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Trench II

Trench II lies at the modern summit of the promontory. A dip in the bedrock in the centre of the trench has ensured that up to 3 metres of occupation evidence has accumulated, providing the richest chronological sequence thus far excavated.

The earliest occupation here was in Early Minoan IA, and provides a unique insight into a domestic unit. A hearth revealed evidence for food consumption along with obsidian knapping alongside the fire, making use of the light and suggesting that this is an indoor space. Cooking, storage and table wears provide a full package of domestic ceramics, and further characterise this place. Depsite being a mere c.2 metres x 2 metres, other finds include a quern with a mortar sitting on top of it, a pot stand to hold a jug and a fragment of a copper alloy chisel / axe. A rough wall to the north delimits the activity and was surmounted by a mudbrick superstructure, the remains of which covered the occupation layers. Perhaps the most unique feature in this EM I unit was an abandonment deposit marking the end of occupation of this structure, with purposefully destroyed ceramic vessels in a discreet deposit.

Middle Minoan activity includes evidence of a possible shrine of MM II date, and occupational sequences between this date and Late Minoan IA are dense, representing several phases of remodelling and re-use. In MM III and LM IA a substantial storage facility was located at the summit of the building, and this was destroyed by fire. A plan of the Bronze Age settlement is emerging in this critical location of the site at the top of the promontory.

Several pits and the two-course remains of a wall provide evidence for occupation at the site in the Iron Age, with cooking, storage and table wares represented in the ceramic repertoire. As a period when many settlements were in areas with restricted access, this coastal location is of particular interest in examining settlement patterns in the longue duree in the Vrokastro region. All Bronze Age activity was removed during the Iron Age remodelling of this part of the site, indicating a substantial remodelling.

Archaic and Classical activity is represented mainly by pits and one wall, and likewise Hellenistic activity is represented in a more fragmentary state than the prehistoric.

Early Byzantine activity is very substantial and includes a number of buildings of ecclesiastical character. Finds include storage, cooking and table wares, and a number of hearths indicate cooking activity. Despite the restricted chronological span of the period, there are multiple phases of remodelling including at least five phases of additions being made to Structure 1. In Structure 2, a phase of abandonment was followed by a further squatter occupation. The findings from here indicate, tenuously, that a raid in the 8th or 9th century took place which saw a level of disruption. Burial activity took two forms in this area – burial in a grave and interment in an ossuary. These were completely excavated and the remains are awaiting further study.

Final abandonment took place in these centuries, and a re-occupation in the 10th or 11th century was similarly of an ecclesiastical character, though the architecture appears to be beyond the southern limits of excavation.

 

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Aghios Onouphrios jug during excavation with two ancient holes piercing the side


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Plaster base for supporting EM I round bottomed vessel

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Early Minoan domestic deposit


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Tripod cooking pot and schist knife associated with material from a shrine
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Early Byzantine wall overlying Early Byzantine and Late Geometric pits cut into a Late Minoan IA destruction horizon


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Middle Minoan III to LM IA storage room destroyed by fire

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Trench II from the south


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Revetment separating two phases of LM IA activity


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A complex site? Bronze Age wall below Byzantine Ossuary beside Byzantine wall overlying Hellenistic wall reusing Bronze Age wall partly cut by Classical pit.




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Middle Minoan Pithos lying in burnt Late Minoan IA deposit


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Late Geometric material overlying Late Minoan IA wall beneath Byzantine Ossuary
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Trench II from the air in 2009

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All details accurate as of May 2010.                                                                                                contact us