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Prehistoric and early historic settlement in the Ziros region, eastern Crete

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Keith Branigan
Keith Branigan
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
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Abstract

The paper presents the results of an intensive survey of two upland basins in eastern Crete. Following a description of the geology and topography of the area, the methods of survey, data manipulation, and pottery analysis are described. There follow catalogues of ceramic type fabrics and other finds. The results of the survey are then presented in three chronological phases (Neolithic, Bronze Age, Graeco-Roman), interpretations are suggested, and a final section provides an overview of the development of human settlement in the region. It is suggested that initial colonisation took place in the Final Neolithic but was short-lived. The basins were only reoccupied during the Protopalatial period, when both nucleated and dispersed settlements were occupied. There is no certain evidence for continued occupation after LM IIIA and the third phase of occupation did not begin until the fourth century BC. Hellenistic and Roman occupation in both nucleated settlements and farmsteads seems to have prospered over a period of eight or nine centuries.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 93 , November 1998 , pp. 23 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1998

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References

1 The author is grateful to the following for permissions and support: the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Ephoria for a survey permit; M. Tsipopoulou for advice and support in preliminary planning, and C. Davaras and N. Papadakis for support during the fieldwork; L. French, G. Sanders, and R. A. Tomlinson for support during the permit application process; the communities of Ziros and Khandras for their hospitality during fieldwork, and especially Y. Drakakis, Proedros of Ziros and M. Harkiolakis, Proedros of Khandras; the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the British Academy, and the University of Sheffield for financial support.

2 I am pleased to thank C. Merrony (Assistant Director) for invaluable assistance in the field and at the drawing board, and the team of S. Marsden (Field Supervisor), J. Draper, A. Karytinos, S. Lawrence, J. McDaid, J. Mincher, C. Pappayianades, G. Patterson, K. Pink, M. Town, G. Watkin, and A. Witkin for much hard work and overtime, and Mrs K. Branigan for assistance with the pottery shed and HQ I am also grateful to S. Marsden for the photos in FIGS 14 and 21, and to James Wood for the production of computer-generated maps and diagrams.

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