Galatas Palace

Archaeology

The site has been covered by two archaeological surveys. The first in the 1980s led by Nikos Panagiotakis, covered a very wide area (about 800 square kilometers) using an interview based system common at that time. The second between 2005 and 2007, led by L. Vance Watrous, was more narrowly focused (79 square kilometers) and used a field walking approach.

Galatas was discovered in 1992 when illegal excavations revealed the existence of several buildings associated with the Minoans. The site, located at Galatas Kephala, some 30 km south of Heraklion, and near the modern village of Galatas, was excavated under the guidance of archaeologist Dr. George Rethemiotakis. By 1997, he announced that a new Minoan palace had been discovered.

Excavation of the 4000 square meter palace has unearthed a large, paved central courtyard oriented north and south, that measured 16 meters by 32 meters. This is a typical feature of other Crete palatial sites (i. e., Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros). They found remnants of a four-wing building that once surrounded the central court, also reminiscent of other Minoan palatial sites. Another unique feature of this Minoan center was a huge hearth measuring 3 meters by 1.5 meters, the first discovered on Crete. Two other hearths intended for feasting were also discovered, along with numerous Minoan ceramic finds, indicating large feasting events.

Work has also occurred on the settlement area associated with the palace. In 2007 a single-room shrine with goddess figure was found in Building 6, a large mansion southwest of the palace. The building had two occupation layers dated MM IIIA and LM 1A-B and included a Lustral basin. Remains of the earlier Protopalatial settlement, destroyed in the area of the Neopalatial palace, cover a sizable area outside of that palace.

History

The site was occupied beginning in the Early Minoan I (EM I) (c. 3100–2650 BC) period based on pottery traces. In the Protopalatial MM IB (c. 1925–1875 BC) period a settlement arose in the northern area. At the beginning of the Neopalatial Early MM IIIA period (c. 1750 BC) a palace was constructed after leveling the MM IB buildings in that area. The Protopalatial remains were used as fill. By the end of the Late Minoan IB the palace had been abandoned and then destroyed by conflagration though occupation continued in the associated settlement. This occupation continued until the LM III A2-B period.

References

References

1. Rethemiotakis, Giorgos, and Kostis Christakis, "The Middle Minoan III Period at Galatas: Pottery and Historical Implications", British School at Athens Studies, vol. 21, pp. 93–105, 2013
2. Marinatos, N., "Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1993 {{ISBN. 0-87249-744-5
3. Panagiotakis, N., "L’évolution archéologique de la Pédiada (Crète centrale): Premier bilan d’une prospection. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 127(2), pp. 327–430, 2003
4. Watrous, L. V., Buell, D. M., Kokinou, E., Soupios, P., Sarris, A., Beckmann, S., Rethemiotakis, G., Turner, L. A., Gallimore, S., & Hammond, M. D., "The Galatas survey: The socioeconomic and political development of a contested territory in central crete during the Neolithic to Ottoman periods", INSTAP Academic Press, 2017
5. Rethemiotakis, Giorgos, "Evidence on social and economic changes at Galatas and Pediada in the New-Palace period", Monuments, pp. 55-69, 2002.
6. Rethemiotakis, Giorgos, "The hearths of the Minoan palace at Galatas", Meletemata, pp. 720-727, 1996
7. Rethemiotakis, Giorgos, "Social rank and political power. The evidence from the Minoan Palace at Galatas", in Elit en in Der Bronzezeit. Monographien des Rômisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 43. Mainz, pp. 9-26, 1999
8. Shaw, Joseph W., "Setting in the palaces of Minoan Crete: a review of how and when", in Cretan Offerings: Studies in honour of Peter Warren, vol. 18, British School at Athens Studies, pp. 303-314, 2010 {{ISBN. 978-0904887624
9. [https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/59354/Carignano_cornellgrad_0058F_10805.pdf?sequence=1]Carignano, Micaela, "Reconstructing Minoan Dining Practice and Sociopolitical Organization in Neopalatial Households and Palaces" Cornell University, Dissertation, 2018
10. Rethemiotakis, Georgios, "A Shrine-Model from Galatas", in Cretan Offerings. Studies in Honour of Peter Warren, edited by Olga Krzyszkowska, BSA Studies 18, London: The British School at Athens, pp. 293–302, 2010
11. Christakis, Kostis S., and Giorgos Rethemiotakis, "Identifying Household Activities: The Case of House 2 at Galatas Pediada", Hesperia Supplements, vol. 44, pp. 177–84, 2011
12. Rethemiotakis, G. & Christakis, K. S., "Landscapes of power in Protopalatial Crete: new evidence from Galatas, Pediada", Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 53, pp. 195–218, 2011