Sphakia Survey: The Internet Edition

Definitions

part 1 - Epochs and Periods

Dates of chronological periods, particularly those of prehistoric periods, are constantly being discussed and revised. The dates below are meant to serve only as a guide.

Prehistoric epoch (i.e. maximum dates for Sphakia from beginning of Final Neolithic to end of LM IIIC): 3500 - 1050 BC.
Final Neolithic period in Crete: 3500 - 3000 BC.
Minoan period (= Bronze Age): 3100 - 1050 BC.
Early Minoan period: 3100 - 2100 BC.
Middle Minoan period: 2100 - 1600 BC.
Late Minoan period: 1600 - 1050 BC.

Palatial period (Middle Minoan IB to LM IIIB): 1900 - 1200 BC.
1st Palatial period/Proto-palatial (Middle Minoan IB to MM IIIA): 1900-1700 BC.
2nd Palatial period/Neo-palatial (MM IIIB - LM IB): 1700-1450 BC.
3rd Palatial period (LM II - LM IIIB): 1450 - 1200 BC.

Graeco-Roman epoch: 1050 BC - AD 700.
Early Iron Age (i.e. Late Minoan IIIC - Protogeometric): 1200 - 800 BC.
Geometric period: 900 - 700 BC.
Archaic period: 700 - 500 BC.
Classical period: 500 - 300 BC.
Hellenistic period: 300 - 0 BC.
Roman period: AD 0 - 300.
Late Roman period: AD 300 - 700.

Byzantine-Venetian-Turkish epoch: AD 700 - 1898.
Byzantine period: AD 700 - 1204.
Venetian period: AD ca 1204 - ca 1646 (in Sphakia).
Turkish period: AD ca 1646 - 1898 (in Sphakia).
Modern period: twentieth century AD.

Part 2 - Specialised Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |N |O | P |Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Archaic (q.v.).
African Red Slip: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced in N Africa, mainly Late Roman.
agrimi: Cretan wild goat.
aloni: threshing floor.
amphora: large elongated two-handled pottery transport vessel (used mainly for wine and olive oil), often used subsequently for storage.
ARS: African Red Slip (q.v.).

B

Byzantine (q.v.).
bacini: glazed bowl (often Venetian in date) embedded into the exterior of churches (usually at time of construction).
Black Gloss: decorated table ware (q.v.), with black paint.
body sherd: fragment of wall of vessel.

C

Classical (q.v.).
calcareous: containing lime or limestone.
Canakkale ware: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced at Çanakkale (NW Turkey), 19th century AD.
Çandarli ware: decorated table ware (q.v.), with red gloss (q.v.), produced at Çandarli and Pergamum (NW Turkey), late 2nd century - late 3rd century AD.
chert: extremely fine-grained siliceous rock occurring naturally in Sphakia, often worked to form tools.
Chian amphora: amphora (q.v.) from Chios in E Aegean.
chipped stone: stone worked by percussion or pressure flaking (tool knapping).
cirque: amphitheatre-like glacially carved depression in a mountainous area.
Coan-style amphora: amphora (q.v.) imitating form of amphoras from Cos, widely produced in the Aegean (and elsewhere), 1st century BC - late 1st century AD/mid second century AD.
coarse wares: vessels of coarse fabric, used for cooking, storage, transport, and industrial production.
cooking pottery: vessel used for heating food.
Corinthian A amphora: amphora (q.v.) from Corinth in the Peloponnese, Archaic (q.v.).
Cretan Roman amphora: amphora (q.v.) from various production centres on Crete, Roman.
Cretan Roman amphora, type 1: Cretan Roman amphora (q.v.), type 1 as defined by John Hayes at Knossos, first - second centuries AD.
Cretan Roman amphora, type 2: Cretan Roman amphora (q.v.), type 2 as defined by John Hayes at Knossos, first - mid third centuries AD.
Cypriot Red Slip: decorated table ware (q.v.), with red gloss (q.v.), produced on Cyprus, ca 400 - 700 AD.

D

debitage: debris from tool knapping activities.
decorated table ware: glazed, slipped or painted pottery used for eating, drinking or serving (e.g. bowl, cup, jug, plate).
deme: administrative district in modern Greece. Sphakia now constitutes a single deme.
diagramming: the plotting of the spatial distribution of artefacts found on transect (q.v.).

E

East Aegean amphora: amphora (q.v.), from East Aegean, Late Roman (q.v.).
Eastern Sigillata A: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced in Syria, ca 150 BC - AD 100.
Eastern Sigillata B: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced in W Turkey, ca 150 BC - 2nd century AD.
EM: Early Minoan (q.v.).
endemics: plants found only in a single location or area.
environmental zone: set of areas (not necessarily contiguous) defined in environmental terms. There are eight in Sphakia.
eparchy: administrative district. Sphakia, formerly an eparchy, is now a deme (q.v.).
epoch: long chronological period. The Survey works with three epochs: P rehistoric (q.v.), Graeco-Roman (q.v.), and Byzantine-Venetian-Turkish (q.v.).
ER: Early Roman (1st century AD).

F

field survey: collection and study of material remains visible on the surface, in association with the use of environmental, documentary and local information.
fine non-table ware: high quality vessels not for the table (e.g. pyxis (q.v.), unguentarium (q.v.).
fine wares: pottery of fine fabric, used often for eating, drinking and serving.
FK: Frangokastello.
FN: Final Neolithic (q.v.).
food preparation pottery: vessel used for preparing (but not cooking) food (e.g. basin, mortarium (q.v.)).

G

Geometric (q.v.).
garrigue: see phrygana.
Gaza amphora: amphora (q.v.), from Gaza (Palestine), Late Roman (q.v.).
Globular amphora: amphora (q.v.), Roman (q.v.).
ground stone: stone tool made by being ground into a usable shape.

H

Hellenistic (q.v.).
hypostego: modern concrete sheep shed.

I

Italian terra sigillata: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced in N Italy, late first century BC - first century AD.

J

K

kaldirimi: a built mule path, Venetian - Turkish.
kamara: arch used inside house or other structure to support roof.
khora/skala relationship: relationship between coastal site and inland/upland site.
krater: decorated table ware (q.v.), a mixing bowl often used for wine.
kylix: decorated table ware (q.v.), a form of goblet.

L

Late Roman 1 amphora: amphora (q.v.), from E Mediterranean, Late Roman (q.v.).
Late Roman 2 amphora: amphora (q.v.), from Aegean, Late Roman (q.v.).
lekane: a bowl used in food preparation.
LM: Late Minoan (q.v.).
LR: Late Roman (q.v.).

M

mandra: milking pen for sheep and goats.
mitato: corbelled stone huts in the Madhares (q.v.) used by shepherds.
Madhares: summer pastures in the White Mountains.
maquis: vegetation consisting of shrubs (which are usually trees bitten down into the form of shrubs); adapted to browsing, burning, woodcutting. Examples: prickly-oak, carob, wild olive.
MM: Middle Minoan (q.v.).
mortarium: bowls for grinding and preparing food.
mosey: walk in an area that is less formal than a transect (q.v.).
MPD: maximum preserved dimension.

N

North African amphora: amphora (q.v.), from N Africa, Roman - Late Roman (q.v.).

O

obsidian: volcanic glass often used for tools, in Sphakia probably originating on Melos.
oenochoe: decorated table ware (q.v.), a jug, properly for wine.

P

period: a chronological span. The Survey divides its three epochs (q.v.) into a number of individual periods (e.g. Middle Minoan (q.v.), Classical (q.v.), Venetian (q.v.)).
PH: prehistoric (q.v.).
Phocaean Red Slip: decorated table ware (q.v.), produced at Phocaea (W Turkey), Late Roman.
PhRS: Phocaean Red Slip (q.v.).
phrygana or garrigue: vegetation consisting of undershrubs, which are not potential trees; they are usually resistant to burning and killed by fire. Examples: chicken-wire plants (Poterium spinosum, Euphorbia acanthothamnos), thyme, Phlomis lanata, Verbascum spinosum.
pithos: large thick-walled vessel for storing liquids.
plain table ware: undecorated pottery used for eating, drinking or serving (e.g. cup, dish, jug).
pyxis: box-like vessel, usually with a lid, for storage of small items.

Q

R

Roman (q.v.).
red figure vase: Black Gloss vessel (q.v.) where the red clay of the vessel is reserved in part to form decoration.
Red Gloss: decorated table ware (q.v.), with red paint.
Region: Sphakia has been divided by us into eight Regions (displayed on the map on the website).
revisit: formal recording of a site discovered on transect (q.v.).
revma: dry stream bed.
Rhodian amphora: amphora (q.v.), from Rhodes (E Aegean), Roman (q.v.).

S

Samian amphora: amphora (q.v.), from Samos (E Aegean), Classical - Hellenistic (q.v.).
Samian ware: now normally called Italian terra sigillata (q.v.).
sherd: fragment of pottery.
site: a locus of human activity.
steppe: vegetation consisting of grasses and other herbaceous plants, such as yellow asphodel and thistles.
storage pottery: large closed vessels used for storage of food (e.g. jar, pithos (q.v.)).
stratified sampling: selection of area for transecting (q.v.), not randomly, but weighted in terms of environmental zones (q.v.). E.g., less sampling was done in zone 4 'gorges and cliffs' and more in zone 3 'basins and mountain plains'.

T

Turkish (q.v.).
table ware: pottery for eating, drinking or serving. Divided into decorated table ware (q.v.) and plain table ware (q.v.).
temper: inclusion added to the clay of a vessel, often to make it more suitable for cooking with.
terra rossa: red, somewhat clayey soil, common in Sphakia.
transport pottery: amphoras (q.v.).
tumble: pile or scatter of stones, normally the remains of buildings.
transhumance: practice of moving animals (in Sphakia sheep and goats) between summer and winter pastures.
transect: strip of land (for us usually 500m long and 50m wide) walked systematically by a team of 3-4 people, with artefacts collected every 50m.

U

unguentarium: small narrow-necked flask to hold scented oil.

V

Venetian (q.v.).
vacuuming: transects (q.v.) on which artefacts were collected every 10m (rather than the usual 50m).
visibility: the ease with which archaeological material can be seen on the surface.

W

X

Y

Z

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