Palace of Galatas

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Galatas archaeological site

The Palace of Galatas ( Greek Ανάκτορο Γαλατά Anaktoro Galata ) is an archaeological excavation site in the center of the Greek island of Crete . It is located northwest of the city of Arkalochori (Αρκαλοχώρι) in the municipality of Minoa Pediada (Μινώα Πεδιάδα) of the Heraklion Regional District . The remains of the palace complex with adjoining settlement from the time of the Minoan civilization were discovered in the early 1990s and excavated from 1992 to 2005 . Since then, the investigations have been limited to buildings outside the palace. The excavation site is surrounded by a fence and is not open to the public.

Location and history

The excavation site is located at the northern end of the rocky hill Galatiani Kefala ( Γαλατιανή Κεφάλα ) about 700 meters south of the town of Galatas ( Γαλατάς ) west of the road to Archontiko ( Αρχοντικό ). The Minoan palace complex is at a height of just over 400  meters above sea level . The next larger town is Arkalochori, three kilometers south-east. In Minoan times there was a cult cave on the hill Agios Ilias ( Άγιος Ηλίας ), in which numerous votive offerings were found, including the inscribed bronze double ax of Arkalochori . Other Minoan palaces in central Crete were located under Archanes , 10 kilometers northwest , 15.5 kilometers northwest in Knossos and 41.5 kilometers southwest in Phaistos .

East wing of the palace

The Palace of Galatas was built immediately north of the highest point of the Galatiani Kefala at 435 meters . The buildings and the 16 × 32 meter paved central courtyard, the fourth largest after Knossos, Mallia and Phaistos, are built approximately in a north-south direction, with the Minoan settlement extending down the hill to the southeast. The hill slopes steeply to the west. There is a stream that merges in the north into the river Astrakianos potamos ( Αστρακιανός ποταμός ), which in turn flows over the Karteros potamos ( Καρτερός ποταμός ) 18 kilometers north at Amnissos into the Aegean Sea. The fenced-in area of ​​the excavation site encloses an area of ​​around 80 × 90 meters. The east wing is the best preserved of the original 4-wing building that surrounded the central courtyard. In the north, the central courtyard was delimited by a facade made of ashlar masonry . About 50 of the stone blocks that have been preserved have mason marks. A special feature is a 3 × 1.5 meter central fireplace in a room with four columns in the east wing. Below the layer of ash were fragments of a mural showing part of a landscape.

Protected area in the north wing

Reports of robbery excavations led to the discovery of the site in the winter of 1991/1992 and the first exploratory excavations on the Galatiana Kefala . Two years after the start of the systematic excavations at Galatas from 1995 under the direction of Giorgos Rethemiotakis , he announced the discovery of a new Minoan palace complex in 1997. However, the first human activities on the Galatiana Kefala have been recorded since the early Minoan period FM I. The earliest architectural elements come from the Middle Minoan period MM I B, when a small settlement occupied the northern area of ​​the hill. On the ruins of this protopalatial settlement, MM III B was built in the 17th century BC during the Medieval Minosan period. A monumental palace area as the focal point of an urban center extending over at least 70,000 m². At the beginning of the late Minoan phase SM I A, the building lost its palatial character and was destroyed by an earthquake at the end of this period. As the urban center of the area, the settlement continued until it was destroyed by fire at the end of the late Minoan period SM I B. It was not until the late Minoan period SM III A2 to SM III B that construction work took place again in parts of the destroyed neopalatial buildings.

The special importance of the Palace of Galatas is that it was built in only one period, the New Palace period , while the other Minoan palaces of Crete had precursors in the Old Palace period . In addition, it lost its function as the seat of the political center for control of the region early on in the late Minoan period. Whole areas of the palace were abandoned or converted for other purposes. In contrast, the residential areas remained in use. Rethemiotakis believes the entire area around the Palace of Galatas was hit by a sudden crisis, relying on some evidence from the region, such as finds from the Arkalochori cave. The destruction of the urban settlement by a fire at the end of SM I B correlates with the destruction on the entire island between 1500 and 1430 BC. BC and indicates the Mycenaean conquest of Crete.

literature

  • Giorgos Rethemiotakis, Kostis S. Christakis: Το ανάκτορο και η πόλη στον Γαλατά Πεδιάδος: Άξονες και τακτικές επικοινωνίας . In: Pepragmena I 'Diethnous Kritologikou Synedriou: (Chania, 1-8 Oktovriou 2006) . Filologikos Syllogos "O Chrysostomos", Chania 2011, ISBN 978-960-9558-04-4 , p. 233-249 ( online ).
  • Giorgos Rethemiotakis, Kostis Christakis: The Middle Minoan III period at Galatas: pottery and historical implications . In: British School at Athens Studies . tape 21 . British School at Athens, 2013, ISSN  2159-4996 , p. 93-105 , JSTOR : 23536743 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Giorgos Rethemiotakis, Kostis S. Christakis: Το ανάκτορο και η πόλη στον Γαλατά Πεδιάδος: Άξονες και τακτικές επικοινωνίας . In: Pepragmena I 'Diethnous Kritologikou Synedriou: (Chania, 1-8 Oktovriou 2006) . Filologikos Syllogos "O Chrysostomos", Chania 2011, ISBN 978-960-9558-04-4 , p. 237 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Monika Zacher: Galatas. minoer.net;
  3. ↑ a b c Ian Swindale: Galatas. Minoan Crete, May 20, 2016 (English).;
  4. ↑ Spencer PM Harrington, Yannis Stavrakakis: Cretan Minoan Finds. In: Archeology online . Archaeological Institute of America, April 15, 1998 .;
  5. ^ Kostis S. Christakis, Giorgos Rethemiotakis: Identifying Household Activities: The Case of House 2 at Galatas Pediada . In: Kevin T. Glowacki, Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan (Ed.): STEGA: The Archeology of Houses and Households in Ancient Crete (=  Hesperia Supplement . Volume 44 ). American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Princeton, New Jersey 2011, ISBN 978-1-62139-003-9 , pp. 177–178 (English, digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Palace of Galatas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 35 ° 10 ′ 27.9 ″  N , 25 ° 14 ′ 45 ″  E