House X at Kommos: A Minoan Mansion near the Sea. Part 1. Architecture, Stratigraphy, and Selected Finds

Contents: 1. The Architecture, Stratigraphy, and Diachronic Use of House X, by M.C. Shaw; 2. The Frescoes, by M.C. Shaw and A.P. Chapin; 3. The Miscellaneous Finds, by J.W. Shaw, M.C. Shaw, and J.G. Younger; 4. The Faunal Remains, by D. Ruscillo; 5. Summary and General Perspective, by M.C. Shaw; Concordance; References; Index; Tables; Figures; Plates; Color Plates.House X is by far the largest and best appointed of the Minoan houses excavated at Kommos in south-central Crete, a Minoan harbor and settlement that later became the site of a Greek sanctuary. Situated on the seacoast of the western Mesara Plain, Kommos faces west toward the Libyan Sea. House X stands on the southern edge of the Minoan town, separated by a large slab-paved road from the monumental civic buildings built and used between the Protopalatial and Postpalatial periods. The description of the stratigraphic excavation of this elite house is published with numerous architectural plans along with the cataloged small finds and tables of data on the floral and faunal materials. The excavated fresco fragments are also discussed and illustrated.Aided by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (recently Grants 410-2003–0653 and 410-2006–2399) and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory