Lasithi plateau
|
Lasithi plateau municipality Δήμος Ορορπεδίου Λασιθίου |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
|
||
| Region : | Crete | ||
| Regional District : | Lasithi | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 35 ° 11 ′ N , 25 ° 29 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 129.976 km² | ||
| Residents : | 2,387 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 18.4 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Community logo: |
 |
||
| Seat: | Tzermiado | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | 7203 | ||
| Districts : | no | ||
| Local self-government : | 11 local communities | ||
| Website: | lasithi.gov.gr | ||
| Location in the Crete region | |||
 |
|||
The Lasithi plateau ( Greek Οροπέδιο Λασιθίου Oropedio Lasithiou ( n. Sg. )) Is a karst plain ( polje ) at an average height of 830 meters on the Greek Mediterranean island of Crete . At the same time, it forms a municipality (Δήμος, Dimos ) in the Lasithi regional district, the former Lasithi prefecture . According to the 2001 census, a total of 3067 residents lived permanently in the municipality at that time.
geography
The limestone hill Kephala divides the plain into two parts, Kampos in the west and the dry and stony Xero-Kampos in the east. The Megalos Potamos flows through the Chavgas Gorge in the southeast to Lasithi, to disappear in the west in the Chonos. It reappears at Lyttos. In the Venetian and Ottoman times, the center of the plain was regularly flooded in spring. A considerable amount of soil can be observed on the edge of the plain. The American archaeologist Livingston Vance Watrous found Minoan sherds (LMI) at a depth of 1.5 m in Kaminaki (Agia Paraskevi) , and ceramics (MMIII-LMI) in Platellais were below 0.6 m of colluvium . The erosion is likely to have been caused primarily by the clearing in the early modern period and the subsequent overgrazing .
Community structure
The community of Lasithi plateau is formed from the following local communities and settlements. The population figures come from the results of the 2011 census.
- Local community Avrakondes - Τοπική Κοινότητα Αβρακόντε - 194
- Avrakondes - Αβρακόντες - 170
- Koudoumalia - Κουδουμαλιά - 24
- Local community Agios Georgios - Τοπική Κοινότητα Αγίου Γεωργίου Λασιθίου - 490
- Agios Georgios - Άγιος Γεώργιος - 490
- Local community Agios Konstandinos - Τοπική Κοινότητα Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου - 115
- Agios Konstandinos - Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος - 104
- Krystallenias Monastery - Μονή Κρυσταλλένιας - 11
- Local community Kaminaki - Τοπική Κοινότητα Καμινακίου - 273
- Kaminaki - Καμινάκι - 273
- Local community Kato Metochi - Τοπική Κοινότητα Κάτω Μετοχίου - 103
- Agios Karalambos - Άγιος Χαράλαμπος - 36
- Kato Metochi - Κάτω Μετόχιον - 66
- Vidianis Monastery - Μονή Βιδιανής - 1
- Local community Mesa Lasithi - Τοπική Κοινότητα Μέσα Λασιθίου - 123
- Mesa Lasithaki - Μέσα Λασιθάκιον - 18th
- Mesa Lasithi - Μέσα Λασίθιον - 98
- Nikiforidon - Νικηφόρηδων - 6
- Smaliano - Σμαλιανό - 1
- Local community Plati - Τοπική Κοινότητα Πλάτης - 131
- Plati - Πλάτη - 131
- Local community Tzermiado - Τοπική Κοινότητα Τζερμιάδου 637
- Tzermiado - Τζερμιάδο - 637
- Local community Lagou - Τοπική Κοινότητα Λαγού - 65
- Lagou - Λαγού - 46
- Pinakiano - Πινακιανόν - 19th
- Local community Marmaketo - Τοπική Κοινότητα Μαρμακέτου - 43
- Marmaketo - Μαρμακέτον - 25
- Farsaro - Φαρσάρον, το - 18
- Local community Psychro - Τοπική Κοινότητα Ψυχρού - 213
- Magoulas - Μαγουλάς - 80
- Psychro - Ψυχρόν - 133
The north-west of the plain ( Limne ) was sparsely populated from prehistory to the Venetian period because it was swampy, especially in spring. Access is via the 900 m high Ambélos pass in the north and through the Potamos gorge and the 1000 m high Seliá pass in the east.
In 1582 there were 1,054 people in 40 small villages on the Lasithi plateau. In total, the names of 49 Venetian settlements have come down to us, not all of which can be localized. Robert Pashley (1805-1859), an English travel writer, reported in 1837 17 villages with 490 families and about 2500 inhabitants, Spratt in 1865 named 16 villages and about 3000 inhabitants. In 1971 the plain had 5229 inhabitants. Since the plain is regularly flooded by rain and meltwater in spring, the villages are located exclusively on the slightly higher edge of the plateau.
agriculture
The fertile arable land of the plateau is flooded in spring by the melting snow from the surrounding mountain peaks. The water collects in limestone caverns . The only outflow is the Chonos cavern in the west of the plain. If it was blocked, the plain could often stand under water for weeks in the spring, which ruined the grain harvest. Because the plain is so high, neither olive trees nor the carob tree thrive here . Many residents own olive trees in lower elevations, where the herds are also brought in winter, as snow falls in the mountains. Windmills for irrigation were introduced in the 1920s, before hand-operated draw wells ( gerani ) were in use. Potatoes were only grown after the introduction of the windmills, before they were limited to more drought-resistant cultivars such as cereals (especially wheat) and legumes. The level was connected to the electricity network in 1964/65, before oil lamps were used for lighting.
The characteristic wind turbines with white sails, which in early summer gave the plain the appearance of a large meadow with daisies, have been largely replaced by water pumps with diesel engines due to the sinking groundwater level . Many of the white sails were preserved for tourism, but no longer power pumps.
history
The plain was settled in the late Neolithic . There are 13 sites with the typical black-polished ware and stone axes known, which were mostly relatively high on the valley slopes, which were still densely forested at that time. The higher mountains were covered with macchia and probably served as pasture. Domestic goats from this period are documented from the Trapeza cave. Obsidian blades show trade connections to other Aegean islands, sea clams contact with the coast. The bones of domestic cattle, sheep and goats, pigs and dogs come from Psychro . End Neolithic burials are known from Kastellos and a small cave in Skaphidia. The ceramic inventory is dominated by large jugs, which Watrous wants to associate with dairy farming and cheese-making.
There was a Minoan peak sanctuary in Karphi . There is evidence of olive pits from the late Minoan period, which must have come from lower-lying areas (below 600 m). In Hellenistic times, Lasithi was administered from Lyttos , which had a very aggressive policy towards its neighbors. In Roman times the most important settlement was at Kardamoutsa.
The Venetians forbade settlement on the plain as early as 1283. Another decree, which threatened high fines, dates from 1341. In the course of the uprising of the Venetian settlers (1363-1366) in 1364 even the chopping of a foot was threatened. All the houses on the plain were pulled down on Venetian orders and the fields were devastated.
Agricultural use was only permitted again in 1463, as the Venetian lords needed grain to supply their troops in the Turkish war. The plain was densely forested at that time and was only cleared in 1514. The land was divided into 342 parcels of 8½ fields which were leased. But it doesn't seem to have found many interested parties. In 1548 settlers from Monemvasia and Nauplia were settled in the Lasithi plain, who received the land on a long lease. They were exempt from taxes and forced labor to build the fortification of Candia and the conscription to the Venetian fleet, but had to deliver half of their harvest. Only wheat was allowed to be grown on the plain itself, wine was cultivated on the mountain slopes, which were still largely covered by oak forests. The residents were forbidden to build permanent houses. The regulations were not complied with. In 1572 the Provveditore General Marin had to find out that the residents were also growing wine and fruit trees and leasing their fields without notifying the authorities. They felled oak trees without paying taxes; According to contemporary illustrations, the forest population was soon very reduced. In 1574 it was found that of the original 400 settler families, more than half had left the valley due to bad harvests, and the rest were too poor to pay the mandatory taxes or to hide the harvest from the Venetian officials. The wheat was infected with a disease ( sirica ), i.e. rust .
In 1595 a tax inspector was appointed who lived in Moros in the valley himself and was supposed to supervise the harvest in order to prevent such embezzlement. In 1630, the engineer Francesco Basilicata was sent to Lasithi to ensure better drainage, as in spring the water often stood for weeks in the fields when the drain of the Megalos Potamos near Chonos was blocked. He created a rectangular system of canals at the edge of the fields, which should provide better drainage. They are still clearly visible today. The individual plots (boudée) were marked with columns.
Archaeological digs
After the discovery of the sanctuary in the Psychro Cave, Arthur Evans visited the Lasithi plateau in 1894 and discovered a Tholos tomb in Papoura. On the Karphí he excavated several graves, in the cave of Trapeza near Kastellos a Middle Minoan sanctuary, which among other things contained a golden miniature double ax . Richard M. Dawkins excavated Kato Kephali near Plati in 1914, a settlement from the Late Minoan (LMIII) and Archaic periods. 1936–1939 John Pendlebury carried out excavations at Tzermiadon and systematically examined the Trapeza Cave. In Karphi he uncovered a late Minoan (LM IIIC) settlement, in Agios Georgios Papoura he was able to prove a settlement from the Geometric period. He also proved the Neolithic settlement of the plain. His research was ended with the outbreak of World War II . Livingston Vance Watrous carried out a survey of the plateau in 1973 with the help of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens . Finds from Lasithi are in the museums of Heraklion , Knossos and Agios Nikolaos .
Attractions
Of the 21 villages on the edge of the plain, Psychro in particular is visited by many tourists, as the entrance to the Psychro cave is nearby . Numerous coaches bring tourists from the hotels on the north coast.
literature
- L. Vance Watrous, H. Blitzer: Lasithi: A History of Settlement on a Highland Plain in Crete. Hesperia Supplements 18, 1982, ( American School of Classical Studies at Athens , Princeton, New Jersey).
- Charlotte R. Long: The Lasithi Dagger . American Journal of Archeology 82: 1, 1978, pp. 35-46.
- DG Hogarth: The Dictaean Cave. The Annual of the British School at Athens 6, 1899-1900, pp. 94-116 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
- ↑ Information from the Greek statistical office (p. 222/223)
- ↑ a b L. Vance Watrous, p. 2
- ^ H. Blitzer, The Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. In: Livingston Vance Watrous, Lasithi: A History of Settlement on a Highland Plain in Crete. Hesperia Supplements 18, 1982, 30 (American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton, New Jersey)
- ^ L. Vance Watrous, p. 9
- ↑ L. Vance Watrous, p. 10
- ^ L. Vance Watrous, p. 13
- ↑ L. Vance Watrous, p. 19
- ^ L. Vance Watrous, p. 23
- ↑ L. Vance Watrous, p. 25
- ^ John Pendlebury, Lasithi in Ancient Times. BSA 37, 1936/37, 194-200
