The use of space in the area to the South of Temple B on the Patela of Priniàs (Excavations in 2003...

ΦΙΛΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΣ ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ «Ο ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ»

ΧΑΝΙΑ 2011

— Α Ν ΑΤ Υ Π Ο —

ΠΕΠΡΑΓΜΕΝΑ

Ι’ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΥ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟΥ

(ΧΑΝΙΑ, 1-8 ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΥ 2006)

Τομοσ Α4

ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΟΙ

ΤΟΠΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ – ΟΙΚΙΣΤΙΚΗ –

ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΟΝΙΚΗ – ΝΕΕΣ ΑΝΑΣΚΑΦΕΣ –

ΚΡΗΤΗ, ΑΙΓΑΙΟ, ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΗ ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΟΣ

Y

ISBN (vol.) : 978–960–9558–07–5 = ΤΟΜΟΣ Α5ΤΟΜΟΣ Α4 = 9558-06-8ISBN (set) : 978–960–8648–02–9

© 2011 ΦΙΛΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΣ ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ «Ο ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ» ΕΤΟΣ ΙΔΡΥΣΕΩΣ 1899

Χάληδων 83, 731 31 Χανιά Κρήτης. Τηλ. & fax : 28210-53879www.chrysostomos-chania.gr/ E-mail: [email protected]

ISBN (vol.) : 978–960–9558–06–8 ISBN (set) : 978–960–8648–02–9

Επιμέλεια τόμου: Μαρία Ανδρεαδάκη-Βλαζάκη , Γενική Διευθύντρια Αρχαιοτήτων και Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς,Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού ([email protected])& Ελέν η Παπαδοπούλου ,Αρχαιολόγος, ΚΕ΄ Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων ([email protected])

Διορθώσεις, σελιδοποίηση και τυπογραφική φροντίδα: Κωστής Ψυχογ υιός ([email protected])

Εκτύπωση & βιβλιοδεσία: «Τυποκρ έτα» – Γ. Καζανάκης Δ/χοι Α.Β.Ε.Βι.Πε. Ηρακλείου Κρήτης ([email protected])

Η έκδοση πραγματοποιείται με την υποστήριξη του Υπουργείου Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού (www.culture.gr/)

Την ευθύνη της έκδοσης έχει το Δ .Σ . του «Χρυσοστόμου»: Αντώνης Πετρουλάκης (πρόεδρος), Κώστας Μαυρακάκης (αντιπρόεδρος), Βαγγέλης Μπούρμπος (γραμματέας), Χαράλαμπος Σκριβιλιωτάκης (ταμίας), Γιάννης Κουκλάκης, Αικατερίνη Μανιά, Κωνσταντίνος Πρώιμος (μέλη).

Rossella GIGLI PATANÈ*

The use of space in the area to the South of Temple B on the Patela of Priniàs

(Excavations in 2003 and 2005)

For nearly one-hundred years, since the excavations conducted by Luigi Pernier (1908), the traditional image of the Patela of Priniàs that was known to scholars consisted of the almost isolated presence, in the central zone of the summit, of two temples (A and B). The chronological relationship of the two buildings has therefore always been invoked as a fundamental element in the reconstruction of the historical processes relating to the urban organization and to the cultic space of the archaic city.

Pernier, on the basis of what he presumed to be an opisthodomos, believed that Temple B was later than Temple A (Pernier 1914). This argument has been disproved by research carried out since 1975 by Giovanni Rizza (see Rizza 1991; Rizza et al. 2005, with bibliogra-phy), whose excavations have brought the buildings out of their state of apparent isolation, and revealed that they were actually situated in front of an ample square, which was delineated by a connected set of rooms that were all orientated on exactly the same axis as the perimeter wall of Temple B. From this perspective, Temple A, which is differently orientated than both the neighbouring Temple B and the structures over which it was built (that have recently been inves-

— 259 —10th IntCretCongr (Khania 2006) Α4 (Khania 2011) 259–271

* (Dott.ssa), Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali – CNR, “Palazzo Ingrassia” – via Biblioteca 4, 95124 Catania (Italy). E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

tigated by A. Pautasso) (Pautasso 2003; Pautasso 2004), appears to be an insertion into the urban fabric with which Temple B is in full accord.

The connection between the two buildings, and the chronologi-cal relationship between them, is also a fundamental point in the research of Alexander Mazarakis Ainian, in which this question forms a key part in the formation process of the primitive Greek temple that, according to him, progresses from the house of the head of the community to the sacred building of the polis (Mazarakis Ainian 1997: 224-26).

However, Dario Palermo has observed (Palermo 2001: 159-67) that it was possible, already on the basis of the results of Pernier’s excavations, to hypothesise that Temple B was not an isolated build-ing, as had long been thought, but instead might have belonged to a larger complex of constructions: its southern wall, in fact, proceeded well beyond the line of the temple’s facade towards the East.

Comparison with other, better known, situations on the Patela — the building on the southern edge (Rizza 2000: 43-45; Rizza et al. 2005) and the remains of the building on the eastern edge of the hill that occupied the space of the LM IIIC sacred area (Palermo 1999: 207-13) — have led this scholar to hypothesise the existence of a series of large building complexes, which can perhaps be identified as the residences of the most important aristocratic families or ghene of the archaic community, each of which was linked, possibly for the private cultic needs of the family, to a building composed of two or three rooms, laid out along a central axis, with a pronaos and a larger central room that had a rectangular eschara at its centre.

In this picture, the construction of Temple A, which is not linked to a neighbouring building but is instead in complete isolation, with a different orientation, and adorned with a rich sculptural decora-tion that certainly required the concomitant effort of all of the upper classes of the community, signals the changing political situation of the community of the Patela at the moment when it probably first became a polis, the name of which is still unknown.

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ROSSELLA GIGLI PATANÈ

This hypothesis gives great interest to the exploration of the area to the South of Temple B, as it is intended to search for the existence of structures that were, even in this case, related to it, to identify their extent and connection, also from a chronological point of view, with the urban plan and the other buildings on the Patela, and in particular with the large building of a possibly public nature that was explored by D. Palermo in the area immediately to the North of that with which we are dealing (Palermo 2003: 814-17; Palermo et al. 2004: 254-62).

This exploration, which has been entrusted to me by Professor Giovanni Rizza, began in 2003 (Gigli Patanè 2003; Gigli Patanè 2004), starting from the structures that had been identified to a superficial level by previous researches (Rizza 2006; Rizza et al. 2005), and was continued in 2005 (Gigli Patanè 2007; Gigli Patanè 2008; Palermo, in this volume) (Fig. 1). It must be stated immediately that the

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THE USE OF SPACE SOUTH OF TEMPLE B ON THE PATELA OF PRINIÀS

Fig. 1 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B (Excavations 2003-2005)

scarcity of time and means that we had at our disposal limited the possibility of thoroughly exploring the area, and that the situation was made worse by the border wall of Pernier’s excavation, which obstructs a comprehensive vision of the area and impedes the physi-cal connection between Temple B and the newly individuated struc-tures, but which it has not yet been possible to remove for organisa-tional reasons. Notwithstanding these problems, some meaningful elements were gained from these excavations that were related to the problem with which I intend to deal in this article.

The excavations carried out in the years before 2003 led to the identification of a series of walls in the area adjacent to Temple B which seem to delineate the perimeter of a large enclosure named TV, which was itself situated in relation to the square that faced the Temples: its eastern facade is, in fact, set back 4.80 m in respect of the line of the street that enters the square from the south and thus forms the open area from which this square is formed. In this tract it is also possible to note an opening onto the square. On the south-ern limit, enclosure TV is bordered by a long passageway, TU, which separates it from the monumental building to the South, and in such a way encloses a large area of c. 7/9 x 27 m within which it has not as yet been possible to identify internal partitions, not even in the form of stretches of wall that started from the walls of the external perim-eter. The already mentioned impossibility of ascertaining a relation-ship with the structure of Temple B has, however, suggested that it would not yet be profitable to continue investigations within this large enclosed area, but would instead be better focused on the defi-nition of those sectors of the perimeter that are not yet well known.

We began by exploring the western and south-western edges of the enclosure; on its western limits it was ascertained that it was connected to a stretch of transverse wall that has a north-west/south-east alignment and was unearthed to an overall length of 6.35 m (Fig. 2). The wall was composed of irregular blocks, has a width of 0.50 m, and consists of two rather disconnected courses.

The identification of this transverse wall is particularly interesting because it could represent, similarly to other situations encountered

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on the Patela, principally those of rooms TQ and TT, the evidence of a narrow street or corridor, which leads from the street that should run to the west of the sacred area to the inside of the architectural complexes, adding in such a way a meaningful element to our knowl-edge of the urban structure of the area.

A thin bronze arcuate plaque decorated with registers of incised palmettes chains and multiple waves patterns, separated by sets of ridges, and with a series of holes along the top edge, was found among the fallen stones that were at the foot of this wall (Gigli Patanè 2005). On the basis of comparisons with a helmet from Aphratì that is conserved in the museum of Hamburg (Hoffman 1972: 5-6, tav. 13), and now also with a similar item from Azorià (Haggis et al. 2004: 375, fig. 26) that is so similar to ours that it is possible to hypothesise their production in the same workshop, it is possible to see that the Priniàs plaque is the upper part of the crest of a bronze open-faced helmet of Cretan type. This is the first time that this type of material has been discovered on the Patela, and its fineness in execution and

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Fig. 2 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B. Transverse wall

(Excavations 2003)

quality of manufacture leads us to the conclusion that the helmet to which it belonged could have been a votive offering dedicated to the patron deity of the polis, which was worshipped in the nearby Temple A.

In 2005 the excavation was concentrated along the southern border of enclosure TV, and investigated in particular the area of passage-way TU. It was ascertained that it has an average width of 2.70 m and runs for an overall length of 18 m and originates in room TO, which is situated along the road that runs from the south into the square in front of Temple A.

At its western end, corridor TU, that probably gave access to the small courtyard TT onto which the monumental facade of the east-

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Fig. 3 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B. Rooms VE - VF,

(plan O. Pulvirenti)

ern room (VA) of the large building faced, finished against the east-ern wall of a room with an irregularly rectangular shape (VE) (Fig. 3), with dimensions of 4.5 x 4.7 m, in which a threshold was placed that was formed of two slabs with an overall length of 0.97 m, and which had two semi-circular hollows on the long side that faced to the east. Room VE communicated to the west with a small room of 2 x 4 m (VF) via a threshold 0.65 m wide that is on its western wall (Fig. 4). The two rooms form a unitary complex that was also prob-ably accessed from the west through an open room (VG) situated at the end of the presumed access road to the complex to the south of Temple B, as indicated by the transverse wall unearthed in 2003. They appear to be, therefore, inserted between the northern wall of the monumental building and the enclosure TV, within which they stood out for a depth of 2.5 m, thus forming a protrusion in its inter-nal perimeter wall.

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Fig. 4 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B.

The threshold between VE and VF (from NW)

Given the small amount of time available, it was decided to thor-oughly explore only the small room VF which, at the time of exca-vation, was entirely full of stones from the destruction of the perim-eter walls. Once the stones had been removed, an irregularly paved surface that should represent the most recent floor of the room was found at a depth of c. –0.30 m., especially in its southern part (Fig. 5). Another line of stones was discovered in close proximity to the east wall, some of which were very regular and flat, of north-west/south-east alignment and 1.30 m long, which continued beneath the east-ern wall of the room, and seems to be the remains of an older struc-ture above which the eastern wall of VF had been built.

Numerous ceramic sherds were retrieved within the level of stone and slabs, among which was a fragment of a pithos with the repre-sentation of a bull in relief, painted in black, of a type already known from Phaistos (Palermo 1992: 37-39, fig. 2 d,f).

A second level of slabs, 0.50 m lower than the previous, seems to indicate an earlier phase of the room, the materials of which are

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Fig. 5 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B. Room VF (from N)

still under study, but seem to date to the Geometric period. The bedrock was encountered imme-diately beneath this level, into which a circular hollow of 0.40 m diameter had been cut, and a series of small ditches placed all around it.

A small trench of about 1x1m was opened in room VE at the point of connection between its eastern perimeter wall and the northern wall of room VB of the monumental building. This aimed to clarify the relationship between the two walls, and it was ascer-tained that, in contrast to the western wall of VE and room VD of the large building, the eastern wall of the room neither touches with, nor is bonded to, the wall of room VB, but instead seems to have been neatly cut from it, because a gap of about 10 cm (Fig. 6) remained between the two that was filled with small stones, proving that VE existed prior to the founda-tion of VB.

Another interesting feature of the excavation in this trench was a small fully preserved pot that was unearthed immediately below the level of the fallen stones (at –15 cm). After its removal another seven small vessels, some of which were fully preserved, were found encircled by a series of carefully placed flat slabs. The vessels were undoubtedly still in situ and had perhaps been deposited below the floor of the room within a kind of box of rectangular shape that was dug into the bedrock in contact with the corner between the two walls and protected by a slab in an L-shape (Fig. 7). The box meas-ured 47 cm in length by 26 in width, and is c.17 cm deep. Its position

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Fig. 6 : Patela. Area to the South of

Temple B. Room VE. Gap between

its eastern perimeter wall and the

northern wall of room VB of the

monumental building (from W)

at the corner of the southern and eastern walls demonstrates that it was placed here at a time when both walls existed: the eastern, which is earlier, and the perimeter wall of the large building that cuts it, and which apparently modified the space.

A preliminary examination has shown that the vessels appear to be small drinking vessels, and the five of them which were fully preserved can be dated to a late Geometric period. The remaining three, which on account of their position were certainly deposited simultaneously with the others but were not fully preserved, belong to previous periods. It is possibly a foundation deposit created on the occasion of the restructuring of the area following the construc-tion of the nearby large building, and it might therefore provide an important chronological link to it (Gigli Patanè 2011).

In conclusion, some observations can be made about the results of this excavation.

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Fig. 7 : Patela. Area to the South of Temple B. Room VE.

Deposit of vessels in the SE corner

building that is situated to the South of it, the so-called enclosure TV. The connection between the two buildings will remain hypothetical until the elimination of Pernier’s wall, but the precise alignment of the structures does not leave any doubt. The stratigraphic relation-ship and relative chronology of the various structures remains to be determined.

rooms VE and VF seems to date to the Geometric period as is also suggested by the material belonging to the first floor of room VF. The complex underwent a first modification in the late Geometric period when it was necessary to adapt it to the construction of the nearby building which determines the diminishing of VE. On this time the deposit uncovered in the south east corner of the same room was laid. A third identifiable episode is that of the final part of the seventh century, which is marked by the remaking of the floor of VF.

the city, its connection with Temple B to the north and the monu-mental building to the south, and the quality of the manufacture of some of the objects retrieved leads one to think that it is a key area in the public and cultic organisation of the city. We hope that it will be possible to continue this excavation in the future, as it may lead to a better understanding of the city on the Patela of Priniàs.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Gigli Patanè 2003 : R. Gigli Patanè, “Saggio nell’area contigua al tempio B,” in Rizza et al. 2003, 817-818.

Gigli Patanè 2004 : R. Gigli Patanè, “Saggio a Sud-Ovest del Tempio B,” in Palermo et al. 2004, 262-263.

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Gigli Patanè 2005 : R. Gigli Patanè, “Un frammento di lamina bronzea decorata a incisione da Priniàs,” in R. Gigli (ed.), ΜΕΓΑΛΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ. Studi dedicati a Giovanni Rizza per il suo ottantesimo compleanno. I-II, (Studi e Materiali di Archeologia Mediterranea, 2-3), Catania, 205-210.

Gigli Patanè 2007 : R. Gigli Patanè, “L’area a Sud del Tempio B,” in Palermo et al. 2007, 288-292.

Gigli Patanè 2008 : R. Gigli Patanè, “Area contigua al Tempio B (scavo 2005),” in Rizza et al. 2005, 607-610.

Gigli Patanè 2011 : R. Gigli Patanè, “Brindare con gli antenati. Un deposito di fondazione dall’area a Sud del tempio B di Priniàs,” in R. Gigli – A. Pautasso (eds), Identità culturale, etnicità, processi di trasformazi-one a Creta fra Dark Age e Arcaismo. Atti del Convegno di Studi per i 100 anni dello scavo di Priniàs, (Atene 9-12 novembre 2006), Cata-nia, 73-84.

Haggis et al. 2004 : D.C. Haggis – M.S. Mook – C.M. Scarry – L.M. Snyder – W.C. West, “Excavations at Azoria, 2002,” Hesperia 73(3): 339-400.

Hoffman 1972 : H. Hoffmann, Early Cretan Armorers, Mainz on Rhine.Mazarakis Ainian 1997 : A. Mazarakis Ainian, From Rulers’ Dwellings to

Temples. Architecture, Religion and Society in Iron Age Greece (1100-700 B.C.), (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, CXXI), Jonsered.

Palermo 1992 : D. Palermo, “L’officina dei pithoi di Festòs: un contributo alla conoscenza della città in età arcaica,” CronA 31: 5-53.

Palermo 1999 : D. Palermo, “Il deposito votivo sul margine orientale della Patela di Priniàs,” in V. La Rosa – D. Palermo – L. Vagnetti (eds), Ἐπὶ πόντον πλαζόµενοι. Simposio italiano di Studi Egei dedicato a Luigi Bernabo Brea e Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli, (Roma, 18-20 febbraio 1998), Roma, 207-213.

Palermo 2001 : D. Palermo, “Luoghi di culto sulla Patela di Priniàs. Per una storia della città fra la tarda età del Bronzo e il VII sec. a.C.,” Creta Antica 2: 159-167.

Palermo 2003 : D. Palermo, “Area a Sud del recinto dei Templi A e B (scavo 2003),” in Rizza et al. 2003, 814-817.

Palermo 2004 : D. Palermo, “Scavo nell’area a Sud del recinto dei templi A e B,” in Palermo et al. 2004, 254-262.

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Palermo et al. 2004 : D. Palermo – A. Pautasso – R. Gigli Patanè – G. Bion-di, “Lo scavo del 2003 sulla Patela di Priniàs. Relazione preliminare,” Creta Antica 5: 249-277.

Palermo et al. 2007 : D. Palermo – A. Pautasso – S. Rizza – S. Masala – R. Gigli Patanè – K. Perna – G. Biondi, “Lo scavo del 2005 sulla Patela di Priniàs. Relazione preliminare,” Creta Antica 8: 265-313.

Pautasso 2003 : A. Pautasso, “Area del tempio A (scavi 2002-2003),” in Riz-za et al. 2003, 809-814.

Pautasso 2004 : A. Pautasso, “Scavo nell’area del tempio A,” in D. Palermo – A. Pautasso – G. Biondi – R. Gigli, “Lo scavo del 2003 sulla Patela di Priniàs. Relazione preliminare,” in Creta Antica 5: 249-254.

Pernier 1914 : L. Pernier, “Templi arcaici sulla Patela di Priniàs. Contributo allo studio dell’arte dedalica”, ASAtene I: 18-111.

Rizza 1991 : G. Rizza, “Priniàs. La città arcaica sulla Patela,” in D. Musti et al. (eds), La transizione dal miceneo all’alto arcaismo. Dal palazzo alla città, (atti del Convegno Internationale, Roma, 14-19 marzo 1988), Roma, 331-347.

Rizza 2000 : G. Rizza, “Una città cretese dell’ “età oscura” sulla Patela di Priniàs”, in Un ponte fra l’Italia e la Grecia: atti del Simposio in onore di Antonino Di Vita, (Ragusa, 13-15 febbraio 1998), Padova, 39-54.

Rizza 2006 : G. Rizza, “Scavi e ricerche a Priniàs dal 1997 al 2000,” in Πεπραγμένα Θ΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου (Elouda, 1-6 ottobre 2001), A5, Heraklion, 55-62.

Rizza 2008 : G. Rizza, Priniàs. La città arcaica sulla Patela. Scavi condotti negli anni 1969-2000, (Studi e Materiali di Archeologia Greca 8/1), I-II, Catania.

Rizza et al. 2003 : G. Rizza et al., “Priniàs, Patela. Nuovi scavi (2002-2003),” ASAtene LXXXI, s. III,3, t. II, 2003 (2005): 803-825.

Rizza et al. 2005 : G. Rizza et al., “Priniàs. Scavi e ricerche degli anni 2004 e 2005,” ASAtene, LXXXIII, s. III,5, t. II, 2005 (2008): 593-624.

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The use of space in the area to the South of Temple B on the Patela of Priniàs (Excavations in 2003...

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