The topic of the relations between the Maltese Archipelago and the Aegean in the Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age has been neglected due to the scant evidence available. Recent research on unpublished pottery coming from several Middle and Late Bronze Age Maltese sites, held at the National Museum of Archaeology of Valletta, offered new data for the interpretation of a Mediterranean connection that linked Malta and Crete in the Early Iron Age. In this paper three classes of objects, extraneous to the local tradition and probably of Cretan derivation, coming from the excavations of the Borg in-Nadur temple and from the Borg in-Nadur culture layers of the Bahrija village, are discussed.
Nicola Cucuzza & Nils HellnerrCreta Antica 10/II (2009): 501-518.
A survey of the area around the Stoà dell’Agorà at Agia Triada has identified an H-shaped Propylon. Built in LM III A against the northern wail of the Bastione, the structure was located at the entrance of the large Piazzale dell’Agorà. The Propylon has no good comparison in Minoan architecture; instead it has many similarities with the propylaia known in the Mycenaean palatial sites of Mainland Greece. The presence of a propylon (the only one known up to now in Crete) confirms the importance of Agia Triada in LM IIIA-B. Moreover, it enlarges our knowledge of the LM IIIA-B architecture and its relationship with the contemporary architecture of Mainland Greece.
The textual/archaeological based absolute chronology for the end of the Second Intermediate Period, and the first part of the Egyptian XVIII Dynasty, has been much refined in several studies over the last two decades, and offers a good chronological datum-line which reflects significantly on the absolute chronology of LM I-II Crete, through both direct and indirect archaeological arguments.
This article deals with the LM I lithic pessoì from the old excavations at Agia Triada, which are characterised by the presence of signs incised on one face, and publishes two new examples retrieved from this site during the new excavations. The incised signs, which are always different from one other, are discussed, as well as the material and its provenance (Spartan or Cretan).
This paper focuses on a MM III A ceramic fragment (F 7586) found in the southern sector of the Chalara quarter (located on the eastern slopes of the Phaistos palace hill). The vessel, of which only two joining sherds from a medium-large closed shape survive, comes from a rich homogenous fill created in an operation to fill MM III structures and construct a LM I house on top of them.
The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to define a new ceramic sequence for Protopalatial Phaistos, in particular for the first phases of the Protopalatial period, i.e. MM IB-MM IIA. Second, to produce a study of the Barbotine Ware attested in these deposits, which will add new data on the evolution of this class of pottery, and in turn, may be useful in dating examples found elsewhere.
Recent studies on Prepalatial ceramics, which have used integrated analytical approaches, have demonstrated that Prepalatial pottery exhibits many of the technical features used to indicate specialisation of production, and hints at large movements of products between different regions of the island.
The specific outlook and reach of administration in Prepalatial Crete is the topic of heated debate. The materials most frequently implicated in this debate are clay sealings, usually taken as a clear demonstration of administrative concerns. However, although early sealings might have been used for this purpose, this view tends to be influenced by our knowledge of sealing practices from later, palatial contexts.
The article presents the sanctuaries on the island of Andros (Cyclades) during the Geometric and the Archaic times. Thus far, four sanctuaries have been found: at Zagora (Geometric times), at Ypsili (Geometric-Archaic times), at Palaiopoli and at Stavropeda (Archaic times).
Much has already been written about Heinrich Schliemann's excavations in Troia since 1870. Two main themes are apparent: biographical accounts in commentaries and memoirs of Schliemann's work and an overwhelming dossier of Schliemann's own publications, diaries, and letters.
Max Bergner, Barbara Horejs & Ernst PernickaStudia Troica 18 (2009): 249-272.
64 obsidian artefacts from the prehistoric settlement Çukuriçi Höyük near Ephesos were analyzed with neutron activation. The finds date from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Based on their trace element concentrations it could be shown that the overwhelming majority of the raw material derives from the Cycladic island of Melos.
In this paper the first results of the analyses of chipped stone artefacts from Yenibademli Höyük, Gökçeada / Imbros are presented. The settlement dates to the Early Bronze Age II period. The lithic data include more than 1000 stone artefacts, which belong to the categories of cores, cortical specimen, crested specimen, debris, flakes, blades and retouched tools. All raw material varieties were undergone pethrographical analyses. This way 5 raw material varieties have been distinguished, which were used in stone production.
Gebhard Bieg, Stephan W. E. Blum, Reyhan Körpe, Nurten Sevinç & Rüstem AslanStudia Troica 18 (2009): 199-228.
In 2001 a previously unknown settlement mound west of Karaköy on the Upper Karamenderes (Scamander) was largely damaged by looters. The material found on the site demonstrates that it was occupied mainly during the Troia I period. The Early Bronze Age village was destroyed in a major conflagration.
The Kesik plain is situated about 4 km west of troia. It is an indentation extending towards Yeniköy ridge from the Karamenderes delta-flood plain, and it covers an area of about 1 km2. Some investigators have supposed this low-lying area to be a convenient harbor location for Troia. A canal connecting the west side of the plain to the Aegean sea has been considered a waterway. Our investigations in the years of 1990 revealed that intruding sea into Karamenderes (Scamander) valley during the holocene transgression covered also Kesik plain and formed a small inlet.
Bernhard Weninger Studia Troica 18 (2009): 135-162.
In this paper a stratigraphically-referenced database capable of precise and accurate dating of pottery assemblages from the late Bronze age (lBa) at Troia (Periods VIVII) is presented. the database is constructed from information provided in the excavation reports of Carl f. Blegen, Cedric G. Boulter, John l. Caskey, and Marion Rawson (Blegen et al. 1953; 1958). The paper is focussed on quantifying the dating accuracy and precision that can be achieved with the new pottery database, when statistical seriation procedures (Correspondence analysis) are applied.
