Bronze Age Knossos-Gypsades
Knossos-Gypsades is a Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1100 cal. BC) Knossian 'neighbourhood' located between the palace to the north and the cemetery area to the south. It is currently being studied as part of a synergasia between the Herakleion Ephoreia and the British School at Athens, directed by Ioanna Sepretsidaki (Herakleion Ephoreia), Eleni Hatzaki (University of Cincinnati), Amy Bogaard (University of Oxford) and Gianna Ayala (University of Sheffield) under the auspices of the British School at Athens.
Aim and methods
As part of the intensive recording of material culture and systematic sampling of bioarchaeological proxies implemented at Knossos-Gypsades, cooking vessels and other types of potsherds were carefully collected and sampled in order to explore food and drink consumption patterns in Minoan Knossos. The sampling of microbotanical remains consisted of a two-step process in which the outer layer of sediment was first dry brushed from the inner surface of the potsherd (dry sample), and then the inner layer of sediment was brushed with distilled water (wet sample). Sampling for lipid analyses will happen in the near future.
First results
We are currently working on the microbotanical samples from Knossos-Gypsades, be patient!
To find out more
Hogarth DG (1900) Knossos: II. Early Town and Cemeteries. BSA 6, 70–84
Hood MSF (1962) Stratigraphic excavations at Knossos, 1957-61. Kretika Chronika (Pepragmena tou A ’Diethnous Kretologikou Synedriou)15–16, 92–97
Morgan C (2015) The work of the British School at Athens, 2014–2015. Archaeological Reports 61, 34-48
Recovering cooking vessels during the 2014 field season at Knossos-Gypsades.
Marc Cardenas collecting a wet sample from a Minoan potsherd from Knossos-Gypsades
at the Stratigraphic Museum (Knossos, Crete) in 2016.
