Creta Antica (E-Journal - Università di Catania)
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RETHINKING ADMINISTRATION AND SEAL USEIN THIRD MILLENNIUM CRETE
Full text linkThe specific outlook and reach of administration in Prepalatial Crete is the topic of heated debate. The materials most frequently implicated in this debate are clay sealings, usually taken as a clear demonstration of administrative concerns. However, although early sealings might have been used for this purpose, this view tends to be influenced by our knowledge of sealing practices from later, palatial contexts. This paper argues that in order to address such issues we need to explore both the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of administration and sealing practices within their social context. This entails reassessing the types of sealings found, their contexts of use and deposition and their relationship with Prepalatial seals. I suggest that the ‘administrative’ practices of Prepalatial Cretan society were forged through an interplay between communal and personal strategies that were intimately connected to an ideology of the ‘house’, seen as a unit of corporate affiliation and identification in the Levi-Straussian tradition
A MEDITERRANEAN CONNECTION. NUOVI DATI SULLE RELAZIONI TRA MALTA E CRETA AGLI INIZI DELL’ETÀ DEL FERRO
Full text linkThe topic of the relations between the Maltese Archipelago and the Aegean in the Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age has been neglected due to the scant evidence available. Recent research on unpublished pottery coming from several Middle and Late Bronze Age Maltese sites, held at the National Museum of Archaeology of Valletta, offered new data for the interpretation of a Mediterranean connection that linked Malta and Crete in the Early Iron Age. In this paper three classes of objects, extraneous to the local tradition and probably of Cretan derivation, coming from the excavations of the Borg in-Nadur temple and from the Borg in-Nadur culture layers of the Bahrija village, are discussed.The first object, a clay model of local fabric resembling a circular plan building, can be related to the well-known Cretan production of the cylindrical models, developed between the Late Minoan and Late Geometric period. The second is a fragment of an imported kalathos with simple geometric painted decoration that can be compared with several examples of the Early and Middle Geometric production of the Messara plain. The last case is represented by three knobs related to conical lids, of local fabric, that can be interpreted as local imitation of the conical lid with finial knobs popular in the Cnossiannecropoleis in the Early and Middle Geometric period.This new evidence that shows a chronological and geographical coherency informs us about a hitherto unknown relation between Malta and Crete, by the end of the IXth century and the beginning of the VIIIth century BC, that can be tentatively explained through the agency of Phoenician middlemen, operating in Crete from at least the Xth century BC, and very interested in the Maltese islands, as the subsequent colonization of the mid VIIIth century will testify
UN FRAMMENTO CON RAPPRESENTAZIONE DI FELIDE DA CHALARA (FESTÒS)?
Full text linkThis paper focuses on a MM IIIA ceramic fragment (F 7586) found in the southern sector of the Chalara quarter (located on the eastern slopes of the Phaistos palace hill). The vessel, of which only two joining sherds from a medium-large closed shape survive, comes from a rich homogenous fill created in an operation to fill MM III structures and construct a LM I house on top of them
PESSOÌ VECCHI E NUOVI DA HAGHIA TRIADA
Full text linkThis article deals with the LM I lithic pessoì from the old excavations at AyiaTriada, which are characterised by the presence of signs incised on one face, and publishes two new examples retrieved from this site during the new excavations. The incised signs, which are always different from one other, are discussed, as well as the material and its provenance (Spartan or Cretan). Several observations allow the author to reject the traditional interpretation of the pessoi as gaming pieces in favour of a possible use as «tarot cards» used to divine the future: a sort of cartomancyavantlettre
CULTI E SANTUARI A FESTÒS IN EPOCA ALTOARCAICA. PER UN’ANALISI FUNZIONALE
Full text linkThe aim of this paper is to attempt a functional analysis of the three sanctuaries built at Phaistos (Messara) during the rise of the polis. The first urban shrine was consecrated to the Mater and housed a temple in use from the end of the 7 th century B.C. onwards; it was associated with performances of initiation rites for young aristocratic men (see shields and cauldrons – by the end of the 8 th century B.C.) The second sanctuary, whose traces are actually very scanty, is located on the Phaistian hill known as the AcropoliMediana. Finally, the poros head of lion (7 th century B.C.), found near the HaghiosGeorghios in Falandra monastery, attests the existence of a third shrine, situated at the borders of the town, next to the future hellenistic fortification wall.Outside the polis of Phaistos, there are some important extraurban sanctuaries. A cult area was found at HaghiaTriada: it is a sanctuary built on top of the abandoned BA settlement, which maybe was already consecrated to Velchanos (and Aphrodite?). The nature of the votives offerings suggests the periodic visits of the farmers coming from the surroundings (woikeis?): the worshippers asked for the protection on their herds, on their descendants, and on the human and animal fertility. Finally, at the close port of Kommos, a sanctuary of special interest for the polis of Phaistos was discovered; it is a genuine «santuarioemporico». The presence in the temple B of the tripillar shrine, which corresponds to a phoenician symbol, reveals the importance of the interaction between inhabitants of this area and Levantine people, despite the scarcity of archaeological evidence. It is likely that, at the time of the rise of the polis, Phaistos used the port of Kommos to be involved in the Mediterranean trade routes. Ritual dinings, mostly performed near the temple B, were the occasion for the Doric elite of Phaistos to strengthen their relationships with traders coming from the Levant and the Aegean; it is likely that these foreign people were allowed to establish a trading post under the protection of the deities represented by the tripillar shrine. The aniconic aspect of the shrine furthered the interpretation of the symbols according to the different beliefs of the worshippers (Cretans, Levantines, Aegean populations)
PER LUIGI PERNIER (CON APPENDICE DAL PRIMO TACCUINO CRETESE)
Full text linkThis paper re-examines the opinions so far expressed about the person and work of L. Pernier, excavator and editor of the ruins of the palace at Phaistos. His positivistic formation as a field archaeologist is emphasised, together with his objectivity and with the decisions made about the restoration of the ruins of the palace, which were opposite to the line followed by Evans at Knossos.A selection of passages from his notebooks that are pertinent to the beginning of the excavations at Phaistos is presented so as to give a representative picture of his personality.Two unpublished manuscripts of Pernier are therefore presented for the first time, both for their scientific and human interest. Special attention is reserved for three appendices with the summaries and paperwork which Pernier had sketched in view of a final publication of the most recent ruins excavated at Phaistos, which was not eventually published
THE HETEROSEXUAL COUPLE IN EARLYCRETAN ICONOGRAPHY
Full text linkThe much discussed subject of the heterosexual couple represented in Greek art is here re-examined on the basis of three mouldmade plaques of the sixth century from the Syme sanctuary. The evidence that, for methodological reasons, is considered as a secure basis for its interpretation consists of the kinds of objects on which the couple is represented and their function as well as the character of the site where each object was found and the contextual associations that the site provides.The discussion is restricted to Cretan iconography, which alone includes representations of the couple on objects dating from the Protogeometric period through the sixth century that have been found in sanctuaries, cemeteries and settlements. The varied provenance of the objects is suggestive of the multiple meanings of the couple, while the lack of special symbols reflects the anonymity of the male and female figures.The two types of the couple, A and B, derived from ritual practices, were independently formulated and each corresponded to different milestones of human life. Type A symbolizes the transition of both men and women from adolescence to maturity or from life to death, while type B signifies the incorporation of the newly married couple into the social fabric. While the pictorial anonymity of both types disassociates all couples from myth, every couple had a divine or heroic paradigmatic prototype so that the secular overtones of its symbolism could be enhanced
THE LATEST PREPALATIAL PERIOD AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE FIRST PALACE AT PHAISTOS: A STRATIGRAPHICAND CHRONOLOGICAL RE-ASSESSMENT
Full text linkThe dating of the first palace at Phaistos has been particularly problematic because the architectural complex is comprised of two blocks that were set at different levels on the slope of the hill, and they have been dated to different ceramic phases due to the lack of accuracy in the selection of the relevant deposits, and a rather loose application of Evans’ chronological system. The materials retrieved from the sub-floor excavations that were conducted in the area between piazzale I and cortile 40 of the palace have proved to be a major problem. They consist of a few fully preserved vases that were found either on red floors and paved areas, or within stone or wood enclosures or within benches and apart from having been dated to different phases of the Early and Middle Minoan periods, have also been attributed either to structures that preceded the first palace or to the palace itself. This article aims to clarify the formation processes of these deposits and the relationship that they had with one other, and with those found beneath the southern block of the first palace, and to define their chronological position with reference to the settlement history of the site, as recently re-assessed by the author, and to the Knossian sequence
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Full text linkCreta Antica 10/IV. La Rosa, Il disco di Festòs: un centenario autentico! V. La Rosa, Per Luigi Pernier (con Appendice dal primo taccuino cretese) L. Pernier, La città ellenica sovrapposta al palazzo minoico di Festo in Creta (con Appendici nn. 1-3)L. Pernier, Lictoria parva. Una grande impresa archeologica e una piccola fondazione italiana a CretaS. Di Tonto, Il Neolitico Finale a Festòs: per una riconsiderazione funzionale dei dati dagli scavi Levi S. Masala, I resti faunistici provenienti dal saggio sotto il vano XIX a Festòs S. Todaro, The latest Prepalatial period and the foundation of the firts palace at Phaistos: a stratigraphic and chronological re-assessment F. Carinci - V. La Rosa, Revisioni festie II N. Cucuzza, Una rappresentazione arcaica di Pan a Creta? Note su una placchetta litica da Festòs
IL NEOLITICO FINALE A FESTÒS: PER UNA RICONSIDERAZIONE FUNZIONALE DEI DATI DAGLI SCAVI LEVI
Full text linkThis work has been pointed at reviewing the previous publications of Phaistian Neolithic pottery on the base of the new acquisitions provided by the recent excavations at Phaistos (directed by V. La Rosa) and by the study of the new ceramic deposits and related architectures that have reopened the problem of the definition of the Phaistian Final Neolithic