PRAISOS V: A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE 2007 EXCAVATION SEASON

Abstract

This is a report on the excavations undertaken in 2007 at the site of Praisos in eastern Crete. Three trenches were opened just next to the so-calledAndreionor Almond Tree House on the NW slopes of the First Acropolis, excavated by R.C. Bosanquet in 1901. The upper layers of two of these trenches (A-200 and A-300) consisted of re-deposited material of Classical and Hellenistic date, which we infer came from Bosanquet's dump. Material from these upper layers comprised tile, pottery (including numerous examples of Cretan necked cups), loomweights and terracotta plaques with a distinct masculine iconography. Excavation also reached lower Late-Classical–Hellenistic floor levels, on which a number of pithoi survivedin situ. Some of these pithoi are considerably older than the floor level, aterminus post quemfor which is provided by a bronze coin. The abandonment of these houses must be dated to the final phases of Praisos' occupation, before 146bc. There is however nothing to suggest that the city itself was subject to a fire destruction. Rather, the city seems to have undergone a forced abandonment followed by deliberate demolition.