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The minoan "central building" at Kastelli pediada

• Ρεθεμιωτάκης, Γ.

Ongoing excavations during the last decade are revealing parts of an extensive Minoan settlement situated on a low hill, partly under the buildings of the modern village.Sherds dating to the Neolithic and Early Minoan periods have been recovered in plot n. 3 (Fig. 1). The settlement thrived during both palatial periods when not only the hill but also the surrounding area on the plain were densely occupied. Thereafter the site was partially inhabited in the Post-Palatial, the Hellenistic, the Late Byzantine and the Venetian period.At the beginning of the New Palace period a mansion was erected on the upper plateau of the hill erasing all the previously existing buildings. Only a part of it could be excavated within the confines of a municipal plot. Judging from the natural formation of the hill and surface indications we estimated the total area to be more than 700 sq.m. The mansion was built twice during the New Palace period, more or less on the same ground-plan, to be finally destroyed by fire in LM IB.A section of a paved road, oriented East-West again in two phases, was excavated along the south façade of the mansion. The upper one was laid in flagstones, irregular in shape, except for the causeway, along the south border, which consits of slightly raised rectangular schist plaques. The lower road also had a causeway of rough triangular plaques and a two-stepped platform set between the causeway and the exterior wall. Its upper surface was covered by fine rectangular gypsum plaques with plastered joints. The form, the elaborate construction and the contact with the causeway suggest that it was designed as a stand for those watching the ceremony taking place along the processional way (Fig. 6).The massive walls were of roughly shaped small stones probably to the level of the floor of the upper storey and of mud-bricks above this level. A large amount of them was found into the destruction debris, some containing fragments from unfired household vases. Only the east exterior wall facing the settlement was dressed with large rectangular blocks laid as usual over a lower projecting course.The function of each room can be determined from the context, in combination with the architectural form.Room I contained abundant kitchen ware. Room 2 originally had a plastered floor painted red. There were no significant finds except for a bronze dagger. Room 3 also had a plastered floor in both phases. In the first phase, an oblong, apparently wooden chest covered inside and out by plaster was set on the floor along the west wall. It was painted bright purple on the bottom while a red band marked its outline on the floor. The embellishment and the extreme delicacy of this fixture testifies to an official rather than an ordinary use. This is further supported by the finds of the second phase: the container was probably substituted by wooden shelves fixed on the stone- built bases along the west and the south walls. Three small fragments of ivory and two of rock- crystal inlays were all that remained from the originally rich contents of this significant room.Rooms 4, 6, 7 were annexes of the large Hall 5. The latter was the main hall with the polythy- ron of a “Minoan-Hall”, comprising also an antechamber and possibly a lightwell, as indicated by scanty remains beneath the massive foundations of the Venetian castle (See the reconstruction in Fig. 4).A stone-built platform of dressed masorny, possibly supporting a wooden superstructure, was set across the polythyron. A stone drain starting from its base joined another similar one under the platform, which led the liquids out of the building to the East. Two other terracotta partly preserved conduits started inside Room 7 and the antechamber of Hall 5 respectively.The thick debris in Hall 5 and Rooms 6 and 7 contained large numbers of cult vessels (tubes, chalices, libation jugs, incense burners) and ordinary vases (cups, kalathoi tripod cooking vessels, trays, lamps, amphorae and jars), apparently fallen from the upper storey where they were stored. AJ1 the sherds found in this area date to MM III-LM IA, a fact that may imply that the above vases were already “old” when the building cought fire in LM IB. Thus it seems possible that only a part of this assemblage was kept as vestige of past ceremonies.The shape of the vases and the formation of the Hall and its annexes are suggestive of religious and social activities involving libations and the consumption of food. The palatial character of the ritual can be assessed by the architectonic form of the Hall which recalls the three Knossian “Balustrade-shrines” as well as the type and function of the cult vases which held liquids.The evident chthonic and vegetal character of the libation rites, here in combination with dining, may have a dual purpose: the regeneration of the powers of Nature and the maintainance of social cohesion and order.On the other hand another set of rituals taking place outdoors in the area of the processional road and the court and/or groves, which in all probability extended to the south, exhibit similarities with a palatial festival illustrated in the “Dance of the Sacred Grove Fresco”. This ceremony, which is deduced to have taken place in the west courts of the major palaces, may well have had a vegetal character as related to the harvest.In conclusion, all the above mentioned religious actions may be interpreted as instances of a large scale palace-inspired festival comprising a procession dance, offerings, libations and finally banquet. The significant peak sanctuary on the Kephala-Liliano hill, which was in visual contact with the south façade of the mansion, undoubtedly functioned as an additional factor emphasizing the religious atmosphere.Another “local” religious activity may be deduced by similar cult vessels, as well, as fragments of hollow animal figurines and a clay mould depicting an ibex in a rocky landscape, excavated in plot 7, which lies in the eastern outskirts of the Minoan settlement. They may be dedications of the agrarian population living and working in the area and the adjacent fields.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Sculpture
• Decorative arts

Βλ. τοπογρ. χάρτη (Σχέδ. 1): 1. Οικόπεδο Γυμνασίου. 2. Οικόπεδο Ε. Σακκά. 3. Κοινοτικό οικόπεδο (πλατεία Μεϊντάνι). 4. Οικόπεδο Ε. Σταυρουλάκη. 5. Κοινοτικό οικόπεδο (πλατεία Αγ. Γεωργίου). 6. Οικόπεδο Ζ. Πετράκη. 7. Οικόπεδο Ε. Καμπιτάκη. 8. Οικόπεδο Ενορίας Καστελλίου.Από τα οικόπεδα αυτά μόνο το υπ’ αριθ. 1, από το οποίο προέρχεται η MM ΙΒ-ΙΙ ομάδα κεραμικής (βλ. παρακάτω), δεν ανασκάφηκε. Στα υπόλοιπα πραγματοποιήθηκε μερική ή πλήρης ανασκαφική έρευνα από τον υπογράφοντα και στο υπ’ αριθ. 8 σε συνεργασία με τη συνάδελφο Π. Γκαλανάκη, την οποία ευχαριστεί για την άδεια ένταξης της συγκεκριμένης ανασκαφής στον τοπογραφικό χάρτη. Για λόγους ευκρίνειας του σχεδίου δεν σημειώνονται μερικοί YM III τοίχοι, οι οποίοι κάλυπταν εν μέρει τον πομπικό δρόμο., Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες, Περιέχει 22 σχέδια