Knossos 2004 Overview

Neolithic Ceramics and Stratigraphy from the Excavations of Sir Arthur Evans (1900-31) and John Evans (1957-60; 1969-70) at Knossos, Crete, Greece
Abstract

This grant will be to support the preparation of a two-volume final publication of Neolithic ceramics and their stratigraphy from the site of Knossos, Crete. The ceramic material principally derives from the excavations of Professor John Evans (1957-60; 1969-70) and Sir Arthur Evans (1901-1931); limited material from other small tests will also be included.

Knossos is a multi-period prehistoric and historic site located 4 km to the south of modern Herakleion. The site is famous for its Bronze Age palace, excavated by Sir Arthur Evans. The great importance of the underlying Neolithic site is generally less widely appreciated, largely due to the fact that the majority of the Neolithic excavations remains unpublished. Indeed Knossos represents one of the largest unpublished collections of Neolithic material in the Aegean. The preparation of a final site publication for Neolithic Knossos is considered an urgent priority by the British School at Athens, the custodians of the excavated material.

The singular importance of Neolithic Knossos derives to a large extent from its wellpreserved and uninterrupted stratigraphy (Aceramic Neolithic-Early Minoan 1; 7000-3000 BC). No other open-air Neolithic settlement in the Aegean has so far produced either such a complete Neolithic sequence or a sequence that spans the Neolithic-EBI transition. Elsewhere on Crete no other multi-period Neolithic sites are known and as a result Knossos is central to our understanding of Cretan Neolithic phasing, chronology and socio-economic development. The subsequent development of greater social complexity at Knossos during the Early Minoan II-III period makes an enhanced understanding of the later Neolithic-EBI period at the site especially important.

The applicant has already completed a very detailed study of a representative sample of the entire ceramic sequence and its associated stratigraphy. This diachronic study not only generated insights into technology, production, consumption, exchange, but also produced a new relative ceramic chronology that doubles the number of recognisable phases (from 4 to 8 phases) and integrates them for the first time with other Neolithic sites in Crete and beyond. This completed work is unpublished and it is proposed that this would form part of the final publication of the Neolithic ceramics from Knossos. In order to make this final publication definitive, all unstudied and unpublished Neolithic ceramics excavated at Knossos over the last century need to be studied and prepared for publication by the applicant.

In addition to completing the studies of ceramics and stratigraphy necessary for the final publication, the applicant will also produce a new phase-by-phase plan of site development using GIS'. Changes in site-size, intra-site organisation and the location of inhabitation will be traced throughout the Neolithic thus providing a unique diachronic and synchronic view of activity at the site that for the first time incorporates data from all major excavations. This will revolutionise understanding of life at a Cretan Neolithic open settlement and will situate Knossos firmly amongst a select band of multi-period Neolithic sites (e.g. Franchthi, Sesklo, Dhimini etc.) that are central to our understanding of socio-economic development in the Aegean during the Neolithic.

The publication will take the form of two volumes which will publish ceramics and stratigraphy firstly for the Early-Middle Neolithic periods and secondly for the Late-Final Neolithic periods. These volumes will form part of a wider publication project on behalf of the British School at Athens, which the applicant is currently helping to coordinate and which involves a number of specialist studies. The volumes will be published by the British School at Athens.