Petras Kephala, Siteia (Crete), is a hill 60m high to the east of the main site of Petras (ΕΜ ΙΙ-LM III B settlement and MM IIA-LM IB palace). Since 2001 excavations revealed a Final Neolithic-EM I settlement and a large Pre- and Proto-Palatial cemetery of House Tombs.
In the context of the Minoan Seminar series Metaxia Tsipopoulou, head of Petras excavations, will talk about “Documenting sociopolitical changes in Pre- and Proto-Palatial Petras: the House Tomb cemetery”. The seminar will be held today, Friday, 24 April, at 6.30 p.m., at the Archaeological Society (22, Panepistimiou str., Athens)
The cemetery consists of 12 large house tombs each comprising 6-10 rooms. These are completely or partially excavated. Some of them are connected with open areas reserved for burial ceremonies. Near the house tombs a rock shelter contained tertiary burials dated EMI-MMIB, probably coming from the cleaning of one house tomb.
Furthermore, excavations have revealed that a LM IIIC settlement was established on the hilltop after the abandonment of the main settlement on Hill I. A LM IIIC megaron, connected with a perivolos and a platforms was erected on top of the ruins of one house tomb.
The most recent find of the Petras excavations consists of the remains of EM II domestic deposits, found underneath EM III house tombs. The pottery has strong Cycladic connections.
The seminar will be in Greek, the PowerPoint in English, and the discussion bilingual.
The Minoan Seminar is organized by Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki, Lefteris Platon, Yiannis Papadatos, and Colin Macdonald.
