Per una rilettura «funzionale» dell’ala sud-occidentale del Palazzo di Festòs: il caso dei vani IL-XXVII/XXVIIΙ (Towards a new ‘functional’ interpretation of the south-west wing of the First Palace at Phaistos: the case of rooms IL-XXVII/XXVIII)

Filippo Carinci Creta Antica 12 (2011): 17-125.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to verify, in a preliminary form, a sector of the South West wing of the first palace of Phaistos, excavated by D. Levi during the 1950s. This part of the building, which has yielded a substantial number of finds, has always been highly problematic for the interpretation of data. This contribution is a proposal to create a con­nection to research carried out in recent years and concerning structures within and out­side the palatial building, which now offers a more comprehensive reading of the context for the Protopalatial period. While waiting for a new, extensive architectural survey we found it necessary to conduct a review of the contexts in a limited number of rooms, with a series of preliminary observations on the nature and function of some architectural fea­tures, taking into account the recent shifts in methodological approach. In subsequent con­tributions, dedicated to the remaining areas, we consider the first results, fitting them into an overview, which requires a further detailed analysis of the data.

The theory of the three subsequent reconstructions of the SW wing of the Palace assumed by Levi as the only key to the interpretation of the entire site of Phaistos is no longer tenable. It is necessary to consider this complex a building with two (at least for part of its period of use), or three floors, which, before its final collapse, underwent a num­ber of transformations and partial reconstructions. The analysis of those structures and of the considerable mass of findings recovered inside them, can still offer, through a different vision of the contexts, significant information on the forms of organization of the palatial elites at the time of the Palace foundation and during the first period of development of the palatial system.