Sissi, Crete. Preliminary Reports on the 2007-2009 Campaigns

Three years of excavations at Sissi, on a strategically located hill at the north coast of Crete, have generated an impressive amount of data with regard to the site’s occupation sequence, scale and functional characteristics. The millennium-long history of the hill encompasses most of the Aegean Bronze Age in a settlement tucked away in the periphery of the palatial site of Malia. First, the oldest phase will be discussed, which was attested in the necropolis of the site. Predominantly consisting of house tombs featuring several pithos adult and foetus burials, the cemetery provides an account of intensive and prolonged (re-)use during the Protopalatial period. No traces of contemporary occupation have yet been found within the settlement, although fills and pits elsewhere on site did contain similar material. Secondly, the Neopalatial structures will be elaborated on, located on the terraced slopes of the hill, one of them contained indications for textile working while a neighbouring building comprised a domestic context featuring two Cycladic figurines and a foetus burial. On the summit, small amounts of Neopalatial pottery were found as well, albeit in a chiefly Postpalatial context. A final part focuses on this last phase, which mainly involves the most prominent location of the hilltop, where a complex of structures had been constructed with great effort, exploiting local topography. An unusual amount of metal finds, among which a lead vase and a number of chisels complemented the exceptional pottery encountered here, including a series of snake tubes and stirrup jars