Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – The Greek island of Crete is a well known vacation vacation spot, attracting guests to the famend temple of Knossos, which stood till about 1350 BC. Nonetheless, within the northwestern a part of the island close to Archanes, lesser-known palace ruins have not too long ago revealed important archaeological finds.
Depiction of the doorway to the Palace of Archanes, that includes the altars. Credit score: Greek Ministry of Tradition
Systematic excavations at Archanes started in 1964, main archaeologists to consider that this palace served as a summer season residence for the traditional ruler of Knossos. Greek archaeologist Dr. Efi Sapouna-Sakellarakis has been concerned in these excavations since their inception within the Nineteen Sixties. At 85 years previous, she continues her devoted work and at the moment leads the workforce striving to uncover extra about this historic website.
This 12 months’s excavation on the Minoan palace of Archanes in Crete resulted in a noteworthy discovery. Below Dr. Sapouna-Sakellarakis’s management, the workforce unearthed a sacred gate outdoors the primary entrance of the palace—a component discovered for the primary time in a Minoan palace. The archaeologists additionally found 4 altars and two extensions of a stone platform. These findings spotlight the non secular significance of this website and assist researchers’ theories concerning its non secular perform.
The doorway, that includes 4 altars as depicted on the best facet of the {photograph}, is complemented by two further altars throughout the sanctuary courtyard. These embody one rectangular altar and one other with a stepped design. Credit score: Greek Ministry of Tradition
In Minoan Crete, the presence of sanctuaries at entrances was a prevalent apply, as evidenced by varied findings devoted to native deities. A notable instance is the cult of Eileithyia Prothyraia, a Cretan goddess revered for her function in safeguarding thresholds and embodying the hyperlink between sacred areas and profane grounds.
Moreover, latest excavations revealed a pyramidal base on this platform, complementing an earlier discovery of a double-axe base. Proof suggests a doable third base, although it’s only partially preserved on one western arm of the platform.
This excavation season centered on clarifying particular architectural stays of the advanced, and the outcomes have exceeded expectations by offering invaluable insights. Within the southern part of the location, a 96-square-meter space was excavated in a courtyard positioned south of the doorway, that includes notable altars. Though some findings had been restricted as a consequence of fallen stones within the jap a part of the courtyard, archaeologists uncovered ceramic fragments from varied durations—together with Greek pottery in addition to Mycenaean and pre-palatial ceramics.
Entrance door of the western wall. Credit score: Greek Ministry of Tradition
Beneath this altered layer, particularly within the southernmost a part of our excavation, the excavation workforce recognized a Mycenaean destruction layer probably attributable to hearth injury that affected a part of a Minoan palace. Whereas Minoan palaces like Archanes continued for use through the Mycenaean interval, this layer predominantly revealed fragments of Mycenaean kylikes together with some broken Minoan artifacts resembling items from a stone reduction vase and rock crystal fragments. These discoveries are important for understanding historic transitions and cultural interactions at this important archaeological website.
Minoan civilization emerged on the finish of the third millennium BC on Crete, the most important island within the Aegean Sea, underneath King Minos—mythically referred to as Zeus and Europa’s son. The Minoans additionally inhabited a number of smaller Aegean islands and are acknowledged as one of many earliest Bronze Age cultures within the Mediterranean area. Their civilization stands out for achievements similar to these of historic Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.
An in depth illustration of the southern entrance of the palace, that includes two bases designed for double axes. Credit score: Greek Ministry of Tradition
The explanations behind the decline of the Minoan civilization stay a topic of scholarly debate. Archaeological proof signifies that palaces and settlements skilled hearth and destruction round 1450 B.C., with the notable exception of Knossos, which seems to have been destroyed roughly a century later.
Element of Minoan portray, from Akrotiri, the Ship Procession. Credit score: Public Domain
The emergence of the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland through the mid-2nd millennium B.C., together with their discernible cultural affect on subsequent Minoan artwork and commerce practices, positions them as a possible trigger for this decline. Nonetheless, various hypotheses recommend pure disasters resembling earthquakes or volcanic exercise adopted by tsunamis might have performed important roles.
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The eruption of Thera (modern-day Santorini) is taken into account notably noteworthy; nonetheless, its exact timing stays contentious, thus complicating its affiliation with the top of Minoan society. It’s believable {that a} mixture of environmental degradation and financial competitors undermined societal buildings, finally permitting Mycenaean invaders to capitalize on these vulnerabilities. Whatever the particular causes, most Minoan websites had been abandoned by 1200 B.C. and Crete didn’t reemerge in Mediterranean historical past till it was colonized by Archaic Greeks within the eighth century B.C.
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