Looking for the invisible: landscape change and ceramic manufacture during the Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age at Phaistos (Crete, Greece)

Roberta Mentesana, Vincenzo Amato, Peter M. Day, Matthieu Ghilardi, Vassilis Kilikoglou, Fausto Longo & Simona Todaro Στο M. Ghilardi, F. Leandri, J. Bloemendal, L. Lespez & S. Fachard (eds) 2016. Géoarchélogie des îles de Mediterranée, Paris: 299-310

The present landscape of the Mesara Plain, an intermountain basin located in Southern Crete, results from millennia of geological transformation. Human presence in the area had a strong impact on landscape change since the Final Neolithic (second half of the 4th millennium BC), when the first signs of land erosion and deforestation appeared. This phase has been considered in Crete as “transitional” due to emergence of new settlement patterns and material culture. The main site on the Plain is Phaistos, which is located on a hilltop near the Yerapotamos River. The site offers great potential for the examination of the Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age transition in Crete, on account of the landscape and changes in the human occupation and manufacturing activity. Pottery manufacture of these transitional phases has been examined in detail, revealing a complex picture of continuity and change in raw material use. Similarly, our understanding of the landscape surrounding the site has been transformed with the discovery of the formation of a lake to the South of the hill site from the mid-3rd millennium. This paper presents collaborative research on landscape change and its influence on raw material availability for pottery manufacture in the area.