Plain of Phaistos: Cycles of Social Complexity in the Mesara Region of Crete


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Series: Monumenta Archaeologica 23
ISBN: 978-1-931745-14-7
Publication Date: Feb 2005
Price: Hb $14.95, Ebook $20.00
  • Open Access: PDF

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L. Vance Watrous, Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou, and Harriet Blitzer

The volume presents the results on an interdisciplinary regional field project (1984 - 1987) carried out on the island of Crete. This volume traces the changing patterns of settlement and cycles of social complexity fromPlain of Phaistos  the Late Neolithic period to the present day within the heartland of the state of Phaistos. The authors and contributors publish geological, archaeological, environmental, Plain of Phaistosbotanical, historical and ethnographic studies that establish the regional identity of the Western Mesara. Using a combination of empirical, processual and post-processual theoretical approaches, the volume investigates a central problem - how and why did the Bronze Age and Classical states arise at Phaistos?

Plain of Phaistos

Table of Contents

PART I: THE WESTERN MESARA PROJECT

  • Ch. 01: The Field Survey by L. Vance Watrous, Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou, and John Bennet
  • Ch. 02: Study and Interpretation by L. Vance Watrous

PART II: THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS USE

  • Ch. 03: A Cultural Geography of the Island by L. Vance Watrous
  • Ch. 04: Geoarchaeology of the Western Mesara by Kevin O. Pope
  • Ch. 05: Environment, Land Capability, and Botanical Studies in the Western Mesara by Jennifer M. Shay and C. Thomas Shay
  • Ch. 06: Agriculture and Subsistence in the Late Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Mesara by Harriet Blitzer 

PART III: PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT AND SOCIETY

  • Ch. 07: Initial Growth in Social Complexity (Late Neolithic–Early Minoan I) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou 
  • Ch. 08: Emergence of a Ranked Society (Early Minoan II–III) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • Ch. 09: State Formation (Middle Minoan IA) by L. Vance Watrous              
  • Ch. 10: Palatial Rule and Collapse (Middle Minoan IB–Late Minoan IIIB) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou       

PART IV: HISTORICAL SETTLEMENT AND SOCIETY

  • Ch. 11: The Polis of Phaistos: Development and Destruction (Late Minoan IIIC–Hellenistic) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou                 
  • Ch. 12: Creation of a Greek City-State (Late Minoan IIIC–Orientalizing) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou          
  • Ch. 13: Mesara Romana (150 BC–AD 400) by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • Ch. 14: A Province under Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman Rule, AD 400–1898 by Dimitri Tsougarakis and Helen Angelomatis-Tsougarakis

PART V: FINAL PERSPECTIVES

  • Ch. 15: Conclusions by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • Appendix A: Land Classification and Botanical Studies Methods by C. Thomas Shay and Jennifer M. Shay 
  • Appendix B: Botany Figures and Tables by Jennifer M. Shay and C. Thomas Shay
  • Appendix C: The Chipped and Ground Stone: Raw Material Sources, Production Sites, and Finds by Harriet Blitzer
  • Appendix D: Register of Archaeological Sites by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • Appendix E: Chronological Framework for the Survey by L. Vance Watrous and Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • Appendix F: The Physical and Economic Development of Pitsidia, 1961–2001: A Cautionary Tale for Survey Archaeology by L. Vance Watrous
  • Appendix G: Catalogue of Sites of the Byzantine–Ottoman Period by Dimitri Tsougarakis and Helen Angelomatis-Tsougarakis
  • Appendix H: Byzantine–Ottoman Period Settlements in Kainourgio and Pyrgiotissa: First Appearance and Continuity by Dimitri Tsougarakis and Helen Angelomatis-Tsougarakis