The Archaeology of Knossos, Crete
What Excavation Revealed about the Cretan Palace of Knossos
Aug 17, 2009
The palace of Knossos was one of the major political centres of Minoan Crete. Built around a central courtyard, the palace was divided into two main wings. State and religious matters were dealt with in the west wing, whist the east wing was residential and ancillary.
Surviving features related to lighting, ventilation and sanitation illustrate how advanced Minoan society was.
Arthur Evan’s Excavation of Knossos
Knossos was initially excavated by a local merchant from Heraklion in the late 1870’s but full scale excavations under the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans did not begin until 1900 when Crete was declared independent from the Turks.
By the end of 1903, Arthur Evan’s excavations had exposed most of the palace. They continued until 1931. Evan’s controversially reconstructed whole areas of the palace according to his own interpretation and using cement instead of authentic materials. His efforts have however preserved much of the palace.
The Ceremonial Area of the Palace of Knossos
The west wing had a ground floor and two further stories, the top most of which housed the official sanctuary of the palace. The close proximity of state and religious rooms shows had integral religion was to the management of the Minoan state.
Raised pavements crossed the wing, judged to be processional ways, based on the sacred nature of the frescos around them. These paved area linked a variety of courtyards and rooms littered with the remains of altars, bowls for ritual lustrations and broken pottery thought to be used in religious rites.
The main ritual centre of the palace was the central courtyard, a typical feature of Minoan architecture. Close to the central courtyard was the throne room, identified by a small gypsum throne. Its position allowed the ruler to watch processions and kept the political at the centre of the religious. The throne room had a number of anterooms with the remains of alabaster vases and pithoi or storage jars for libations and lustral bowls that would have been used in ritual washing. One room had each of its square pillars inscribed with the typical Minoan double axe symbol. Rectangular basins by each column suggest that it was possibly used for animal sacrifices.
The most unusual remaining feature of the west wing is the sacred horns which once crowned the palace roof but are today situated in the courtyard.
The Living Quarters of Knossos
The east wing of Knossos had four stories and housed not only the royal residences but many of the palaces workshops. One of its best preserved features was the grand staircase which leads to these private quarters.
The west wing highlights one of Knossos’s innovations: its methods of lighting and ventilation. A series of strategically positioned light wells were built into the palace architecture. Surrounded by colonnades, these internal courtyards supplied light as well as fresh air to the palace.
The east wing is the home of many of the palace’s most famous rooms:
- Hall of the Double Axes or King’s Megaron. The king’s throne room, this series of rooms acted as a reception area. It was well lit and aired and inscribed with the famous double axe symbols which give it its name. The throne remains, complete with the outline of the column supported canopy that covered it.
- Queens’s Megaron- reached through south door of King’s Megaron, although slightly smaller, this was again decorated and ventilated using the light well system. It is the site of the famous dolphin fresco.
An interesting feature of the Queen’s megaron is its floor, which demonstrates the different styles of paving used in the palace’s history. Rough stone was used in the earliest phases, phases, followed by mosaic and finally fine gypsum slabs.
The east wing also housed the palace workshops on the ground floor. These included a lapidary’s workshop as indicated by half finished and polished stones on the workbenches, potters workshop and more storage rooms, with giant pithoi
Minoan Sanitation
The palace used a sophisticated three fold system for water supply and drainage. Drinking water from Mount Jouktas to the south was piped into the palace. This water was collected in cisterns which were connected to clay pipes and cylinders narrowed at one end to create a pressured head of water.
Rainwater was also collected for sanitation. The east bastion shows that rainwater was channelled from the top of the building to storage tanks. The channels transporting the water were designed to follow the stairways down in a parabolic curve which cut the speed of the water so it didn’t overspill. On each landing was a trough to filter the water to the next level.
The richly decorated queen’s bathroom shows how this rainwater worked not only for washing but as part of the palace’s sewage system. Situated on the ground floor room, it was the culmination of a series of bathrooms, one above the other on each floor. Rainwater was used to flush waste from each toilets down into a central drain which fed into the nearby River Kairatos. The central drainage conduit visible outside the palace still bears masons symbols of trident, double axe and star.
Source:
Knossos: The Palace of Minos. A Survey of the Minoan Civilisation. By Sosso Logiadou-Platonos. Athens
