Mt Juktas 2002 Overview

The Sanctuary of Mt Juktas.
The Middle Minoan III A-B complex at Alonaki. Architecture, pottery, objects and character
Alexandra Karetsou

The sanctuary consists of a "peak sanctuary" and several appendages situated at the top of Mt Juktas at a height of 811 m above sea level, l0 km southeast of Knossos in northern central Crete. It also comprises a temenos whose use began at the end of the 3rd millennium and continued until the end of the 7th century. It was systematically excavated in 1974-90. Because of its extremely rich and rare finds and its relationship with the palace of Knossos and its environs, Bronze Age Aegean archaeologists regard it as the most important peak sanctuary in Crete. Another appendage, the Alonaki complex, attached to it was excavated as a rescue excavation in 1989-92.

The above building dates from the MM III A-B period and lies 50 m from the north entrance of the Cyclopean wall surrounding the Juktas temenos. It is situated 730m above sea level in an imposing rocky landscape. This is the only case in which such an elaborate complex has been discovered next to a peak sanctuary; all other such sanctuaries have only rudimentary installations. Fifteen areas have been uncovered including eleven rooms on the ground floor, two staircases and one storeroom. Two building phases have been excavated. Thus we know that the complex was built during the end of the MM II B period and used for a relatively short time, as the final destruction phase is in the MM III B, a time of great seismic activity in Crete. We can be absolutely certain that use did not continue into the Late Minoan I A period.

The building's defining feature is the large amount and variety of pottery found there. Pottery types and their positioning and storage inside the building signpost the use of the area. We are extremely fortunate to have this opportunity of studying a widely discussed and little-known period of MM III A pottery (the transition from the Protopalatial to the Neopalatial period). Pottery of this period is also found in the environs of the Knossos and Festos palaces and the building at the Anemospilia "sanctuary" at the north foot of Mt Juktas. It will be demonstrated that both the Alonaki building and the Anemospilia "sanctuary" are closely connected to the above significant sites.

Peak sanctuaries constitute an important subject for the understanding of Cretan Protopalatial and Neopalatial religion and social trends. It should be pointed out that although dozens of peak sanctuaries in Crete have been excavated and looted, none has been fully published so far. This publication will be the first full publication of a significant part of the Juktas peak sanctuary which, belonging to Knossos, played an exceptional role in the history of Minoan culture. For this reason the site was connected in Classical mythology with the tomb of the Cretan Zeus. It should be stressed that the publication will be based on detailed stratigraphic evidence which is lacking from existing preliminary reports on other peak sanctuaries excavated in the past.