Urban micromorphology at Bronze Age Palaikastro, Crete: Evidence of transitions

Summary

Sequences at Bronze Age Cretan settlement sites are defined by destructive events, natural or anthropogenic, that capture cultural material in a particular time and space. The traditional approach of studying urban archaeological contexts based on these snapshots of material culture is not completely suitable for analyzing transitional phases that occur between these events. However, detailed micromorphological examination of the sediments present in these transitional stratigraphic sequences can fill the gaps in understanding how and when sites transition from one phase to another. Being able to identify the temporal and spatial relationship and exact nature of these transitional periods of destruction, abandonment, or other processes is essential in forming these interpretations, and approaches focusing on these transitions have not been systematically practiced at Bronze Age Cretan sites to date. This paper will discuss the results from the soil thin section analyses conducted during the 2013-2015 Palace and Landscape at Palaikastro (PALAP) excavations and will elucidate the anthropogenic activities, processes of site formation, and broader landscape transformation in these transitional periods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16205