Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Archaeological sites for wider area of: "MALIA Small town HERAKLIO" .
MALIA (Small town) HERAKLIO
Tel: +30 28970 31597
Human presence at Malia
during the Neolithic period (6000-3000 BC) is attested only by potsherds, but
habitation was continuous from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC until the
end of Prehistory. Houses of a Prepalatial settlement (2500-2000 BC) have been
found under the palace, while graves of the same period are located near the sea.
The first palace was built in around 2000-1900 BC. The already existing significant
settlement of which are preserved parts around the palace, was then converted
into a palatial centre-city. The palace was destroyed in around 1700 BC and
rebuilt in 1650 BC at the same site, following the plan of the older palace,
while a few changes took place 50 years later. The destruction of the new palace
came in c. 1450 BC, along with the destruction of the other Minoan palatial
centres. The site was reoccupied for a short period in the 14th-13th century BC
Remains of a Roman settlement cover an extensive area at the site called "Marmara",
where a basilica of the 6th century is also preserved.
The English admiral Th. Spratt, who travelled in Crete in the middle
of the 19th century, reports the finding of gold sheets at the site "Helleniko
Livadi". In 1915, Joseph Chatzidakis started a trial excavation on the hill called
"Azymo", and brought to light the southern half of the west wing of the palace,
as well as the tombs by the sea, but he stopped the investigation. Finally, the
French School of Archaeology at Athens resumed the excavations, which are continued
until today with intervals, at the palace, the sectors of the town and the cemeteries
on the coast. The results have been published in the series of "Etudes Cretoises"
since 1928, and in the works of H. Van Effenterre and O. Pelon. The finds are
exhibited in the Museum
of Herakleion, and some in the Museum
of Aghios Nikolaos.
The most important buildings of the site are:
The Palace. The largest part of the ruins visible
today belongs to the New Palace period; of the first palace only a section is
preserved, to the NW of the building, while a small oblique structure in the north
court dates to the Post-palatial period. Access to the palace today is through
the west paved court, which is crossed by slightly raised paths, the so-called
"processional ways". Every side of the complex had an entrance, but the main ones
were those in the north and south wings.
The palace is arranged around the central court, which had porticos on
the north and east sides, and an altar at the centre.
The largest and most important part of the palace is the two-storeyed
west wing with cult and official appartments, and extensive magazines. Impressive
is the Loggia, a raised hall opening to the court, and the rooms to the west,
all related with cult practice, the "pillar crypt" with an antechamber, also of religious character,
and between these two, the grand staircase leading to the upper floor. Another broad
flight of steps, possibly used as a theatral area, is located to the SW of
the central court, beside the famous "kernos" of Malia.
The south wing, also two-storeyed, included habitation
rooms and guests' rooms, a small shrine, and the monumental paved south entrance
to the palace that led directly to the central court.
The SW corner of the of the palatial complex is occupied by eight circular
structures used for the storage of grain (silos).
The east wing is almost completely occupied by magazines of liquids,
with low platforms on which stood pithoi (large storage vessels), and a system
of channels and receptacles to collect liquids.
Behind the north stoa of the central court is the "hypostyle hall" and its
antechamber. Above these rooms, on the upper storey, there was a hall of equal
size, interpreted as a ceremonial banquet hall. To the west of these rooms, a
stone paved corridor connects the central court with the north court, which is
surrounded by workshops and storerooms, and with the NW court, also called "court
of the dungeon". To the west of this lie the official rooms of the palace: at
the centre, the reception hall with the typical Minoan polythyra, and behind this,
the sunken lustral basin.
The palace is surrounded by the town, one of the most important Minoan
towns in Crete. To the north of the west court is the agora and the curious "hypostyle
crypt", which has been interpreted as a kind of council chamber, connected with
the prytaneia of historic times.
The most important of the excavated sectors of the town and isolated
houses are sector Z, houses E, Da, and Db; very important is sector M, dated to
the First Palace period, which covers an area of c. 3,000 sq.m. and is actually
the most important settlement of this period in Crete. The unusually extensive
buildings of this neighbourhood included religious, official, and storage rooms,
and workshops, and it seems that in general, it had functions similar to those
of the palace.
The cemetery of the First Palace period is located
to the NE of the palace, near the north coast. The most important of the graves
found is the large burial complex called Chryssolakkos, which yielded the famous
gold bee pendant.
Site: Mallia
Type: House
Summary: E of the Palace at Mallia, House Delta alpha is an especially
well preserved building that reveals the typical agglutinative building style
of Minoan architecture.
Date: 1700 B.C. - 1450 B.C.
Period: Middle Bronze Age
Plan:
Entrance from W to a flagged floor vestibule; storage rooms N and S of vestibule.
At E side of the house a double main hall is divided by 4 pier doorways. There
was a single central column and light well in the smaller part of the main hall.
In the N center of house is a bath or lustral basin and a small room with a thin
partition that contained a toilet. The S central area seems to have been used
for work and storage and a stairway at S center of building suggests an upper
story.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Site: Mallia
Type: House
Summary: House E, located ca. 100 m S of the palace at Mallia, is
a large building sometimes referred to as the Little Palace.
Date: 1700 B.C. - 1450 B.C.
Period: Middle Bronze Age
Plan:
The large complex of irregular rooms has a S and a N entrance. From the N entrance
a paved vestibule and corridor leads to a large flagged court and to a smaller
court with a L-shaped colonnade of 4 columns. W of the smaller court are storerooms
and workshops. In the SW is a small sunken court with piers. The S central part
of the house presumably contained the living quarters and a bath or lustral basin
is located just W of the S entrance. Immediately E of the bath is the "Room of
Frescoes." There is no evidence for a 2nd story stairway.
History:
The remains are difficult to interpret because elements of an earlier (MM I) house
were incorporated into the building and there was a later (LM III) reuse of the
building after its partial destruction in LM I.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Site: Mallia
Type: Sanctuary
Summary: An independent bench sanctuary complex W of the palace.
Date: 1800 B.C. - 1700 B.C.
Period: Middle Bronze Age
Plan:
The sanctuary, entered by a angular passageway, has an anteroom and a main cult
room to the E with a fixed rectangular terracotta altar in the center and a bench
in the SE corner. There is also a libation jar and pit near the entrance. At the
NW corner of the anteroom is a doorway to an irregular shaped room which may have
been for storage.
History:
The sanctuary is one of the few structures at the site that predate the MM III
(ca 1700 B.C.) palace.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Site: Mallia
Type: Palace
Summary: The Palace at Mallia, ca. 40 km E of Knossos, is considerably
smaller than at Knossos and less richly decorated than the other Minoan palaces.
Date: 1700 B.C. - 1450 B.C.
Period: Middle Bronze Age
Plan:
The Central Court, with a shallow pit (possible altar) at the exact center and
uncharacteristic porticos along its E and N sides, is enclosed in the SE sector
of the palace. E of the court are magazines and workshops. Immediately W of the
court is a group of rooms of probable religious function. Farther W are additional
magazines and service rooms. N of the Western Magazines is the North Service Court
which probably served as the food preparation area. The upper stories seemed to
contain a royal Residential Quarter at the NW and a Banquet Hall just N of the
Central Court. In general, the palace has an unusually large number of work areas
and storage rooms, including the 2 rows of circular granaries at the SW corner.
This and the scarcity of rich decoration give it an agrarian, villa-like character.
History:
With the exception of a small, LM III A-B (ca. 1350-1300 B.C.) shrine built off-axis
25 m N of the Central Court, the original Neopalatial Period ground plan of the
Palace remained virtually unaltered since ca 1450 B.C.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 5 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Region: Crete
Periods: Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age
Type: Settlement
Summary: Minoan palace with associated town and cemeteries.
Physical Description:
Located on the N coast of Crete ca. 34 km E of Knossos, in
a small fertile plain near the foothills of Mount Dicte. As at Knossos and other
Minoan palaces, the rooms, magazines, and corridors of the palace were arranged
around a rectangular central court. At Mallia, however, there were more utilitarian
work rooms, storage rooms, and grain silos and fewer luxurious private rooms which
gives the Mallia palace more of a country villa or farm estate character. Associated
with the palace are the houses and buildings of a considerable town, paved roadways,
and cemeteries, including the Khrysolakko cemetery which has yielded some of the
finest examples of Middle Minoan gold work and jewelry. Mallia is one of the smaller
(ca. 8000 sq. m) of the known palace sites and its ancient name is unknown, but
it has the best preserved ground plan of all palace sites and extensive well-preserved
remains in the associated town.
Description:
The site of Mallia was 1st settled in the Early Minoan
I period (ca. 3000 B.C.) and the 1st palace construction dates to the beginning
of Middle Minoan I (ca. 1900 B.C.). Although the original structure at Mallia
had all the essential elements of a Minoan Palace, it was less elaborate and complex
that the other known palaces and there was less extensive use of upper stories,
light wells, and staircases. As a result, when the great earthquake struck Crete
near the end of the Middle Minoan II period (at ca. 1700 B.C.), Mallia suffered
less damage than the other palaces and was rebuilt with little alteration. At
Knossos and the other palaces, however, there was extensive rebuilding and renovation.
The excavations at the palace and town of Mallia, therefore, provide much information
about earlier (Old Palatial Period, or pre-earthquake) Middle Minoan architecture.
Mallia, as almost all of the Minoan palaces and sites, suffered a violent destruction
and burning at the end of Late Minoan Ib (ca. 1400 B.C.), and was completely abandoned.
Only one small building was later built over the site and a settlement of the
Geometric period at Mallia avoided the ancient site itself. This later history
has helped to make Mallia one of the best preserved and most informative of all
Minoan sites.
Exploration:
Discovery and preliminary investigations by J. Hatzidhakis.
Excavations: 1922 - present, French School of Archaeology.
Donald R. Keller, ed.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains 30 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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