Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The harbour of Knossos was found

The Greek daily Eleutherotypia reports the discovery of the harbour of Knossos at the location of Katsambas in Heraklion.

The excavations by the Greek archaeologist Antonis Vasilakis brought to light structures of very large dimensions which have been identified as shipsheads. In particular, six parallel walls were unearthed (1m thick each), exhibiting a North-South orientation which in effect created six parallel, rectangular areas divided in two wings.

Five of those areas have a width of 6m each, a length of 21-23m (the visible part) and they are divided into two wings. The internal space of each shipshed is estimated to be 150 sq. m.

Among the various artefacts reported are a rectangular stone-built hearth (with several cooking and other vessels in situ), numerous sherds from other storage and cooking vessels, clay weights, bone and bronze pins as well as large quantities of obsidian and steatite.

Vasilakis considers exceptionally important the discovery of a large quantity of severely burnt lead objects collected from the destruction level (tools connected to the manufacture and maintenance of ships?)

The shipsheds are dated to ca. 1300 BCE, although there is evidence for use in earlier periods too. FULL STORY (in Greek)

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