Livari Skiadi, A Minoan Cemetery in southeast Crete. Volume I: Excavation and Finds

This is the first of a two-volume final report on the excavation of the Minoan cemetery and associated finds at Livari Skiadi, near Goudouras, at the southeastern end of Crete. The cemetery was unearthed during a rescue excavation performed by the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, under the direction of Chrysa Sofianou, who was at that time responsible for the antiquities of the Siteia prefecture, and with the participation of Yiannis Papadatos, together with a small group of archaeology students from the Department of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The excavation lasted three consecutive summers, from 2008 until 2010, and it revealed a tholos tomb and burial rock shelter used in the Prepalatial period, a house tomb dated to the Neopalatial period, and deposits of funerary material in open areas surrounding these tombs

The Cretan Mesolithic in context: new data from Livari Skiadi (SE Crete)

Investigations at Livari (south-eastern Crete) produced a small Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage, whose techno-typological characteristics situate it within an ‘early Holocene Aegean island lithic tradition’ (9000–7000 cal BC). The material provides antecedent characteristics for the lithics of Crete’s founder Neolithic population at Knossos (c. 7000–6500/6400 cal BC). The idiosyncrasies of the Knossian material can be viewed as a hybrid lithic tradition that emerged from interaction between migrant Anatolian farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers. Small quantities of Melian obsidian at Livari attest to early Holocene maritime insular networks, knowledge of which likely enabled the first farmers’ successful voyage to Crete.Raziskave na najdišču Livari (na jugovzhodnu Krete) so pokazale navzočnost drobnega mezolitskega kamnitega inventarja, katerega tehnološke in tipološke značilnosti ga postavljajo v okvir ‘zgodnje holocenske egejske tradicije kamnitih artefaktov’ (9000–7000 cal BC). Ta material predstavlja predhodnike tipov kamnitih orodij, ki so značilna za kretsko ustanoviteljsko neolitsko populacijo v Knossosu (ok. 7000–6500/6400 cal BC). Značilnosti materiala iz Knossosa kažejo na hibridne tradicije v tipologiji kamnitih artefaktov, ki so se pojavile kot posledica interakcije med migranti – poljedelci iz Anatolije in domorodnimi lovci in nabiralci. Manjša količina obsidiana iz Melosa na najdišču Livari pa kaže na zgodnje holocensko morsko omrežje, ki je potekalo med otoki, kar je omogočalo prvim poljedelcem, da so pridobili znanje za uspešno plovbo do Krete

Making the Invisible Visible

The Bronze Age settlement of Papadiokampos is located in the coastal plain west of the Trachilos peninsula near Siteia in eastern Crete. It was discovered by Chrysa Sofianou of the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture and is the focus of her ongoing research program. Assistance in mapping the Late Minoan harbor town has been provided by the Publication Team of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete. Topographical mapp..

The Cretan Mesolithic in context: new data from Livari Skiadi (SE Crete)

Investigations at Livari (south-eastern Crete) produced a small Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage, whose techno-typological characteristics situate it within an ‘early Holocene Aegean island lithic tradition’ (9000–7000 cal BC). The material provides antecedent characteristics for the lithics of Crete’s founder Neolithic population at Knossos (c. 7000–6500/6400 cal BC). The idiosyncrasies of the Knossian material can be viewed as a hybrid lithic tradition that emerged from interaction between migrant Anatolian farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers. Small quantities of Melian obsidian at Livari attest to early Holocene maritime insular networks, knowledge of which likely enabled the first farmers’ successful voyage to Crete

Minoan Archaeology

More than 100 years ago Sir Arthur Evans' spade made the first cut into the earth above the now well-known Palace at Knossos. His research at the Kephala hill as well as contemporary fieldwork at further sites on Crete saw the birth of a new discipline: Minoan Archaeology. Since these beginnings in the first decades of the 20th century, the investigation of Bronze Age Crete has experienced fundamental progress. The impressive wealth of new data relating to the sites and material culture of this Bronze Age society and its impact beyond the island's shores, the refinement of its chronology, the constant development of hermeneutical approaches to social, religious or political issues, and new methods and instruments employed for the exploration and conservation of the archaeological remains have shaped the dynamic trajectory of this discipline for more than a century. In March 2011 - exactly 111 years after the beginning of Evans' work at Knossos - a conference on Minoan Archaeology took place at Heidelberg with the aim to outline current trends and prospects of this scientific field, by setting up an open dialogue between renowned scholars and the young generation of researchers. The present volume brings together most of the papers presented during the conference. They are subsumed under six chapters highlighting current key issues in the study of Bronze Age Crete with a pronounced focus on the broad subject of society

Minoan Archaeology

More than 100 years ago Sir Arthur Evans' spade made the first cut into the earth above the now well-known Palace at Knossos. His research at the Kephala hill as well as contemporary fieldwork at further sites on Crete saw the birth of a new discipline: Minoan Archaeology. Since these beginnings in the first decades of the 20th century, the investigation of Bronze Age Crete has experienced fundamental progress. The impressive wealth of new data relating to the sites and material culture of this Bronze Age society and its impact beyond the island's shores, the refinement of its chronology, the constant development of hermeneutical approaches to social, religious or political issues, and new methods and instruments employed for the exploration and conservation of the archaeological remains have shaped the dynamic trajectory of this discipline for more than a century. In March 2011 - exactly 111 years after the beginning of Evans' work at Knossos - a conference on Minoan Archaeology took place at Heidelberg with the aim to outline current trends and prospects of this scientific field, by setting up an open dialogue between renowned scholars and the young generation of researchers. The present volume brings together most of the papers presented during the conference. They are subsumed under six chapters highlighting current key issues in the study of Bronze Age Crete with a pronounced focus on the broad subject of society