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ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SITES
IN PALEKASTRO
AREA
Elia by
Roussolakkos, Chiona
 The
Bronze Age town, whose original name is not known, is situated at Rousolakkos,
two kilometres from the village of Palekastro on a spectacular coastline. The
site was originally excavated in 1902 by R. Bosanquet from the British School of
Archaeology in Athens, and his work was continued by J. Dawkins. Earliest
habitation in the area dates from Early Minoan II A. By the Protopalatial
period, a small town had grown up on the site. The town was destroyed in the
17th century BCE and rebuilt on an even larger scale. It is estimated that the
town may have covered 50,000 square metres. Like other Minoan towns, it was not
fortified.
Along with many other cities in Crete,
Palekastro was burnt at the end of the Late Minoan IB period, but grew again in
the Postpalatial period, (Late Minoan IIB) until it became the largest town in
eastern Crete. The location of the town was important as it was on the east
coast, with a large plain behind it and a harbour that was sheltered by an
outcrop of rock called Kastri hill.
Much of the earliest
excavations at
Palekastro have since been covered over again with earth and the site suffered
damage during the war and also from a bulldozer. The parts which can be seen
include houses and streets, with the long main street running east - west, though
no palace/temple has yet been found.
Castleden argues that the absence of a
palace/temple meant that the craft workers may have been able to carry out their
trade geographically separated from the palace/temple, although the possibility
cannot be excluded that their work was directed by the priests at
Zakros,
further down the east coast.
To the south of the site a Peak Sanctuary
was excavated by the British on the summit of
Petsophas, 225 metres high. It
proved to be one of the richest and most important Middle Minoan Peak
Sanctuaries and was certainly still in use in Late Minoan I, when a small cult
building was erected.
A very large number of small clay figurines of men and women, representing the
people making the dedicatory offerings were found, which provided a lot of
information about the dress and hairstyles of the period. Votive models of human
limbs and stone offering tables with Linear A inscriptions were also found.
The finds from Palekastro are exhibited in the
Museum of Sitia.
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