Brève n° 87
Karfi revisited
Information parue le 21 mai 2008 sur www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~las06sw/
The human history of a natural landmark
and its setting
This website introduces a multi-faceted
landscape research project initiated in 2002 at and around the location of
Karfi in the Lasithi mountains of east central Crete. This is one of the best
known large sites of the Greek world in the still mysterious ‘Dark Age’ period
following the collapse of palatial societies across the region in c. 1200 BC,
for reasons still obscure.
A new, more intensive phase of the project is
planned to start from 2008, with an ongoing programme of publication and
dissemination. Partners including the 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and
Classical Antiquities of the Greek National Archaeological Service, the
University of Reading, UK, the Institute of Archaeology of Crete, the Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam (Institute of Bio-and Geo-archaeology), and the
Institute of Mediterranean Studies, Crete, are aiming to enhance and develop
understanding of the site’s history by a number of means.
The website will be updated to summarise the
results of the new project and eventually to host its GIS-based archive and
Virtual Reality component. It is currently in a simple, prototype form: a
version of the site in Greek is in preparation. Please email the editor,
s.wallace@reading.ac.uk, with any comment.
The site and its setting
The rocky knoll of Karfi can be viewed from
many kilometres around in all directions, forming a widely-known Cretan landmark.
Lying at 1100 m above sea level, it overlooks a major pass forming the entrance
from the coastal zone to the enclosed highland plain of Lasithi at c. 800m
above sea level.
Karfi draws the eyes and stays in the memory
of the observer, dominating the horizon from many different directions but
looking different each time. Located in a area of designated natural beauty and
ecological value, the site has a sense of immense calm and remoteness, often
positioned above the clouds and isolated from any nearby settlement. It
commands spectacular views over large stretches of the north Cretan coast, with
its developed tourist infrastructure, and the contrasting agricultural zone of
the Lasithi plain, which is just beginning to be touched by tourism of a different
kind. Vultures wheel overhead and rare plant species flourish.
Though it is currently remote and wild, the
different physical, visual, and perceptive dimensions of the site have made it
attractive for various types of human use, over a very long time scale, from at
least 2000BC onwards, and probably much earlier: sites in the nearby region
date back to the Neolithic period 7000-3500 BC. in the course of this, the site
and its challenging natural landscape have been adapted to by humans in
different ways, and themselves altered by human populations.
The traces of these adaptations are visible in
the landscape today as well as leaving traces in the archaeological and
historical record. Settlements, cult places and other sites of various sizes
and types have appeared in the this landscape, reflecting changing economic and
political realities: Karfi may have been a regional economic and population
centre during its main Late Bronze to Iron Age settlement phase (c. 1200-1000
BC) but in other periods (Middle Bronze Age: 2000-1800 BC; Archaic: 700-480 BC)
to have had a more specialised, symbolic role for the wider region. The area
seems to have been abandoned completely
for long stretches of time, including much of the Bronze Age, when large
palatial complex settlements flourished in the fertile lowlands of Crete, yet
its use in particularly difficult times and targeting for various types of
ritual performance suggests it retained an important place in social memory and
in communities’ understandings and appreciation of the landscape through long
periods. Economically, Karfi’s hinterland has had a very flexible role, with
its diverse and creative uses reflecting always very sophisticated local
awareness of what this landscape has to offer.
Context of most recent research
More than a hundred years of systematic
archaeological exploration in other parts of Crete help us to interpret Karfi
within a rich historical context. However, the site and the Lasithi region as a
whole have seen very limited archaeological research to date compared to the
rest of Crete.
The new programme of studies since 2002 has
looked at the site archaeologically, but also in its modern- day sociological
context. This work has found the site to be markedly unexploited as a cultural
resource on the part of local residents, even though attention is paid to it by
tourists (with special tours regularly made to the site by large specialised
hiking holiday groups). The studies showed, however, that these visits were
mostly linked to the site’s status as a natural landmark and beauty spot: its
complex human history was usually either unknown or difficult to understand or
engage with on the part of visitors.
This is partly due to the very poor condition
of the area of excavated architecture in the saddle between Karfi and Mikri
Koprana, which was never properly conserved after excavation of part of the
town in 1937-9, and is currently intensively grazed by sheep and goats. It has
also arisen because the low local valuing of the site keeps promotion of it
low-key. This modest valuation is a result of the low profile for
archaeological heritage generally in the region, but is also due to the site’s
inaccessibility. Instead, local awareness of archaeology has centred heavily on
the Bronze Age cult cave (a spectacular natural cavern excavated in the early
20th century) at nearby Psychro. Here, however, no archaeological remains are
actually visible for visitors and the natural spectacle is the main attraction,
becoming heavily compromised by visitor
volume.
In this environment, the growing desire of
locals to better exploit the perceived value of ‘heritage’ to their own
advantage in a declining agricultural region has begun to be met by substitute
heritage attractions with little local connection or attempt at educational
value/authenticity. All of these issues have been, and remain, subjects of
interest, analysis and practical engagement by the research partners.
The new stage of work, intended to commence
from 2008, will involve extensive and in-depth gathering and interpretation of
archaeological, sociological and scientific data with the aim of producing a
range of factual, interpretative and analytical publications targeted at
academic audiences, but also in developing a programme of outreach to the local
community and visitors to the area from all over the world. We hope in this way
to help develop a sense of pride in, understanding of and curation of the rich,
diverse historic and natural resource in the region, and encourage its
exploitation in the most appropriate and rewarding way for all users.
The c. 6000 sq m area excavated in 1937-9,
from the southeast, looking towards the Karfi peak. Copyright British School at
Athens.
Site chronology
The earliest remains so far found at the site
(during the excavation in 1937-9) appear to date to the Neolithic period
(7000-3500 BC). Finds typical of the distinctive Cretan ‘peak sanctuaries’ of
the Middle Bronze Age 2000-1800 BC (human and animal figurines, pebbles) were
found on the Karfi peak itself, which shares with other peak sanctuaries the
status of a striking regional landmark. Other finds in the settlement
excavation seeming to date in the Middle to early Late Bronze Age (c.
1900-1500) may be connected to use of the sanctuary or a contemporary nearby settlement.
The most extensive known phase of the site’s
use dates in the Bronze to Iron Age transition, 1200-1000 BC, a period of
crisis and state collapse across the east Mediterranean, when a large-scale
population movement took place in Crete and other islands to naturally
defensible and/or fortified sites. In common with many other sites of the same
type, of which it represents an exceptionally large and complex example, Karfi
seems to have had an occupation lasting about 200 years, before being abandoned,
probably for the larger nearby site of Papoura which flourished during the
following polis state emergence period and into the 7th century BC.
In the latter period the spring at
Vitsilovrysi below Karfi to the south appears to have been used as an open-air
sanctuary, probably by residents of Papoura and in connection with a powerful
social memory of and resonant associations with the older site.
The earliest work
The presence of archaeological remains at
Karfi was first reported in the scholarly literature at the very beginning of
the period in which the archaeology of prehistoric Crete first developed as an
object of scientific study. One of the most instrumental figures in this
development, Sir Arthur Evans made a series of horseback and foot journeys
across different regions of the island with local guides, in an attempt to
enrich the stock of knowledge of Crete’s ancient remains of all periods.
On climbing Karfi, Evans noted the visible
remains of several large buildings in the saddle between Karfi and the lower
peak of Mikri Koprana to its east, well-preserved by the natural topography.
They were not easy for him to date in this early stage of archaeological study
in Crete, but he did publish a note of his discovery, referring also to the presence
of surface pottery over a large part of this area.
Work by Pendlebury
The next archaeologist to undertake
investigation and recording at the site was John Pendlebury, a British
archaeologist who during part of the 1930s held the position of Curator at the
study base and finds store established for the Knossos excavation by Evans.
Pendlebury built significantly on Evans’ mode
of archaeological prospection of the Cretan landscape by travels across many
parts of the island. He used the improved knowledge of relative pottery dating
gained from excavations at Knossos and elsewhere to build up a more detailed
picture of the development of human settlement in the island from prehistoric
through Roman times (a selection of this collected data was published in his
Archaeology of Crete, 1939). He made a specially deep investigation of sites
around the Lasithi plain, leading to a series of excavations of which Karfi
(1937-9) was one.
During the period of work at Karfi he was also
undertaking large-scale excavations at Amarna in Egypt, the Egyptian capital
during the Late Bronze Age reign of the Pharaoh Akhnaten, and was interested in
potential parallels between the two sites, though they proved to be of starkly
different types.
In the manner of the time, Pendlebury brought
very large numbers of local casual workers to dig at the site, and the
excavation and excavators are still vividly remembered by inhabitants of the
village today, with traditions and jokes about the excavation passed down to
people who were not even alive at the time.
The large numbers of unskilled workers, and
the only limited scientific approaches in use in archaeology at that time, made
the main aim of the excavation to clear an extensive area and recover a
substantial site plan. At the same time, Pendlebury recognised the site to be
so sizeable that he could not hope to uncover more than a fragment of its area.
He estimated that the town was three times larger than the c. 6000 sq m he
excavated; in fact it is now known from study of surface remains to be five
times larger, at about 3ha.
Another emphasis of Pendlebury’s project was
on the recovey and collection of artefacts of unusual and valuable type rather
than the assessment and careful documentation of artefacts in their context
with the aim of building a detailed stratigraphy and understanding building
development and function over the site’s lifetime.
The result was that the saddle between Karfi
and Mikri Koprana, an area of deeply-buried deposits and well-reserved
buildings was excavated over a large area in a short time and with limited
documentation. A huge amount of information came to light about the town but at
the same time some data was discarded without record – for example there was no
systematic recovery of organic remains as has been standard in much of east
Mediterranean research archaeology since the 1970s; coarse pottery was not
systematically recorded or studied and much was thrown away.
The settlement proved to have been planned
around paved streets and squares, with houses developing in an agglomerative
manner over time. There were signs of significant differentiation in building
status and function, though given the type of record made not much could
securely be said about exactly how buildings or rooms were used or how the
settlement developed over time. One building was clearly a temple with a
special plan and cult assemblage – the first of its type to be uncovered in the
island: there are now more modest parallels from several small
recently-excavated sites of the period.
Other outstanding or unusual buildings in
terms of construction or finds were labelled by Pendlebury with distinctive and
memorable names (‘Barracks’; Great House’; Priest’s House; Commercial
Quarter’). Some of these were based on experiences at Amarna: these are still
used in the literature on the site today, though Pendlebury never claimed them
to be accurate interpretations.
An important discovery of Pendlebury’s was
that the site was surrounded on east and south by extensive cemeteries of small
stone-built tombs used apparently on a family basis and with subtle differences
in wealth of grave goods between them. He excavated 17 of these. He also
discovered the presence of finds around the spring below the site
(Vitsilovrysi) of a type which suggested a cult use of the area in the Archaic
period, long after the town;s abandonment.
In the same period Pendlebury excavated a
number of other sites in the area, contributing hugely to the understanding of
the history of the Lasithi region – a probable Neolithic residential cave
developing into a Early-Middle Bronze Age mass mortuary cave at Trapeza, a
Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age settlement at Tzermiado Kastello, a trench on
the summit of the Archaic city of Papoura; small excavations in the Papoura
vicinity revealing a Geometric tomb and a ‘dye-works’ of Archaic date.
Pendlebury died a heroic death in the Battle
of Crete, 1941, after taking an important intelligence role on behalf of Allied
forces in the island since the outbreak of World War II. There is little doubt
that had he survived he would have returned to Karfi and its record to explore
in much greater detail the history of the Bronze to Iron Age transition,
particularly in its landscape dimension where his work blazed a trail taken up by
a number of later scholars with rich results.
Work after Pendlebury
Following Pendlebury’s discoveries there,
Karfi became a type-site for an increasingly recognised phenonomenon of
defensible sites established during the collapse the palatial states of the
Late Bronze Age in Crete and the wider Aegean.
In the early twentieth century some naturally
fortified sites of this type had been discovered and excavated in east Crete.
Karfi’s size far outstripped any of these and suggested the movement had been a
very serious one.
Pendlebury’s interpretations of the history of
the site were influenced by the Classical traditions of a Dorian movement
through Greece in the Iron Age and by the notion that mainland Greeks had
invaded and taken over Crete in the latter part of the Bronze Age. He suggested
that two separate ethnic groups of dominant mainland elites and ‘locals’ may
have fled to Karfi under Dorian pressure, creating a new kind of society.
Later scholars took up both these issues,
giving Karfi as the largest investigated site of this type and period to date,
a prominent place in the scholarship. Some revisited Pendlebury’s schematic
plans and artefact descriptions in more detail to draw further conclusions on
the ethnicity and social structure of community inhabiting the site. Others
returned physically to the record to re-evaluate it in detail and garner any
more information possible: only these activities are summarised here. A full
bibliography on the site is given below.
Mrs Mercy Seiradaki (part of the original team
and Leslie Day (the excavator of the contemporary site of Kavousi Vronda in
east Crete) did this by restudying the pottery assemblage to provide a brief
summary missing from the original report.
Professor Geraldine Gesell, a director of the
Kavousi Iron Age settlement excavation in east Crete and authority on Bronze
and Iron Age cult, restudied the temple assemblage and small finds from this
perspective.
Professor Bogdan Rutkowski, Dr Krzysztof
Nowicki and Dr Saro Wallace separately restudied the excavated buildings in
detail, with Wallace undertaking the first detailed planning of their condition
and constructional development over time through a series of plans and
elevations
Dr Saro Wallace also undertook research among
local and visitor groups on attitudes to and use of the site, and the condition
of the site in connection to this, in recent times, which she used to produce
scholarly articles and lectures as well as a 300-page set of condition records
and management records lodged with the local Archaeological Service (Wallace
2003; 2005a; 2005b).
To extend and enhance the record and lay the
groundwork for new research, Dr Saro Wallace plotted the locations of all
visible architectural remains over the entire area of the site and drew the
boundaries of the sherd scatter.
Professor Leslie Day has gathered together and
restudied for publication the ceramic finds from Karfi currently lodged in the
Archaeological Museum of Iraklion, drawing on her expertise in ceramics of this
data gained as director of the Kavousi Vronda Iron Age settlement excavation in
east Crete.
In the last ten years a number of rescue
excavations of damaged and looted tombs in the cemeteries has been undertaken
by the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek
Archaeological Service (Mrs Vili Apostolakkou) in collaboration with Professor
Athanasia Kanta of the Archaeological Institute of Crete. The results of the
excavations will be gathered together in a volume on east Cretan tombs of the Bronze
Age.
Select bibliography
Day, L.P. and L. Snyder, 2004. The ‘Big House’
at Vronda, Kavousi, and the ‘Great House’ at Karphi: evidence for social
structure in LM IIIC. In L.P. Day, L.P., J. D. Muhly, and M.S.M. Mook, eds,
2004. Crete beyond the palaces. Proceedings of a conference held at the
American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 11-12 July 2000. Philadelphia:
INSTAP Academic Press: 63-79.
Nowicki, K., 1987. The history and setting of
the town at Karphi. SMEA 26: 235-56.
Pendlebury, H. W., J. D. S. Pendlebury, and
M.B. Money-Coutts, 1938. Excavations in the plain of Lasithi III. Karphi. A
city of refuge of the Early Iron Age in Crete. ABSA 38: 57-148.
Wallace, S., 2005a. Bridges in the mountains:
issues of structure, multi-vocality, responsibility and gain in filling a
management gap in rural Greece. JMA 18.1: 55-85.
2005b. Last chance to see? New research at
21st-century Karfi: presentation of new architectural data and their analysis
in a wider context. ABSA 98: 1-60.
Local and visitor community
In 2004 the project organised, in conjunction
with the Demos (Local Authority) and Mayor of Tzermiado, the nearest village to
Karfi, the bringing of a British School at Athens exhibition on the life and
work of John Pendlebury to the village of Tzermiado, where an opening ceremony
was held during a program of annual cultural events every summer.
As part of the new research program it is
intended to undertake a programme of guided site and workshop visits, visitor
observations and interviews at Karfi and other archaeological sites in the
region, and observations and interviews with locals across age, gender and
class ranges about their attitudes to/awareness of the site, mapping any
changes in these in response to the new work at the site and the rapidly
changing social and economic environment of the Lasithi region. This will form
a core part of the academic research as well as an outreach program.
The remote, isolated area of Karfi is a grazed
landscape. Mr Haralambos Mandelanakis is the shepherd whose large flock grazes
the site and knows every inch of the site and landscape - one of the few
remaining people to live in this landscape on a day-to-day level for large
parts of the year. He still practices many traditional shepherding activities
including hand milking and cheese making.
Overarching objectives:
Develop understanding of the process of state
collapse in east Mediterranean societies at the Bronze-Early Iron Age (LBA-EIA)
transition, c.1200-1000 BC - with specific reference to what seems to be a
unusually sophisticated, coherent planning/structuring of collapse in
Crete - through the study of culture
and institutions at Karfi, a large and apparently complex Cretan settlement
founded in this period.
By the same means, to throw light on the role
of social agency and self-consciousness in structuring collapse and
reconstruction processes, in contrast to the role of broader-scale, long-term
processes such as cultural diffusion, systems breakdown and migration.
By the same means, illuminate the role of the
spatial dimension of cultural change (at a number of scales, from the landscape
to the settlement and the dwelling) in transforming social and political
structures over various timespans, using a case study in which spatial change
was particularly radical and dramatic.
Methods to be used:
1. Within the scope of a pilot excavation, and
building on results of previous investigations at Karfi in 1937-9 and a new
programme of fieldwork and publication by the applicant in 2002-7, enhance
understanding of the site's long-term history, social and economic
organisation, and regional role, laying the groundwork for future larger-scale
work.
2. Use excavation, scientific investigations
and interdisciplinary approaches to explore in detail the character of
activities and institutions within this large community which may differ
considerably from those at smaller and less complex contemporary settlements
(including the organisation of subsistence and goods production, religious
practice, and public/ceremonial dining).
3. Use scientific investigations and
interdisciplinary approaches to investigate adaptations and alterations made by
new settlers to the landscape around Karfi, and explore how flexibly the
challenging intra-site topography was used for defence, housing and subsistence
purposes.
4. Using excavation, scientific investigations
and interdisciplinary approaches, improve understanding of Karfi's relationship
to a dense scatter of contemporary sites in its surrounding landscape,
particularly regarding subsistence practice and the production and exchange of
manufactured goods.
5. Using excavation and scientific
investigations, investigate the exact circumstances of Karfi's abandonment
c.1000 BC, and how these relate to the emergence of a state society in the
region focused on the nearby settlement of Papoura from about the same period
6. Using targeted outreach work (and
respondent observation), experimental digital reconstructions of the site and
landscape, and a Web-based digital archive, and building on studies undertaken
by the applicant in 2002-5, explore the impact of the research project on the
awareness and valuing of heritage among different sectors of the public in
Greece and beyond. Develop new strategies for management and presentation of
the site.
Specific aims
1. to enhance the interpretative value of the
old excavated data by recovering any surviving stratigraphy bordering the old
excavation location.
2. to use excavation over the wider site,
together with the improved context of knowledge about EIA settlement, to better
our understanding of its development over time and internal organisation, and
of the social frameworks conditioning these factors. A major research question
is how far Karfi had a fundamentally different social structure from smaller
communities founded at the same period.
3. to use a programme of scientific
investigations alongside artefact typologies to explore in detail the nature of
activities and interactions within the settlement (particularly the
organisation of subsistence and goods production, religious practice, and
public/ceremonial and private dining).
4. to use multidisciplinary approaches to
investigate the adaptations and alterations made by settlers to the landscape
around Karfi, and to explore how flexibly and diversely intra-site topography
was used for defence, housing and economic purposes
5. to improve understanding of Karfi’s
relationship to contemporary sites in its nearby landscape, particularly with
regard to subsistence practice, exchange of subsistence and manufactured goods,
and the construction of regional identity through material culture.
6. to investigate the exact circumstances of
Karfi’s abandonment, and how this relates to the emergence of a state society
in the region with its core at Papoura
7. to explore Karfi’s history of use in other
periods, which previous finds suggest to have been markedly different in scope
and meaning.
8. to explore the role of archaeological
heritage at a landscape and site level, and in particular its relationship to
regional identity and tourism economy, in contemporary Greek society.
Specific research questions
a) How did such a radical change in the
topography and pattern of settlement change perceptions of individual, family
and community identity, and how are such changes reflected in material culture:
e.g. the use of specific pottery forms and styles, building forms, cooking and
dining practices, exchange patterns?
b) Did previous uses of this striking piece of
topography, when encountered close at hand, have any symbolic resonance in the
new social environment? This occurred at other sites founded soon after the
collapse period (particularly cult sites) but how did such symbolism apply in a
settlement context?
c) How did the positioning of a large community
in a highly inaccessible location, between two different ecological zones,
affect economic strategies? Were there major contrasts between the balance of
subsistence practices here and those at contemporary sites elsewhere in Crete?
What role was played in any change of subsistence base by the collapse of
complex LBA hierarchical-redistributive systems focused on lowland centres such
as Malia?
d) How did the topography of Karfi affect its
internal development in terms of settlement planning, the differentiation and
consolidation of elite groups in spatial terms, and the positioning of public
arenas (e.g. shrines, gathering spaces)? How did developments differ from those
at smaller and less topographically difficult new sites? For example, was there
more than one public temple or feasting building in this sizeable and
spread-out community, and how did this reflect/determine power relations?
e) How
were different types of production socially and spatially located within the
site? The old excavation data suggests clothmaking took place at household
level, but a specialised metalworking or potterymaking area has never been
identified. How were these activities organised at the site and at what degree
of specialisation? How were subsistence goods brought to the site, and in what
state of processing?
f) How far did Karfi, as one of the largest
settlements in the region, take on a regionally central role in ritual,
political or economic activity? In particular, how did its regional standing
compare with that of Papoura during the same period?
g) How did the site’s size and organisation
change over its 200-year lifespan, and what do changes tell us about changing
local priorities and wider pressures in the
post-collapse period? Do the old
excavated area and the wider site show the same sequence of development over
time?
h) How did erosion and deposition impinge on
this exposed, high-relief site, and what might have been the long-term physical
and psychological effects of extreme environment on the community living there?
Project methods: detail
As well as the main excavation team, four
strand teams, with staff listed below, will take roles in the project.
Excavation (commencing August 2008)
Pilot excavation of four separate areas,
carried out by 5- to 6 –person teams, each including a senior researcher
undertaking primary publication of the data from their area under the ultimate
supervision of Wallace and in conjunction with the interdisciplinary research
teams (below).
Areas are chosen because of their
well-preserved and coherent building remains and across the entire occupation
area, in order to throw maximum light on a) the chronology of construction in
different building zones, b) building/room functions and changes in these over
time; c) intra-site diversity in the above respects, and in terms of building
density. We aim to retrieve representative building plans by excavating large
open areas in the typically shallow deposits, necessary in order to identify
and compare the uses of rooms and buildings at a meaningful scale. All soil
will be dry-sieved and a proportion wet-sieved with a sampling strategy
developed by strand team 3.
Pottery typology will be used to date change
across the site and improve our knowledge of pottery sequences in this region
greatly based on a stratified record. Where stratified contexts contain
appropriate remains, samples for C14 dating will be taken: there are no
currently fixed dates for the EIA in Crete.
Soil sections will be sampled for
micromorphological analysis where floor deposits are preserved to significant
depth. A representative selection of pottery from floor deposits in each
excavated zone will have organic residues extracted for analysis.
Context descriptions, drawings and photographs
will be linked to finds databases within the GIS and Virtual Reality
environment developed for the site and hinterland by strand team 4, allowing
every team member to update themselves regularly with developments across the
site in and out of the field.
The GIS will use on-site measurements taken
using a Total Station and EDM to generate multi-layer maps and 3-D models of
individual contexts, specific buildings/areas, and the site as a whole,
allowing multi-phase reconstruction to take place in the VRE. The
reconstruction facility will also apply to the already excavated area, using
the new plans prepared by the PI in 2002-7.
Satellite and aerial images of the surrounding
landscape together with the limited-quality Greek Army map data will be used to produce a Digital Elevation
Model of the hinterland (1-2 hour walking range) on which soils, current land
cover, and historic land use distributions will be projected. These methods
will assist the testing of interpretative hypotheses and questions about access
to, views of and experiences of living at the site, as well as outreach and
educational research.
Interdisciplinary research
Four ‘strand teams’ led by postdoctoral
researchers under the ultimate supervision of the PI will conduct research on
the following topics:
1. Production scale, production
location and goods exchange systems in the Karfi region
Staff Strack (leader; also runs finds
processing base), Boileau, Lis, Morris, Kyrillidou, Molloy
Aims/methods:
1. Develop a detailed ceramic typology for the
site’s main occupation period and any other periods of use.
2. Build understanding of the functional roles
of settlement ceramics with reference to shape and technology
3. Assess differentiation in building and area
function within site using range and functions of pottery types, organic
residue results and archaebotanical/faunal analyses.
4. Identify possible ceramic production areas
from the excavated record: assess the economic and social context of pottery
production by investigating their location, scale and mode of use
5. Search out local clay sources and main
sources of temper, and match them to Karfi fabrics (using experimental firing
as needed) to establish the regional range of the Karfi’s ceramic production
sector.
6. Investigate role of Karfi as a ceramic producer
and consumer site in its regional environment by characterising the main fabric
types macroscopically and petrographically, and comparing them to
surface/excavated samples from EIA and late LBA sites in the surrounding area.
7. Study small metal metal finds and their
typologies with regard to other assemblages of this period to identify likely
contexts of production and modes/routes of exchange in these goods/materials:
draw comparisons with contexts of ceramic production and exchange.
2. Modern attitudes to archaeological
heritage and its social, economic and educational role in the Lasithi region
Staff: Simandiraki (leader); two MA/PhD
students
Aims and methods
1. Establish a detailed picture of attitudes
to local and national archaeological heritage among local populations, and the
relationship of these attitudes to social class, age, gender, and life
experience, through extensive interviews.
2. Drawing on 1, evaluate ways in which
archaeological heritage management in the region informs local people and
benefits them in economic, social and political terms, through statistical
research, plus interviews with owners and employees of a variety of
local enterprises
3. Assess the impact of excavation, active
conservation and on-site interpretation on perceptions of, and values ascribed
to, archaeological heritage, through on-site studies of visitor reactions;
experimental guiding and outreach activities
4. Examine potential financial, political and
social obstacles to using archaeological heritage as a tourism-enhancing,
educational and recreational tool in this region, and potential conflicts
between these uses, in the region, drawing on all the above data sources.
5. Develop integrated conservation and
presentation strategies for the site and other prehistoric sites in the area,
drawing on above data sources and work done by Wallace in 2002-5.
6. Generalise, using this case study, about
how archaeological tourism in the Mediterranean can contribute to the
sustainability of the rural economy in areas of unspoiled natural beauty.
7. Examine how the way children learn about
the past in practice and theory affects their attitudes to identity, history
and culture, how this can feed back into developing educational policy and
sustainable lifeways in rural areas, drawing on the above data sources and on
Simandiraki’s previous research.
3. Subsistence strategies around the
site in the period of its establishment, and the wider context of economic
change at the collapse period
Staff: Mylona (leader), Morris, Alvarez,
Kotzamani, Livardia, Matthews/Kyrillidou, Simandiraki, Koh, students
Aims/methods:
1. Evaluate subsistence potential and carrying
capacity of hinterland (in a 1-2 hour walking range) based on mapping and
description of soil types, drawing on previous analyses by Morris; results of
vegetation exclosure experiments (Livarda/Kotzamani), and mapping of
traditional land use remains (Parton).
2. Document through ethnography, written
source analysis and field survey the way the hinterland was used historically
(Simandiraki and Parton)
3. Identify likely subsistence strategies in
use at the new settlement using
faunall/botanical analysis (Mylona, Kotzamani,
Livarda); organic residue analysis of selected ceramics (Koh), and soil
micromorphology (Matthews/Kyrillidou)
4. Assess likely landscape impacts of
establishment of a large settlement in this upland environment, through
analysis of palaeofaunal, botanical and soils/geomorphological data from
excavation (Mylona, Livarda, Kotzamani, Morris)
4. Assess the likely difficulties and problems
of adjusting subsistence strategies to fit life at the new settlement, drawing
on above data
4. The value and implementation of
intra-site GIS recording and reconstruction on large, high-relief sites
incorporating disparate excavation areas
Staff: Soetens (leader), Simandiraki,
Bruseker, Chudzik, Fernandes
Aims/methods:
1. Establish the most efficient and secure
method of linking excavation-derived and landscape-derived data in a single GIS
system using the ArcGIS and ArcInfo
software packages.
2. Explore the research value of applying
virtual reality techniques on and around archaeological sites, including in the
reconstruction of environmental change over time and the testing excavation
hypotheses – e.g. about architectural developments over time.
3. Explore the value of VR-based
reconstructions in informing and developing public awareness and understanding
of a high-research-value, low-public-profile and physically inaccessible site
through structured public and educational presentations (with Simandiraki)
4. Investigate practicability of launching a
version of such an interactive archive on the web, and the reactions to such a
product among a variety of audiences through on-line survey.
Dissemination, archiving and knowledge
transfer formats
Project website showing full history of the
project and its findings in outline form with gateway to full digital full
archive form, fully accessible and searchable by users in research institutions
and the general public. Launch of
archive link 1 June 2009. To offer regularly updated information on outreach
and educational work connected to the project as well as raw data (completed
with results to date within the award term)
Generated data to be compiled in digital
archive form and lodged with UK Archaeology Data Service (archive to be
completed, with results to date, within the award term)
Paper archive to be lodged with local
archaeological authority (archive to be completed, with results to date, within
the award term)
Lectures and participatory workshops relating
to the various themes of the project, held within the host research
organisation, at other research organisations (lectures), and among local
groups in the project area (educationalists, archaeological curators,
researchers, general public)
These will occur within the award term and
beyond it. Note the history of the project has included extensive research
activity with the general public at and around the site, and in 2004 an
outreach event based on an exhibition showing the history of the site and its
excavator was organised by the PI.
Lectures to the international research
community: conferences and invited talks to research organisations outside the UK. Likely to occur mostly
outside the award term
Exhibitions, open days and site visits in
summer 2008 and 2009 on the results of the project to the local community
Detailed preliminary report summarising the
results of the excavation season ain all areas of site to be prepared in winter
2008-9 submitted to the Annual of the British School at Athens in May-June 2009
Monograph of interpretative format structured
around the research questions outlined here, presenting the data in synthetic
form, 2010-11
Full publication of primary data from
individual excavated zones by respective team leaders co-ordinated by PI,
2009-10
Interpretative articles in peer-reviewed
journals by individual research members of the project staff. 2010-12.
Senior staff members, 2008 onward
Dr Saro Wallace, University of Reading, UK -
project director
Dr Stephen Soetens, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam, Netherlands - director GIS
program
Dr Anna Simandiraki, University of Bath –
director. outreach and heritage anthropology programme
Dr Krzysztof Nowicki, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Poland - site consultant, sector supervisor
Dr Sara Strack, postdoctoral research fellow,
Isthmia Research Project – pottery director
Dr Anastasia Christophilopoulou, University of
London, UK – assistant site director,
sector supervisor
Dr Dimitra Mylona, Institute of Mediterranean
Studies, Greece – economic research director, faunal analyst
Mrs Vera Klontza, freelance archaeologist –
sector supervisor
Ms Stella Kyrillidou, University of Reading,
UK – soil micromorphologist
Ms Georgia Kotzamani and Dr Alexandra Livarda,
freelance archaeobotanists - project
archaeobotanists
Dr Marie-Claude Boileau, Fitch Laboratory,
British School at Athens, Greece - petrographer
Dr Apostolos Sarris, Institute of
Mediterranean Studies, Greece – GIS/satellite imagery consultant
Dr Keiichi Nakata, University of Reading, UK –
director, prototype VR modelling system
Dr Michael Morris, professional soil
consultant – soil science director
Dr Andrew Koh, University of Pennsylvania, USA
– organic reside director
Mr Giorgios Damaskinakis, professional
surveyor – site surveyor
Dr Barry Molloy, Priniatikos Pyrgos Excavation
Project – metals analyst
Dr Stefania Chlouveraki, INSTAP Study Center
for East Crete, Greece – conservation director
Sponsors – finance provided and requested
since 2002
UK Arts and Humanities Research Council
British Academy
Institute for Aegean Prehistory
Leverhulme Trust
British School at Athens
National Geographic Foundation
Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Team
University of Reading School of Human and
Environmental Sciences Research Fund, Prehistoric Research Group
Project friends (in-kind contributions)
Metaxas family, Maris Hotels, Iraklion
Vasilis and Christina Kargiotakis, Kronios
Taverna, Tzermiado
INSTAP Study Center for East Crete
Demos of Lasithi
Help needed
Private donors interested in promoting
cutting-edge research in the field of Greek prehistory through named donations
Student volunteers with experience are always
of interest to the project – application by CV: accommodation and some
subsistence funded.
Good-quality equipment for onsite recording –
surveying instruments, cameras or laptop computer
DATE DE PUBLICATION EN LIGNE : 8 JUIN 2008