Site details

Piskokephalo

PK	C6242
TITLE	Piskokephalo
WGS84	35.179945° N, 26.093027° E
Accuracy	20 m.

LAT/LON	35.179945, 26.093027
LON/LAT	26.093027, 35.179945

DMS

35° 10' 47.802" N

26° 5' 34.8972" E

W3W	hilarious, falcon, bursting
UTM	35 S, 417417.64, 3893375.18
EGSA87	690439, 3894716

Elevation m	38
Elevation feet	124.7
Region	Crete
Subregion	Siteia

GENERAL SITE TYPE Sanctuary

TYPE

1.    Artifacts.   Jones [1999], 73    Figurines, pottery fine and coarse, clay balls, beetles, tools, weapons, double ax, etc.
2.    Sanctuary.   Faure [1967], 140    ' ... dans le sanctuaire de Piskokephalo (Sitias) ... '

PERIOD (High Chronology)

1. Middle Minoan I: (2100 BC - 1900 BC)
    a.    Jones [1999]: 73, 'MM I - IIB'

2. Middle Minoan II: (1850 BC - 1750 BC)
    a.    Faure [1967]: 141, 'Les tessons de coupes et de vases trouvés en 1952 situent le culte du MM 2 au MM 3 b ... '

3. Middle Minoan IIA: (1850 BC - 1775 BC)
    a.    Jones [1999]: 73, 'MM I - IIB'

4. Middle Minoan IIB: (1775 BC - 1750 BC)
    a.    Jones [1999]: 73, 'MM I - IIB'

5. Middle Minoan III: (1750 BC - 1675 BC)
    a.    Jones [1999]: 73, 'MM III - LM I ... continued use of cemetery, with pithos burials.'

6. Middle Minoan IIIA: (1750 BC - 1700 BC)
    a.    Faure [1967]: 140, 'Les tessons de coupes et de vases trouvés en 1952 situent le culte du MM 2 au MM 3 b ... '

7. Middle Minoan IIIB: (1700 BC - 1675 BC)
    a.    Faure [1967]: 140, 'Les tessons de coupes et de vases trouvés en 1952 situent le culte du MM 2 au MM 3 b ... '

8. Late Minoan I: (1675 BC - 1470 BC)
    a.    Jones [1999]: 73, 'MM III - LM I ... continued use of cemetery, with pithos burials.'

NOTES

1.  Piskokephalo is sometimes considered a peak sanctuary but Jones [1999] does not accept this. Among other things the site, at about 60 m, is very low and Jones [1999] 16 says : 'Piskokephalo is interesting both for the similarity of its finds to those of peak sanctuaries and some missing artifact types which seem, at least weakly, to characterize peak sanctuaries. The original excavator (Platon 1952) considered it a sanctuary by virtue of the types of artifacts found there, if not necessarily because of the ash layer, and discussed it as if it were a peak sanctuary, but it is located inside a settlement ... Faure (1967, 140) considered it a "rural sanctuary," and it may even be a domestic shrine ... ' He says (140) 'Si nous avons dû refuser de voir dans le sanctuaire de Piskokephalo (Sitias) un sanctuaire de sommet, ... '

2.  On the other hand Metaxia Tsipopopoulou argues that it should be included among such sanctuaries. In 'The Minoan Palace at Petras, Siteia' (Athena Review, Vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 41-51 (abridged version here: "The Piskokephalo sanctuary was considered exceptional by virtue of its low altitude, since it failed to answer to the then prevalent definition of a peak sanctuary. Yet its finds place it among the most significant of such sites: ... "

3.  Position derived from photo in Faure [1967] 141, fig. 16. Faure says (140-1) that the finds were at the base of the north slope and I have placed the marker there: ' ... une fouille de Mr N. Platon en octobre 1952 confirmèrent qu'on ne découvrait absolument rien sur le sommet de cette colline ..., mais que les offrandes se trouvaient largement éparpillées au bas de la pente Nord.'

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Faure [1967]: Faure, Paul. ‘Nouvelles recherches sur trois sortes de sanctuaires crétois’, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (91:1), pp. 114-150, 1967., '', pg. 140. Online here.

2. Jones [1999]: Jones, Douglas W.. Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete; A Comparison of Artifacts. Paul Åstroms förlag, Jonsered, Sweden. 1999., '',