Creta Antica (E-Journal - Università di Catania)
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LA CITTÀ ELLENICA SOVRAPPOSTA AL PALAZZO MINOICO DI FESTO IN CRETA
Full text linkThis typed-script is the transcription of a lecture given by Pernier at Berlin, in April 1929, on the occasion of the jubilee of the DAI. The lecture was published the following year, in German, in a periodical of limited distribution, which is therefore difficult to find. It is undoubtedly a popularising work, which contains a series of otherwise unpublished information about the most recent phases of the Phaistian settlement. Attention is focused on the cisterns and water catchment system in general, with the clear intention of proposing a sort of continuum between the palatial and Hellenistic periods. Pernier, as is well known, did not manage to complete his publication of the excavations, so that the descriptions of post-palatial Phaistos (from the Mycenaean to the Hellenistic-Roman periods) remained anchored to a few preliminary notes. Pernier wanted to devote an entire volume to Phaistos in the Greek period, but only the summary (in two versions, both of which are published in the appendix) was written and signed
FOR A NEW CERAMIC SEQUENCEOF PROTOPALATIAL PHAISTOS (MM IB - MM IIA) AND SOME OBSERVATIONS ON BARBOTINE WARE
Full text linkThe aim of this paper is twofold: first, to define a new ceramic sequence for Protopalatial Phaistos, in particular for the first phases of the Protopalatial period, i.e. MM IB - MM IIA. Second, to produce a study of the Barbotine Ware attested in these deposits, which will add new data on the evolution of this class of pottery, and in turn, may be useful in dating examples found elsewhere.The recent re-examination of Levi’s 1950-1966 excavations at Phaistos and the new data emerging from the re-study of homogeneous deposits from Phaistos and HaghiaTriada, combined with the observation that these deposits find excellent correlation with other deposits and sequences of Crete, have enabled the author to propose a new sound ceramic sequence for Protopalatial Phaistos (MM IB - MM IIA), based on more secure evidence than previous schemes.Since K.P. Foster’s seminal publication (1982), new excavations and studies of old material conducted at Phaistos, Kommos, Knossos and other Cretan sites have much enriched our knowledge of Barbotine Ware and allow for some refinement and adjustment of Foster’s work. At Phaistos, in particular, a reassessment of this ware and its evolution has been made possible by the re-study of some neglected homogeneous deposits. The definition of the development of this class of pottery is important because it could offer a useful chronological tool for Protopalatial Phaistos and for other contemporary Minoan centres
IL DISCO DI FESTÒS: UN CENTENARIO AUTENTICO!
Full text linkThis paper originates in the recent resumption of the debate about the presumed falsity of the Phaistos disk, and aims at demonstrating that it is indeed authentic. The claims about the particular «psychological» relationship between Pernier and Halbherr are demonstrated to be lacking in foundations, and decisive proof for the authenticity of the discovery is looked for in Pernier’s excavation daybooks. The time and circumstance of the discovery, the character of the persons involved and the preliminary remarks written by Pernier allow any hypothesis about the falsity of the disk to be categorically refuted
Sommario
Full text linkCreta Antica 10/IIS. Todaro, Pottery production in the Prepalatial Mesara: the Artisan’s quarter to the west of the Palace at Phaistos M. Relaki, Rethinking administration and seal use in third millennium Crete I. Caloi, For a new ceramic sequence of Protopalatial Phaistos (MM IB-MM IIA) and some observations on Barbotine Ware L. Girella, Un frammento con rappresentazione di felino da Chalara (Festòs)? V. La Rosa, Pessoì vecchi e nuovi da Haghia Triada T. Fantuzzi, The Absolute Chronology of the Egyptian S.I.P.-New Kingdom Transition and its Implications for Late Minoan CreteN. Cucuzza - N. Hellnerr, A LM III propylon at Haghia Triada D. Tanasi, A Mediterranean Connection. Nuovi dati sulle relazioni tra Malta e Creta agli inizi dell’età del Ferro A. Lebessi, The Heterosexual Couple in Cretan Iconography D. Lefèvre Novaro, Culti e santuari a Festòs in epoca altoarcaica. Per un’analisi funzionale N. Cucuzza, Un punzone per decorazione ceramica da FestòsM. Melfi, Lost sculptures from the Asklepieion of Lebena S. Sherratt, Representations of Knossos and Minoan Crete in the British American and Continental Press, 1900-c.193
LOST SCULPTURES FROM THE ASKLEPIEION OF LEBENA
Full text linkThis study consists in the examination of the sculptural material found in the Asklepieion of Lebena at the time of the earliest excavation campaigns (1900 and 1911), as recorded in two photographs taken by Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier respectively. Most of these sculptures are presently lost, but the identification of their iconographic types allows interesting insights on the Hellenistic and Roman phases of the cult at Lebena. The statue of Artemis confirms a role of the goddess as figure auxiliary to Asklepios and is completely understandable on the basis of the comparison with the sanctuary at Epidauros. The herm of Pan and the possible representation of a Nymph link with a pre-existing cult devoted to deities presiding over nature and water – the Nymphs,Acheloos and Hermes – and attests its survival even in the Roman imperial phases of the sanctuary. Finally, the presence of the statue of a boy provides a welcomed addition to the dedicatory pattern from Lebena, since the practice of dedicating votives for children is widespread in Greek Asklepieia, but was not known yet from our site. All these elements enrich our knowledge of both the pantheon and the cult of Lebena, and contribute to inserting the site in the more general history and developments of the sanctuaries of Asklepios in Greece
REPRESENTATIONS OF KNOSSOS AND MINOAN CRETEIN THE BRITISH, AMERICAN AND CONTINENTAL PRESS 1900 - c.1930
Full text linkThe Arthur Evans archive in the Department of Antiquities of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford contains 11 volumes of newspaper and journal cuttings which cover the years from roughly 1900 to 1930. Many of them refer to Evans’ work at Knossos or to other aspects of the Minoan civilization. It seems probable that Evans himself amassed most of these cuttings, which number well over a thousand, and kept them in a largely unsystematised state. Despite the number and range of these cuttings, they cannot be regarded as comprehensive. Nevertheless, there is enough to give us a good idea of the press coverage that Evans and Knossos received in those thirty years, both in Britain and abroad. This paper aims to give some idea of the variety of press approaches and reactions, and a preliminary glimpse into how Evans’ strategy for presenting Knossos to as wide a public as possible actually worked in practice
UN PUNZONE PER DECORAZIONE CERAMICA DA FESTÒS
Full text linkA clay stamp was found by chance in the Haghia Photini quarter, located to the north of the Minoan Palace of Phaistos. The stamp, reproducing an 11-petal rosette and a very thin tongue, was surely used for pottery decoration; thanks to the characteristics of the two decorative motifs, a Hellenistic chronology is proposed. It might be good evidence for pottery production at Phaistos during the Hellenistic age
LICTORIA PARVA. UNA GRANDE IMPRESA ARCHEOLOGICA E UNA PICCOLA FONDAZIONE ITALIANA A CRETA
Full text linkThe original of this typescript, which was probably not written for publication, was sent to Count Fr. Pellati, General Director of Antiquities and Arts at the Ministry of National Education at the end of 1935. The first part is a simple geographic and historical presentation, which uses strong but also clearly didactic tones and adjectives, so as to rouse the interest of the recipient, and enlarge the merits of the actors. The various steps and practical difficulties of the exploration are remembered with extreme reality, with great pleasure and also some «literary» aspirations. It is in any case a precious direct testimony for those difficult environmental conditions. The central issue is the logistical history of the Cretan Mission, from 1899 to the construction of the house at Phaistos in 1931.The new structure, labelled «Lictoriaparva», is described in a paradisiacal scenario (in contrast to the infernal conditions at the beginning). The strange fascist term was used to recall the draining of the surrounding marshes, which the members of the Italian mission had witnessed. The reference, therefore, needs to be to the Italian pontine marshes: «perciò le demmo l’insegna dei fasci e il titolo di ‘Lictoria parva’»
POTTERY PRODUCTION IN THE PREPALATIAL MESARA: THE ARTISANS’ QUARTER TO THE WEST OF THE PALACE AT PHAISTOS
Full text linkRecent studies on Prepalatial ceramics, which have used integrated analytical approaches, have demonstrated that Prepalatial pottery exhibits many of the technical features used to indicate specialisation of production, and hints at large movements of products between different regions of the island. This reassessment has concentrated on pottery excavated at Knossos and has revealed that part of the drinking and serving vessels used at this site in EM IIA were manufactured in south central Crete, by several production groups that used similar raw materials and production techniques. The most remarkable discovery was that a good portion of the pottery traditionally considered to be one of the outcomes of the establishment of the palatial elites – Kamares ware – was also imported to Knossos from the western Mesara, and had the same fabric identified in the imports of the Prepalatial period. This acknowledgment led to the suggestion that Kamares ware, rather than being the product of workshops established with the First Palaces, developed within pre-existing production groups. Thus far however, apart from Patrikies whose identification as a workshop specialised in the production of teapots has been controversial due to the lack of kilns and of proper working areas, none of the other excavated sites in South Central Crete has proved to have been a pottery production centre in both the Pre and Protopalatial periods.The resumption of excavation in the area to the west of the West court of the palace at Phaistos allows a reconsideration of the issue of pottery production in south central Crete on the basis of the discovery that the pottery kiln attributed by Levi to the Neopalatial period had actually been built within the MM IIB period, in an area characterised by a large amount of misfired and vitrified vessels spanning from the EM IIA to MM IA periods
A LATE MINOAN III PROPYLON AT HAGHIA TRIADA
Full text linkA survey of the area around the Stoàdell’Agorà at HaghiaTriada has identified an H-shaped Propylon. Built in LM IIIA against the northern wall of the Bastione, the structure was located at the entrance of the large Piazzaledell’Agorà. The Propylon has no good comparison in Minoan architecture; instead it has many similarities with the propylaia known in the Mycenaean palatial sites of Mainland Greece. The presence of a propylon (the only one known up to now in Crete) confirms the importance of HaghiaTriada in LM IIIA-B. Moreover, it enlarges our knowledge of the LM IIIA-B architecture and its relationship with the contemporary architecture of Mainland Greece