RESEARCH REPORT FOR 2008, cont.

ASPRO NERO, AGIA IRINI, LIVARI: EXAMINATION AND SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTATION
RESEARCH REPORT FOR 2008, cont.
Drawings and photographic documentation of ‘Cyclopean’ walls north of ‘North Bastion’;
Drawings and photographic documentation of natural ‘Horns of Consecration’;
Plotting, drawing and photography of stray finds (pottery and stone artifacts) of entire site.
Agia Irini (SITE 20 and SITE 21)
This year it has become evident that both sites actually belong to one large FN−EM II
settlement that spreads from the top of Kastri down its southern and eastern slopes.
Completing and fitting together three separate plans of Terrace I, Terrace II, and Terrace III
into one general state plan, no substantial differences are shown in building materials and
techniques of the much eroded, flimsy walls just below the top of the rocky hill, compared to
the sparse remains of similar walls farther downslope admittedly in a very bad state of
preservation. The earlier assumption of a later MM date of the terrace buildings (Schlager
2000) must now be abandoned, although MM pottery on Terrace III is still conspicuous.
Considering the vast amount of FN−EM II material strewn all across the site, the number of
MM sherds on Terrace III only seem to imply a partial reoccupation, perhaps only for
temporary use, of this specific area in the Middle Bronze Age, though no actual MM
architectural remains have been recognized.
Close scrutiny of the very top of the rocky hill, devoid of architectural features, has not
provided any, not even the most insignificant fragments of terracotta statuettes, which one
would expect at the site of an EM hilltop shrine or an MM peak sanctuary, given the
impressive appearance of Kastri as a conspicuous landmark (for seafarers rather than for
landlocked agriculturalists). On the contrary, numerous small fragments of Melian obsidian
blades and cores beside local flints, concentrated in Terraces I and II, seem to hint at knapping
places and other working areas of some specialised craftsmen, who may not only have
acquired or imported foreign raw materials, but have also produced a series of specific tools
on the spot.
Without proper excavation, or at least cleaning of the built-up area of Kastri, the whole extent
and detailed appearance of this large site can only be guessed at. But even the detailed surface
documentation of its visible remains, as achieved in summer 2008, plotting architectural
remains and stray finds alike, make it one of the largest and best known FN−EM II
settlements known in the wider area between Zakros, Xerokampos, and Goudouras in SE
Crete (cf. Vokotopoulos 2000; Nowicki 2003).
2008 achievements:
Topographical map of entire site;
Localization of raw material deposits in vicinity;
Supplementation and completion of detailed plans of Terraces I, II, and III;
Joining together of detailed plans into general state plan of top area of Kastri;
Plotting, drawing and photography of stray finds (pottery and stone artifacts) of entire site.
5