Kamares cave

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The Kamares Cave is located at an altitude of 1524 meters on the southern slope of the Psiloritis Mountains on the island of Crete . The cave was named after the place Kamares below the cave . It is also called Mavrospileon ( Greek Μαυροσπήλαιον = black cave ) among the locals . The cave became known because of the Minoan pottery , which was first found here in Crete and is called Kamares-Ware after this place of discovery .

description

The Kamares cave, which lies below the double mountain Marvi (1981 meters), is difficult to access and can only be reached on foot. From Kamares it takes about three hours to climb. It is believed that a fertility goddess was worshiped in the cave , as grain and earth fruits were found here that are believed to be offerings to the goddess. The cave has an opening 42 meters wide and 20 meters high, which is visible from the Messara plain and the ancient Phaistos . For this reason, it is believed that she was closely related to Phaistos. In front of the entrance there is a 50 meters wide and 30 meters deep square, on which Antonio Taramelli suspected a sacrificial altar.

The front part of the cave is about 100 meters long and drops steeply by 40 meters and is bright because of the large opening. At the lower end there is a passage only one meter wide that leads to a 10 meter high dark gallery. At the end you reach a hall with a small pond.

The pottery found shows that the cave was built during a period of around 3000 BC. Until 1100 BC Was visited. Most of the pottery, however, comes from the Early and Middle Minoan Period (3000–1700 BC) and shows that the cult flourished at this time and later lost its importance.

Archaeological exploration

In 1890 the doctor and archaeologist Iosif Chatzidakis received high-quality pottery from a farmer from Kamares pottery, which had not previously been documented in Crete and which he had collected in the Kamares cave. Antonio Taramelli was the first scientist to visit the cave in 1894 and to conduct his first research. In 1913 Richard MacGillivray Dawkins and Max LW Laistner carried out systematic excavations. In 2006, the archaeologist Aleydis Van De Moortel analyzed the entirety of the pottery found in the cave and was able to show that the cave was already heavily frequented in the pre-palace period (early Minoan period), before it was assumed that the majority of the pottery was from the Middle Minoan Time (MM IB to MM II A) came because most of the unpainted ceramics were left behind on site.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Bötig, Carmen Galenschovski: Baedeker Allianz Travel Guide Crete , Ostfildern June 2011, 10th edition, ISBN 978-3-8297-1297-2 , p. 195
  2. ^ Antonio Taramelli, Cretan Expedition. A visit to the grotto of Camares on Mount Ida. In: American Journal of Archeology , Second Series, Volume 5, 1901, p. 437 ( online ).
  3. ^ RM Dawkins, MLW Laistner, The Excavation of the Kamares Cave in Crete. In: Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 19, 1913, pp. 1-34.
  4. ↑ A. Van de Moortel, A Re-examination of the Pottery from the Kamares Cave. In: MH Wiener, JL Warner, J. Polonsky, E. E Hayes (Eds.): Pottery and Society: The Impact of Recent Studies in Minoan Pottery , Boston 2006.

Coordinates: 35 ° 10 ′ 39.2 ″  N , 24 ° 49 ′ 39.6 ″  E