The pithos is one of the most distinctive utilitarian forms of the Cretan Bronze Age ceramic repertoire. Because of its use as a storage container, a pithos is the foremost parameter for the evaluation of the economic organization of palatial and domestic sectors of Cretan Bronze Age society. The pithoi as pottery and their significance for the understanding of the Cretan Bronze Age economy has been the focus of a research project carried out from 1989 to 1999. This book is not a pithos handbook in the narrow sense--although the study offers a typological division of the data with comments on...

Kavousi I is the initial volume of the Kavousi Excavation Series, which presents the final report of the Kavousi Project, a program of archaeological investigation near the modern village of Kavousi in eastern Crete. Subsequent volumes will publish the results of the 1987-1992 excavations at the Vronda and Kastro sites in the Siteia Mountains overlooking Kavousi and of the cleaning and new study of the excavations of Harriet Boyd in 1900 and 1901. This volume, Kavousi I: The Archaeological Survey of the Kavousi Region, provides a comprehensive look at the topography of the area, its natural...

This volume presents the 1994-1997 excavation of the Lower Terraces of the Mycenaean citadel of Midea in the Argolid Plain of Greece. It compliments the author's previous volume on the Lower Terraces of Midea, which was published in 1998. A shrine and megaron were discovered on Terraces 9 and 10. The stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, lithics, small finds, and human and faunal remains dating from the Final Neolithic through Byzantine periods are discussed and catalogued. Additionally, the continuous sequence of LH IIIB-LH IIIC strata on the Lower Terraces revealed the ground plan and...

This is the first volume detailing the excavation of the "Cave of the Cyclops" on the island of Youra in the North Aegean. The cave was occupied at various times from the Mesolithic through Roman periods. The setting and stratigraphy of the cave and a survey of the area are discussed. The Mesolithic and Neolithic ceramic, lithic, and small finds are organised into catalogues. Additionally, this volume provides insight into the means of survival and the flowering of culture on Youra during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, and it presents the connections between this outlying area and...

Joseph and Maria Shaw received the Archaeological Institute of America's Gold Medal for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in January of 2006. This volume is a collection of the papers presented at the Gold Medal Colloquium held in their honour during the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Montreal, Quebec. Additional articles have also been written for this volume. Many of the articles pertain to different aspects of Aegean Bronze Age architecture, harbors, frescoes, and trade, which are all keen interests of the Shaws.

The results of excavations carried out at two Late Minoan III sites at Mochlos in eastern Crete are presented. The stratigraphy and architecture of a total of 31 tombs and 11 houses are discussed together with a complete list of artefacts, ecofacts, and skeletal remains from each context. The cemetery remains mirror the settlement remains, and the conclusions discuss how the two sites reflect each other. Rarely in Crete are a settlement and its cemetery both preserved, and it is extremely fortunate to be able to excavate both.

The natural terraces hanging high on the northern cliff of the Cha Gorge at the site of Monastiraki Katalimata in eastern Crete were discovered as an excellent refuge site for the first time about 5,500 years ago. At first sight, Katalimata looks like an extreme refuge place where one might expect small groups of people hiding for a brief time during the most serious period of threat. Excavation of the largest of the terraces, however, has shown that use of the place was often long-lasting and more complex. The most interesting result of the project was the identification at Katalimata of...

The storage of staples and its importance for the functioning of Cretan Bronze Age society has become an active topic of debate. This study reassesses the intrinsic relationship between storage and sociopolitical complexity by combining testimonies on the storage of staples from palatial, nonpalatial elite, and ordinary domestic contexts dated to the LM I period. The main goals are (1) to examine a wide range of information concerned with the storage of staples; (2) to develop a comprehensive model to explain how storage strategies operate within LM I societies; and (3) to infer...

Second in the series of final reports on the work of the Kavousi Project, this title is also the first volume on the cleaning (19821984) and excavations (19871992) at the mountain sites located above the modern village of Kavousi in eastern Crete.

Excavations carried out at two Late Minoan III sites at Mochlos in eastern Crete yielded a pottery assemblage from 31 tombs and 11 houses, which are cataloged, discussed, and illustrated together with petrographic analyses. The cemetery remains mirror the settlement remains, and the conclusions discuss how the two sites reflect each other. Rarely in Crete are a settlement and its cemetery both preserved, and it is extremely fortunate to be able to document both in a series of scientific excavation reports (Mochlos IIA-IIC). Contents: Introduction; 1. Petrographic Analysis of the Late Minoan...