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South by Southeast: The History and Archaeology of Southeast Crete from Myrtos to Kato Zakros

2023; Penn State University Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.11.4.0468

2166-3556

Dominic Pollard,

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

The origins of the work under review can be traced to a 2016 colloquium at the Archaeological Institute of America’s annual meeting, chaired by the editors, on the archaeology of the southern Ierapetra Isthmus in southeast Crete, which resulted in its own volume in 2019 (Chalikias and Oddo 2019). Keen to expand the chronological and geographic scope of that colloquium, E. Oddo and K. Chalikias organized a stand-alone conference in 2017, the proceedings of which constitute the present volume. The editors’ motivation in both cases has been to draw attention to an historically underinvestigated region. But where that earlier volume presented results of archaeological projects focused on the Bronze Age around Ierapetra, the South by Southeast conference “had a more ambitious aim: to investigate the settlement patterns, maritime connectivity, and material culture of the southeast in a diachronic fashion, in an attempt to define it as a region and trace its history” (v). This bolder vision has resulted in a vibrant and diverse collection of papers that chronologically spans the Paleolithic through Hellenistic periods and geographically the area between Myrtos near the Ierapetra Isthmus and Kato Zakros on the east Cretan coast. However, this diversity sits uneasily with the editors’ insistence on the regional coherence of southeast Crete as a unit of historical analysis.As with many conference proceedings, the papers presented here are somewhat eclectic in their scope. Several contributions provide useful overviews of archaeological research in the southeast region. Tina Kalantzopoulou (Ch. 2) presents the results of two extensive surveys undertaken in hilly regions of eastern Crete: one to the west of the palatial site of Zakros and the other on the southeastern slopes of the Dikti Massif. In both areas, scant human habitation in the Protopalatial period was followed by the appearance of multiple megalithic structures that Kalantzopoulou interprets as farmhouses or “villas.” These often substantial buildings appear to have been constructed to exploit areas of cultivable land, and on Dikti they are found in association with terrace and/or enclosure walls. Kalantzopoulou posits that their appearance in the Neopalatial period reflects the exploitation and integration of upland environments within the palatial agricultural economy.Lefteris Platon (Ch. 5) provides a clear and informative overview of the Kato Zakros valley’s settlement history, including the development and ultimate destruction of the Bronze Age palace there. Of particular interest are the recent analyses of pottery assemblages, which demonstrate reoccupation following the destruction of the palace and settlement regrowth in the Late Minoan II–IIIA periods, before a final decline and abandonment. Kato Zakros has been largely uninhabited since Late Minoan IIIB/C, a mystery about which Platon offers a number of suggestions. He notes the heavy flooding that affects the coastal plain and suggests certain structures of Protopalatial and Roman date acted to disperse these waters. In early modern times, stagnant pools left over from floods made the area a hotspot for malaria, which might have further disincentivized reoccupation in antiquity.Leonidas Vokotopoulos (Ch. 6) relays the history of Choiromandres, one of very few excavated multiperiod rural Bronze Age sites on Crete. Through the Proto- and Neopalatial periods, this site played host to some kind of field building, an open-air sanctuary, a putative guardhouse, and agricultural dwellings. Perhaps most striking are the 700 m long, walled enclosure and series of megalithic terraces, which date to the Neopalatial period. Terraces of Bronze Age date are known from several areas on Crete, but much remains to be understood about the frequency and contexts of their use. Choiromandres offers important insights into these issues.Several of the most stimulating chapters deal creatively with the recurrent scarcity of archaeological data in the southeast region, drawing on evidence from further afield to inform their interpretations of developments in different periods. Christine Spencer and T. Whitelaw (Ch. 3) address the dearth of Bronze Age sites on the southern Ierapetra Isthmus by drawing on legacy survey data from three intensive surveys on the northern isthmus. They construct logistic regression models to assess the relationships between survey sites and landscape features (elevation, distance to alluvium, quantities of nearby low-slope land). From these, they produce predictive models of site presence that are extrapolated to the southern isthmus to simulate hypothetical patterns of settlement there. This permits comparisons of putative changes from the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial period. They argue for a pattern of increased exploitation of inland valleys in the Neopalatial period, perhaps prompted by extensification of agricultural production and stronger networks linking coastal and inland communities.Carl Knappett (Ch. 4) investigates the articulation of southeast Crete within wider diachronic trends in connectivity on Crete by drawing on Tartaron’s (2013) fourfold categorization of maritime interaction: coastscapes, small worlds, and intracultural as well as intercultural maritime interaction spheres. Though the evidence is limited, Knappett suggests that settlement patterning in the Protopalatial period argues against a strong maritime network existing at this time. In contrast, signs of greater interregional connectivity on Neopalatial Crete, and increasing settlement sizes and counts on the southern coast (including a hypothetical center at Ierapetra), may indicate the emergence of a maritime small world encompassing much of the island, possibly stimulating heightened interaction in the southeast region.Brice Erickson (Ch. 8) also looks beyond the southeast to inform his discussion of polis formation and development in the Archaic through Hellenistic periods. From recent excavations at Azoria on the northern Ierapetra Isthmus, Erickson identifies the turn of the sixth century BCE as a period of civic reorientation. New public buildings at Azoria and the emergence of standardized drinking vessels across Crete are taken to reflect the centrality of civic commensality in the new social order, prefiguring the andreia or men’s mess halls of later textual sources. Against traditional views of Archaic Cretan austerity, Erickson argues that patterns of artifact exchanges, sanctuary dedications, and relationships found in legal inscriptions for the sixth and fifth centuries BCE reflect a dynamic and interconnected island. Admittedly, extrapolating this model to the scantily represented southeast coast is problematic, but Erickson’s proposed identification of Stalai, a possible polis known through epigraphic sources and assumed to be the southern port of Praisos, with the site of Dasonari is intriguing. If correct, Archaic surface material reported from the site could indicate the early significance of commercial activity in the development of Cretan coastal poleis.In Chapter 10, S. Gallimore aims to situate the site of Hierapytna within the wider economic developments of Late Hellenistic and Roman Crete. Scant archaeological material comes from the site itself, so Gallimore assembles a range of evidence, including treaty inscriptions, historical sources, survey evidence, and exported Cretan amphorae, to illuminate the socioeconomic and political context within which Hierapytna expanded. While much can only be inferred indirectly, Gallimore makes a strong case that Hierapytna was uniquely placed to oversee olive oil production and export, as well as transshipment of various products across the Ierapetra Isthmus, thus contributing to the growing importance of Crete within the economy of the Roman Empire.A couple of chapters present registers of archaeological sites and finds from the southeast region. Lily Bonga (Ch. 1) gives a cogent summary of known Stone Age sites and offers some proposed adjustments to existing ceramic chronologies for the Neolithic period. While permanent-settlement sites are all but absent from the Palaeolithic to Middle Neolithic in this region, the Late Neolithic I–II phases are much better represented, especially around the Isthmus of Ierapetra. Though an even greater number of sites is reported for the Final Neolithic (post-4500 BCE), Bonga remains skeptical, given that no excavations have yet been published, and identification based on surface remains is complicated by conflicting chronological systems. In a first step toward clarifying this complex picture, Bonga presents ceramic material from the Pelekita Cave on the far eastern coast, which, based on her analysis, can be identified as the oldest confirmed Neolithic site in the region.Drawing on research conducted for her doctoral dissertation, T. Fragkopoulou (Ch. 11) presents archaeological evidence from the Early Minoan through the Roman periods “that is related directly or indirectly to the element of the sea” (135) in the southeast region. This material mostly corresponds to the Middle through Late Minoan I and Hellenistic through Roman periods, with little pertaining to the Late Minoan II through Classical periods. Fragkopoulou points to the recurrent exploitation of fish and mollusc resources, especially murex snails for dye production, as well as the increasing evidence of maritime activity in Hellenistic through Roman times. Though informative, these two chapters do not offer the same level of creative engagement with the regional evidence shown by Spencer and Whitelaw, Knappett, and Erickson, perhaps because of more limited material available for analysis.Finally, two chapters offer more specific material culture studies. Eleni Nodarou (Ch. 7) presents a survey of ceramic fabrics from Bronze and Iron Age sites across the southeast region. The variability in composition she outlines challenges the utility of the term south coast fabric, a classification derived originally from the ceramic material from Myrtos Phournou Koriphi. Nodarou discerns certain broad patterns in the distribution of the various fabrics, such as an eastward decline in coarse and semicoarse wares of south coast type, which are far rarer in the vicinities of Makrygialos and Zakros than around Ierapetra and Myrtos. However, similarities in composition between these various ophiolite- and flysch-derived fabrics makes the provenancing of particular wares difficult. Unfortunately, though the chapter title promises “Patterns of Pottery Production” (92), Nodarou states in her conclusion that “it is not possible to identify the exact origin of the various south coast fabrics or discuss patterns of pottery production” (98).In Chapter 9, C. Sofianou describes the head of a marble statue of a female donated to the Archaeological Collection of Ierapetra in 2017. The elaborately curled hairstyle, accented through the use of the drill, is characteristic of sculptural styles of the later first and early second centuries CE. After considering comparanda from Rome, Heraklion, Aphrodisias, and Aptera, Sofianou favors a date toward the end of this range for the newly discovered piece. Following this discussion, Sofianou presents an overview of the history of Hierapytna, informed by epigraphic and historical sources, numismatic finds, and scattered archaeological discoveries. However, this discussion offers little by way of further context or interpretation regarding the statue, and it covers ground explored more creatively by Gallimore.The broadly chronological organization of these eleven chapters reveals certain lacunae, such as the Final and Postpalatial periods and the early Iron Age, none of which receive dedicated discussions (though relevant archaeological evidence is admittedly very scarce). Generally, however, the contributions to this volume engage productively with the archaeological record of a region that undeniably merits greater scholarly attention. The careful use of comparative data from beyond the bounds of the region in question is an appropriate, and potentially highly fruitful, response to the current state of the data.Less convincing are the editors’ attempts, in their concluding chapter, “to establish what the Southeast is [and] to define it as a region” (139) or their claim that the contested nature of archaeological regions runs through the volume as a unifying theme. They offer two definitions of the southeast region, one geographic and one cultural. As a geographic entity, Oddo and Chalikias define the boundaries of the southeast region as the Myrtos valley in the west and Cape Goudouras in the east. However, Kato Zakros (to the east of Goudouras) is included in the proceedings, while the editors accept that “one might convincingly argue that the region west of Myrtos-Pyrgos should be included in our area of study” (146).What separates the southeast from the northeast is even less clear or “a bit ambiguous,” as the editors put it (139). There are certain barriers between these areas, such as the Thrypti or Siteia mountains, but there are also major conduits, including north–south valleys which stretch from coast to coast, and of course the sea itself. Tsipopoulou (“Introduction”) notes this issue and questions the theoretical validity of divorcing the southeast from the northeast (3). Major northern sites like Palaikastro, Petras, Mokhlos, and Azoria are not specifically treated, though several chapters invoke them, and it is clear that in many periods north–south connections were a vital element in the history of eastern Crete.As for defining the southeast region in a cultural sense, the editors themselves concede that “only during the Neopalatial period is it possible to talk about the southeast as a cohesive cultural entity” (145). It is therefore strange that they pursue the theme of regional coherence at length, when it is scarcely apparent in most periods and does not surface in any obvious fashion in other chapters.None of this detracts from the many fine contributions to this volume, which is clearly presented, with high-quality color and grayscale images throughout. Alongside their 2019 volume, the editors and authors have made a valuable contribution to the study of a neglected area of Crete.