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Notes on the Town Plan of Late Cycladic Akrotiri, Thera

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Clairy Palyvou
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Abstract

The probable extent of the Late Cycladic town at Akrotiri is discussed, and the original geographical setting reconstructed. The principles on which the town and its buildings were constructed are elucidated; emphasizing the compact accumulation of rooms and other units of space. Buildings are generally multi-storied, and there is no evidence for courtyards or light walls within them. Access is generally limited to a single entrance, lighting and ventilation are provided by windows. Drainage systems are provided. The three types of streets: main streets, narrow alleys, and blind alleys are described, and the factors behind their arrangement and form discussed. Orientation of the streets is approximately north to south and east to west. The phenomenon of dentation in the construction of walls is discussed. The conclusion is that the town plan reflects a building operation based on a well-organized community with strong traditions and unwritten laws.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 81 , November 1986 , pp. 179 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1986

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References

Acknowledgements.The present article is based on a paper presented to the Mycenean Seminar, at the Colloquium on Thera held at the Institute of Classical Studies, London, on 20 Mar. 1985. I am grateful to Dr L. Morgan and Professor P. Warren for reading the manuscript and making valuable comments and to Professor C. Doumas for his co-operation.

In addition to the usual abbreviations the following are used: Thera I–VII: Marinatos, S., Excavations at Thera i–vii (1968–1976).Google ScholarThera and the Aegean World 1–2: C. Doumas (ed.), Thera and the Aegean World, Papers presented at the Second International Congress, Santorini, Greece, Aug. 1978, vols. 1 and 2 (1978 and 1980).

1 Thera IV (1971) 6. In relation to Marinatos' theory, see also Rapp, G. and Kraft, J. C., ‘Aegean Sea Level Changes in the Bronze Age’, Thera and the Aegean World 1 (1978) 190.Google Scholar

2 Doumas, , ‘Town Planning and Architecture in Bronze Age Thera’, Sonderdruck aus 150 Jahre Deutsches Archälogisches Institut 1829–1979 (1979) 98 and taf. 38.1Google Scholar; Thera, Pompeii of the Ancient Aegean (1983) 55–6.

3 For references to earlier archaeological research on Thera, see Thera I (1968) 12 n. 1.

4 Doumas, op. cit. (see n. 2 above) (1983) 45.

5 Pelon, O., ‘Maison d'Hagia Varvara et architecture domestique à Mallia’, BCH 90 (1966) 552CrossRefGoogle Scholar, for an example of a house belonging to a ‘deuxième zone d'occupation’, to the north-east of the palace of Mallia.

6 Thera V (1972) 8–9 fig. 1.

7 See n. 3 above.

8 Doumas, op. cit. (see n. 2 above) (1983) 45.

9 The probable existence of such a harbour is also mentioned in Pichler, H. and Friedrich, W. L., ‘Mechanism of the Minoan Eruption of Santorini’, Thera and the Aegean Worlds (1980) 16.Google Scholar

10 Doumas has recently proposed a tentative estimate of 200,000 m2 (op. cit. (see n. 2 above) (1983) 45). Taking into account the probable limits towards the south (sea-shore), west (Mesovouna), east (Potamos), it would then extend to the north half-way to the caldera. This is a strikingly large size for an Aegean Late Bronze Age settlement if compared with the relevant figures for other sites (see Renfrew, C., The Emergence of Civilization: the Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. (1972) 237Google Scholar; Branigan, K., ‘Minoan Settlements in East Crete’, in Ucko, P.et al. (eds.), Man, Settlement and Urbanism (1972) 755).Google Scholar

11 There is probably one exception to this rule in the House of the Ladies, where there may be a small light-well adjacent to the staircase (Thera VI (1974) 8).

12 Examples of such ‘blind’ rooms can be seen in the West House, room 3b (Doumas, , ‘Ανασκαφή θήρας’, ΠΑΕ (1980) 290 fig. 1Google Scholar) and Xeste 3, room 7 (id., (1978) 226 fig. 2).

13 Vasileiades, D., Το Κρητικό σπίτι (1976) 276–8Google Scholar and figs. 375, 376; Philippides, D., Σαντορίνη (1980) 26 and fig. 39.Google Scholar

14 The Mill-House in Sector Alpha is described in Thera III (1970) 13–15, but the outlet towards the street is not mentioned.

15 Thera III (1970) 52 and fig. 29. The clay pipes are referred to as ‘chimney’.

16 Thera IV (1971) 15.

17 Thera VI (1974) 26–7 and pl. 55b.

18 Shaw, J. W., ‘Akrotiri as a Minoan Settlement’, Thera and the Aegean World 1 (1978) 433.Google Scholar MacEnroe believes that freestanding buildings are more common among his Type 1 houses, while Types 2 and 3 are usually contiguous (MacEnroe, J., Minoan House and Town Arrangement (1979) 329).Google Scholar

19 Thera VI (1974) pls. 60b, 61a, and 61b.

20 Caskey, J. L., ‘Investigations in Keos, Part 1’, Hesperia 40 (1971) 390–1Google Scholar; Cummer, W. W., ‘Itinerant Aegean Builders’, in Betancourt, Ph. P. (ed.), Temple University Aegean Symposium 5 (1980) 4Google Scholar; Atkinson, T. D.et al., Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos. Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Supp. 4 (1904) 50Google Scholar; Coldstream, J. N., ‘Kythera in the LM I period’, Thera and the Aegean World 1 (1978) 390.Google Scholar Examples in Crete: alley/drain to the east of Maison E, in Mallia (Van Effenterre, H., Le Palais de Mallia et la citèminoenne ii (1980) 413, fig. 555Google Scholar) and alley (or gap) between the Oblique House and the House over the Kitchen Area, leading southwards to a drain, in Zakros (N. Platonos, Ζáκρος (1974)

21 Caskey, op. cit. (see n. 20 above) 390; Branigan, op. cit. (see n. 10 above) 755–6.

22 West, W. A., ‘The Effect of Private and Public Law on the Use and Development of Land’, in Ucko, P.et al. (eds.), Man, Settlement and Urbanism (1972) 479.Google Scholar Professor P. Warren kindly informed me about the old law of ‘ancient lights’ in England (letter, dated 17 June 1985).

23 Thera III (1970) 36–7. There is no evidence, however, for the exact sequence and date of the different building phases observed in this area. See also Doumas, , ‘Περί της Μινωικής Αρχιτεκτονικής εν θήρα’, AE (1974) 199 and fig. 1.Google Scholar

24 According to N. Marinatos' interpretation, the large window on the upper floor of room Beta 1 is meant to provide communication between the public gathered in the square and the shrine, room Beta 1 (Art and Religion in Thera (1984) 106).

25 MacEnroe discusses the effects of such an ‘internal growth’ during the Neopalatial period in Crete: density, contiguous arrangement of buildings, co-existence of different types of houses within a block, and consistency in the orientation pattern (op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 330–7, 345–6).

26 E. Schofield in her paper: ‘Ayia Irini Keos, in Late Cycladic II’, presented to the Mycenean Seminar in London, 17 Oct. 1984 (an abstract will be published in BICS 1984–5), makes some very interesting remarks regarding the buildings at Ayia Irini. According to her preliminary conclusions, based in part on the architectural observations of W. W. Cummer, it seems that there was more open space within the settlement than originally believed and that each of the large houses had a courtyard outside the front door. This is an important contribution to our understanding of the Ayia Irini settlement and gives a direct parallel to the Akrotiri town regarding access to the buildings.

In Crete, the enlargement of the open area in front of the entrance often appears in the form of a depression in the buildings' outline (see Effenterre, Van, Le Palais de Mallia el la citè minoenne ii (1980) 416Google Scholar; Platonos, , Ζáκρος (1974) 238Google Scholar; Hazzidakis, J., ‘Les Villas minoennes de Tylissos’, Etudes crétoises iii (1934) pls. vi, xi).Google Scholar

In Palaikastro and especially Gournia, on the other hand, land exploitation has reached its zenith: there are virtually no open spaces left and some buildings are squeezed in awkward spaces (MacEnroe, op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 331–2), regardless of orientation patterns, rectangular architectural units, and enlarged entrance systems.

27 M. Marthari, ‘The Destruction of the Town at Akrotiri, Thera, at the Beginning of LC I: Definition and Chronology’, and Palyvou, C., ‘The Destruction of the Town at Akrotiri, Thera, at the Beginning of LC I: Rebuilding Activities’, in MacGillivray, J. A. and Barber, R. L. N. (eds.), The Prehistoric Cyclades, Contributions to a Workshop on Cycladic Chronology (1984) 119–47.Google Scholar

28 Doumas, , ‘Ανασκαφη θήρας’, ΠΑΕ (1978) 221–2.Google Scholar For a detailed description of the area see: Marthari, op. cit., and Palyvou, op. cit. (see n. 27 above) 119–26 and figs. 2–5.

29 MacEnroe, op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 337–47 with references.

30 Hutchinson, R. W., ‘Prehistoric Town Planning in Crete’, Town Planning Review 21 (1950) 204CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Branigan, , The Foundations of Palatial Crete (1970) 43Google Scholar; Caskey, op. cit. (see n. 20 above) 369. See also the two differentiated orientation patterns in Mallia (Effenterre, Van, Le Palais de Mallia et la cité minoenne i (1980) 256–7Google Scholar; MacEnroe, op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 298–9).

31 Hutchinson, op. cit. (see n. 30 above) 203.

32 Hutchinson writes that ‘in prehistoric Crete the cities … seem all to have evolved from the village cart tracks’ (op. cit. (see n. 30 above) 203). See also Kriesis, A., Greek Town Building (1965) 412.Google Scholar It is generally accepted that some roads antedated the Late Bronze Age buildings in many Cretan settlements. Their town plans, therefore, are strongly influenced by the existing roads which follow the natural contours (Branigan, op. cit. (see n. 10 above) 753; MacEnroe, op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 327).

33 Graham, J. W., The Palaces of Crete (1969) 238–9Google Scholar for discussion with references. See also Preziosi, D., Minoan Architectural Design, Formation and Signification (1983) 26 and 32 n. 52.Google Scholar

34 Thera VI (1974) 14; Shaw, op. cit. (see n. 18 above) 434.

35 Doumas, op. cit. (see n. 2 above) (1979) 96; (1983) 50.

36 Examples of dentated façades of the Middle Minoan period can be seen in Mallia, Quartier Mu (Van Effenterre, , Le Palais de Mallia et la cité minoenne i (1980) 177, 179Google Scholar), in a Middle Minoan house at Kalathiana (Xanthoudides, S., The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara (1924) 84–5Google Scholar) and in some of the faience plaques of the Knossos Town Mosaic (Evans, A., The Palace of Minos at Knossos i (1928) 301–14Google Scholar).

37 Dentated façades, are seen in many prehistoric sites of Anatolia and the Levant. In some cases, the dentation occurs at the fortification wall—following the natural contours of the ground—which is also the exterior wall of a series of houses (e.g. in the E. Chalcolithic settlement of Hacilar and in the L. Chalcolithic settlement of Mersin). For plans conveniently compiled and general discussion on town planning in Anatolia, see Danişman, G., ‘The Birth and Development of Architecture in Anatolia from the Earliest Times to 1000 B.C.’ (1968) (unpublished M.Phil, thesis of the University of London).Google Scholar See also P. Lampl, Cities and Planning in the Ancient Near East (1974) passim. R. Naumann, Architektur Kleinasiens (1971).

38 It is worth mentioning that the recent excavations (seasons 1984 and 1985) revealed a large public square in front of the dentated northern façade of Xeste 2.

In relation to the possible symbolic significance of the dentated façcade, I find it very tempting to suggest that such a symbolism may have been intended by the dentation of several faience plaques of the Knossos Town Mosaic (see n. 36 above); namely: I, J, K, L, and M. The fact that the twenty-three plaques seem to vary in thickness may also have been intentional, so that when laid on a level surface a low relief would result (already present in most of the plaques, especially in the windows), thus obtaining a dentated façade all along. The implication would then be that the Town Mosaic illustrates a series of important façades facing on a main public space.

39 See n. 27 above.

40 Frankfort, H., ‘Town Planning in Ancient Mesopotamia’, Town Planning Review 21 (1950) 114CrossRefGoogle Scholar: ‘what seems to have been lacking (in ancient Mesopotamian town planning) is a field where individual activities were co-ordinated, not in the service of the king or the god, but amongst the people themselves. We observe the effects of royal commands and the effects of individual initiative. We do not find the beneficial influence of the city ordinance.’ It is, I believe, precisely this ‘city ordinance’ that seems to be manifested in the Akrotiri town plan (not excluding the co-existence of religious or other authoritarian control).

41 After Frankfort, op. cit. (see n. 40 above) 111.