this regard. The visual art found at Gortyn clearly indicates how art can be, in Clark’s words, “historically effective” as well as capable of “a series of actions in but also on history.” Though we witnessed Gortyn centuries after its destruction, the visit to the site provided context and insight into the visual art objects seen at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

Mías Evdomádas

Today marks the classes first week on Crete! It is hard to believe that we have been traveling the island for seven days. From the village of Zoros, we visited the Palace of Phaistos and the Minoan harbor at Kommos. Afterwards, we took a short snack break on the beach at Kommos and had a spectacular view of the Libyan Sea.

Following the break, the class heard the first group presentation by Rayah and Alexandra at the Kamilari Tholos Tomb. According to their research and findings, the Kamilari Tomb was built in the Middle Minoan IB period and was used all the way into the early MMIII period. One can tell that the tomb was from the Middle Minoan period because of its shape. Unlike the square shaped Late Minoan Tholos Tomb we had seen a few days before at Maleme, the Kamilari Tomb was circular and much rounder. In addition, we learned that since the first excavation in 1959 by the Italian Archaelogical Mission, archaeologists have found more MMIII period material at this site than any other period and have recovered 2,500 vases as well as 800 conical cups. One can tell that the tomb was used during the Middle Minoan period because of the shape of the tomb. Unlike the square shaped Late Minoan Tholos Tomb we had seen a few days before at Maleme, the Kamilari Tomb was definitely much rounder.

We also learned that the little red dots waxed on the corners of each stone left behind by archaeologists currently excavating the site. Professor Burns explained that they are used as markers for digital mapping for the drawing of the architecture of sites and something he has seen before on excavation sites he has worked on.

After seeing sites, Vivi took us to an olive oil factory where we watched olives being pressed and processed into olive oil.
First, they go up the chute where the leaves are separated from the olives

Then they are crushed and smashed in a machine. Afterwards the pits and oil are separated with the olive oil then packaged to be sold

While the pits and skin are processed outside and made into fuel. According to Professor Burns, Cretans have been using this as a source if fuel since ancient times! It was neat to see this tradition in person.

In addition to exploring excavation sites, at lunch today we were able to hear another account about Cretan identity. Since the beginning of the course, we have previously heard two other perspectives: one by the tour guide on the first day who argued that most identify as Greek and the second by the secretary at the Etz Hayyim Synagogue who argued that most people on the island identity as Cretan. Vivi explained that 90% of the islanders identify as a Cretan rather than Greek. She also told us Cretans share a lot of traditions and commonalities with the people of northern Greece and that Cretans consider Thessaloniki as their “brother city” despite the fact that the two do not trade or really interact with each other often. Cashman later told the class that this could be because the two regions of Greece were both occupied by the Turks at the same time.

Tomorrow we will travel to Heraklion. Can’t wait!

Comparing Phaistos with Agia Triada

At times it’s difficult to relate to ancient communities because of the vast differences in things like technology, education, and language. But by congregating in groups and sharing activities through culture and religion I find that we are similar than we might expect. We noticed these similarities today as we visited the different ruins and learned about the many spaces and their functions. After another delicious breakfast of countless pies, we drove to the palace of Phaistos, one of the most notable in Crete. We entered the ruins by walking down a grand staircase, and then a second, narrower, staircase that led us to the central court facing Mount Ida to the north. The court, one of the most distinguishing features of a palace, was enormous and was likely used for religious events or a location to distribute food. To the west were magazines, some containing pithoi or small stone containers and to the north was the area of the “royal” residence.

In order to reach the “king’s” hall from the court, we had to walk through a narrow corridor which could easily have been blocked off. Actually, this space reminded me of the Palace of Versailles, where, in order to reach the king’s private chambers, one has to enter a series of increasingly private and ornate rooms and finally walk through the Hall of Mirrors. The Minoan chambers included the familiar pier-and-door partition and light well which added to the luxuriousness of the rooms.

Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of Phaistos is that it includes an old Protopalatial palace and the newer Neopalatial palace. The Protopalatial area includes another central court that was distinct in that it included a raised walkway (probably for a religious procession) and a stone platform in the corner which may have been used for seating or bull leaping.

A few ruin stops later, we visited Ayia Triada (literally “holy trinity”). Unlike Phaistos, Ayia Triada is considered more of an administrative complex than a palace because of the lack of lustral basins, the smaller size of the Minoan Halls, and the many Linear A tablets and sealings found there.

During the New Palace period, Ayia Triada was even more prosperous than Phaistos, which is evident in features such as the wall murals. Since Ayia Triada is located so close to Phaistos, one would think that it would adopt similar features to the palace, but there are slight differences that are interesting such as the light well being located in the middle of a room instead of the end. The specific use of Ayia Triada is something of a mystery: it was thought to hold food for the population because of its many magazines, but in actuality it only has enough storage space to sustain a portion of the population. The mystery of Ayia Triada is the most intriguing to me: that even after excavating a site and digging up various artifacts it’s still impossible to understand the purpose of a building, probably because people constantly use spaces for a variety of purposes; for example, the gym near my house also has a chapel and a game room and I once stayed at a hotel that housed a small museum. Comparing Phaistos with Agia Triada just enforces the idea that culture is multifaceted, regardless of whether it was developed thousands of years ago or within the last decade.

Crete 2014

Wellesley College Blog for our January course in Greece