Area 579
Main Information
| Area ID | 579 |
| Site |
Knossos |
| Area type | settlement |
| Area NR | |
| Period | Crete/Evans, Vagnetti: Early Neolithic I Crete/Tomkins 2007: Early Neolithic |
| Dating method | material culture radiocarbon dating |
| Radiocarbon dated | no |
| Earliest date: Lab Number | |
| Earliest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Earliest date: Calibration | None |
| Earliest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Earliest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Earliest date: Standard deviation | None |
| Earliest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Earliest date: Dated by | |
| Latest date: Lab Number | |
| Latest date: 14C age (BP) | |
| Latest date: Calibration | None |
| Latest date: 14C age calibrated (BC) | |
| Latest date: Date of calibration | None |
| Latest date: Standard deviation | None |
| Latest date: Delta 13C | None |
| Latest date: Dated by | |
| Period Reference |
P. Tomkins, Neolithic: Strata IX-VIII, VII-VIB, VIA-V, IV, IIIB, IIIA, IIA, and IC Groups, 2007, London Alram-Stern, Eva, Die Ägäische Frühzeit, 2. Serie,Forschungsbericht 1977-2009. Das neolithische und vorpalastzeitliche Kreta, None, None |
| Comment | Stratum IX – Stratum VIII (layer 38-35) = Early Neolithic I (Evans) = Early Neolithic (Tomkins) = 6500-5900 |
| Settlement type | tell |
| Settlement structure | |
| Settlement building type | |
| Settlement building shape | |
| Settlement building technique | |
| Settlement archaeological features |
kiln oven pit |
| Cave/rockshelters type | None |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of graves/human remains | |
| Cave/rockshelters: Evidence of occupation | |
| Quarry exploitation type | None |
| Quarry raw material | |
| Cemetery/graves topography | |
| Cemetery/graves mortuary features | |
| Grave: number of graves | |
| Grave type | |
| Grave: type of human remains | |
| Grave: estimated number of individuals | |
| Grave: age groups | |
| Grave: sexes | |
| Grave: number of female sex | None |
| Grave: number of male sex | None |
| Grave: number of not specified sex | None |
| Grave: disturbance of graves | |
| Description | The settlement was now northern and western from the Aceramic settlement (which was in the north-eastern part of the Central Court of the later Minoan Palace) on the Kephala hill. A substancial expanse of Knossos is already verified (Whitelaw). Food preparation took place in- and outside of the houses. Inside the houses pits with ashes and vaulted kilns/ovens were used. Vessels (pottery) were indirectly warmed and used for cooking, as rare traces on the pottery show. This kind of cooking is best-suited for non-ceramic vessels and has a tradition since the Aceramic Neolithic. Inside the houses non-ceramic vessels were used for household-activities, and the more precious pottery, that was used in communal food consumption, was stored inside. Ritual usage of a vessel inside the house can possibly be observed in a whole bowl that was embedded into the floor of House E (stratum IX). No other finds were made inside this house, therefore the deposition of the bowl could be connected to the deliberate incineration of the house. Symbolic food consumption took place outside of the houses, as the find of whole vessels in the pits A and B of stratum VIII (and in the stratum above) show. (Theses strata date after the destruction of House D and before the construction of the Middle Neolithic House C). The vessels and two stone figurines show traces of deliberate destruction. This feature from the communal range underlines the assumption that the socio-economic system of the Early Neolithic Aegean was a communal one (communal storage of food, communal farming and production of goods). The pottery is already fully developed technologically, the clay comes mostly from the nearer and wider vicinity (up to 70 km) of Knossos. It can be characterized by calcareous and lime-deficient clay and a wide variety of materials used for tempering. Very few vessels could be imported from the Cyclades or the Anatolian Mainland. |
| Comment |
Location of the Site
Bibliography
Finds in this Area