Pottery groups from the west side of Area A at Pseira, Crete

The Minoan islet of Pseira off the northeast coast of Crete (Greece) greatly depended on its harbor and foreign connections. The first archaeological activity on the island was initiated by Richard Seager in 1906, who revealed an impressive Minoan settlement. Three generations later a joint Greek-American expedition resumed investigation at the site in order to clarify the old material, to make accurate state plans of the buildings, and to conduct a survey of the entire islet and to conduct new excavations. The study of the pottery groups from the west side of Area A at Pseira furnishes valuable information concerning the architectural development of the Minoan settlement, and the sequence of the ceramic styles, which prevailed in the area during the prehistoric period. The most important points can be summarized as follows: (1) Early Minoan (EM) III with typical White-on-Dark Ware was a major phase for the site. (2) Soundings that were made below the latest floors of several houses indicated that some buildings were constructed in Middle Minoan I, others in MM II and that in MM III-LM I an extensive remodeling took place at this part of Area A. Much of the house repairing is connected with the volcanic eruption at Thera, which occurred sometime in LM IA. (3) The pottery deposits from the west side of Area A reveal that contacts with Central Crete were established as early as MM I, they continued during the Classical Kamares period, and they culminated in the Neopalatial (Late Minoan I) period. LM IB Knossian imports in the destruction levels at Pseira help establish not only the date of this destruction, but they also define (by distinction) the character of the local pottery. (4) The large quantities of foreign pottery in Building AD Center, identified as coming from the Cyclades, Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean, contribute immensely to our understanding of the role of Pseira in the network of Minoan sea-trade. (5) Finally, the LM IB pottery found in this area suggests that the catastrophe at Pseira belongs to the same destructive horizon that befell the other Cretan sites. However, the cause of these contemporary destructions remains unexplained