Gournia summary sheet
* First discovered by archaeologist Harriet Boyd Hawes on May 20th 1901* Ruins of the settlement were visible before any excavation took place.* Nearby villagers named the location of the ancient city 'Gournia' from the stone basins or "gourni" visible in the area.* Gournia is now one of the most excavated sites on the island of Crete.* Located on a small hill, a couple hundred metres away from the sea in the Gulf of Mirabello, close to the north end of the Ierapetra Isthmus* Situated near the centre of the town at the top of the hill, making it the dominant central building of the town, surrounded by cobbled streets, blocks of houses and overlooking the nearby ridges.* Close to coast, enabling a shorter distance to travel when transporting goods for trade.* Gournia was well known as one of Minoan Crete's major porting towns. * This palace was not the "centre" for the production of goods as many other palaces were, however it still stored many of the town's trading goods.* It is thought that there must have been an individual or small group of people to organise and supervise the workers responsible for
These were used by the Minoans to close off rooms. * Small shrine located just north of the palace. * Some of the artefacts uncovered: figurines of a goddess with raised arms, a tripod altar, a snake goddess, three intact tubes and two clay birds of different sizes. Goddesses and priestesses may have been more important that gods and priests. * Copper Smelting - furnace discovered five kilometres from Gournia probably used to smelt copper from rocks. * On the basis of burial customs and the agglutinative structure of the towns such as Gournia there may have been a "clan" social structure. Lustral Basins:* Evidence of sewerage and drainage systems* Normally located off a rectangular ante-room. * Bronze-working - Scrapes of bronze and flag, forges, stone moulds for casting, knives, nails, awls and chisels. * Often a chamber was given a floor of mixed materials, with a flagstone edgeMagazines:* Located on the lowest level* Situated on the bottom level for two main reasons: would have been the coolest place in the building and also the most easily accessible to haul the goods in and out of the palace without travelling over several levels. Believed that this shrine was built to honour the "snake goddess" and those who worshipped here would often leave small religious objects on the south side of the shrine. * Small, square rooms sunken into the floors with two small flights of steps leading to them. * Fishing - bronze barbed fish hooks, stones for weighing nets and lead sinkers* Carpentry - Long and short saws, chisels, awls, nails, files and axes. * Other religious symbols: snakes, birds, labyrinth, bulls and the horns of consecration. * Some of the statuettes and figurines found at the palace of Gournia include; three ceremonial lamps, an amulet in the shape of a woman in a Minoan skirt, a jug with a double axe/labrys design on it. * Agriculture - small grains found inside the remains of the houses, stone mortars and querns-milling.
Common topics in this essay:
Central Court,
Palace Gournia,
Fresco Remains,
Social Structure,
Copper Smelting,
Lustral Basins,
Significance Location,
Boyd Hawes,
Potters Decorated,
Minoan Crete's,
level *,
central court,
* located,
found palace,
found palace *,
palace gournia,
levels *,
location *,
* gournia,
* palace,
social structure,
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Acceptance Essays
