Patterns of Visibility, Intervisibility and Invisibility at Bronze Age Apesokari (Crete)

Tholos A at Apesokari (south-central Crete, Greece) was constructed on a sloping ledge of bedrock, overlooking the Mesara Plain below. Such an inconvenient topographic setting makes Tholos A an unusual example in the corpus of Minoan circular tombs, which were more commonly built on flatter ground. The builders seem to have cared greatly about placing Tholos A precisely at this location, even at the risk of jeopardizing the stability of its circular chamber. Furthermore, due to limited space availability, the annex rooms of Tholos A had to be built at a higher level on the bedrock, resulting in an architectural configuration unparalleled in other circular tombs. This paper addresses the question of why this particular location was chosen for the construction of Tholos A. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are used to examine the possibility that concerns related to visibility, intervisibility or invisibility may have played a role in the decision to build Tholos A at this particular spot. Five potential scenarios are formulated and tested to assess whether the tomb may have been placed with the intention of maximizing its visibility and ensuring (or, to the contrary, preventing) intervisibility with specific features in the local landscape

More than Line of Sight and Least Cost Path. An Application of GIS to the Study of the Circular Tombs of South-Central Crete

This paper falls within the scope of GIS-based studies of past landscapes. Visibility and movement analyses are implemented in order to explore two specific questions and, in this way, shed light on some of the criteria that influenced the location of circular tombs in the Prepalatial landscape of south-central Crete (3100/3000-1900 BC). First, viewshed analyses are performed to test the hypothesis that circular tombs were located so as to offer a commanding view over their surroundings. To do so, a comparison is made between the extent of the area visible from the tombs and nearby random points. In a second phase, the recently developed focal mobility network procedure is used to address the issue of spatial connectivity in south-central Crete and assess whether circular tombs were preferably built along natural corridors of movement

Review of P.P. Betancourt, Aphrodite’s Kephali: an Early Minoan I defensive site in eastern Crete. (Prehistory Monographs 41), 2013, Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic.

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Capturing the dynamics of the Minoan mortuary space in South Central Crete

Some Minoan funerary choices have been materialized on the land through the esta blish ment of burial places. They can thus be recovered thanks to careful analysis of the position al lo cated to burial sites within the wider natural and human environment of Bronze Age Crete. Accordingly, this paper uses the area of South Central Crete as a case-study to examine some of the opportunities, issues and limitations related to the implementation of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to study mortuary landscapes of Bronze Age Crete

Communication networks, interactions and social negotiation in Prepalatial south-central Crete

Circular tombs are our best source of information regarding life and death in Prepalatial south-central Crete (3100-1900 BC). This article aims at tackling the phenomenon of movement in that particular area to shed new light on interactions among the communities that constructed and used such tombs. It employs Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and builds on the recently developed focal mobility network procedure to get insights into patterns of movement in south-central Crete. The results of the GIS analyses emphasize that circular tombs were as a rule constructed in close proximity to optimal paths. Nevertheless, the spatial pattern testifies to synchronic and diachronic variations, which, examined in the light of the distribution of non-Cretan grave goods, support the conclusion of previous research that different social strategies underlay the appearance and adoption of the particular burial type throughout the study area. Even though the wide distribution of circular tombs across south-central Crete points to shared cultural values, the process of diffusion was clearly far from homogeneous

The Minoan funerary landscape : a study of spatial relationships between the world of the dead and the living in Bronze Age Crete (ca. 3100-1450 BC)

In order to get round the limitations imposed by the Minoan mortuary record, this PhD dissertation focuses on an overlooked aspect of the available data: the position occupied by tombs and cemeteries in the landscape of Pre-, Proto- and Neopalatial Crete (ca. 3100-1450 BC). Of all the choices made by a society regarding the treatment of its departed, those related to the location of burial sites are among the most fundamental. The establishment of the abode of the dead plays an active part in a community’s process of both forgetting and commemorating its deceased, while reflecting and influencing its attitude towards death and the dead. Accordingly, this dissertation relies on the use of Geographical Information Systems to shed new light on the criteria that influenced the placement of Minoan burial sites. The spatial and chronological distribution of the different types of tombs, the issue of topographic and visual prominence, the spatial relations between the dwelling of the living and the final resting place of the dead, as well as the location of circular tombs with respect to potential communication networks are explored. The results of the spatial analyses illustrate the existence of meaningful variations in the positioning of the different burial types, which in turn emphasizes the variability of the roles assigned to the dead and funerary practices in the different regions of the island between the rise of the Bronze Age and the fall of the second Minoan palaces.Afin de pallier le caractère lacunaire des sources relatives aux pratiques funéraires de l’âge du Bronze crétois, cette thèse de doctorat se penche sur un aspect négligé des données disponibles, à savoir la place attribuée aux tombes dans le paysage des époques prépalatiale, protopalatiale et néopalatiale (env. 3100-1450 av. J.-C.). La localisation des sites funéraires est en effet le résultat d’une activité consciente et réfléchie à travers laquelle les vivants construisent et réaffirment leur attitude envers la mort et les morts. Les systèmes d’information géographique ont été mis à contribution dans le but de mieux cerner les paramètres ayant influencé la localisation des cimetières minoens. La distribution géographique et chronologique des différents types de tombes, la question de la proéminence topographique et visuelle des sites funéraires, les relations spatiales entre cimetières et habitat, ainsi que la position occupée par les tombes circulaires le long des voies de communication ont ainsi été examinées. Les résultats des analyses spatiales illustrent l’existence d’importantes variations dans la localisation des différents types de tombes, soulignant de ce fait la variabilité des rôles joués par les défunts et les pratiques funéraires dans les différentes régions de l’île entre le début de l’âge du Bronze et la destruction des seconds palais minoens.(HIAR - Histoire, art et archéologie) -- UCL, 201

A matter of scale. Assessing the visibility of circular tombs in the landscape of Bronze Age Crete

This paper is concerned with the application of viewshed analysis to the study of the circular tombs of Early Bronze Age Crete (Greece). It aims at testing the hypothesis that these monumental burial structures were positioned so as to maximize their visual impact. The question ofwhether circular tombswere visually prominent has serious implications for our understanding of the social strategies at play in mortuary practices before the emergence of the Minoan palatial civilization. In order to explore the visual structure of the landscape in accordance with the scale of the human body, the issue of prominence is addressed by 1) taking account of the limit of visibility of circular tombs depending on their height and 2) comparing the settings of the tombs with their nearby surroundings instead of the whole study region. The local total viewsheds computed for the cemeteries of interest allow concluding that visibility was indeed one of the factors that were considered in the course of the decision-making process that led to the location of circular tombs in the landscape of Early Bronze Age Crete