From at least 1700 BC, and for several centuries thereafter, a city of
substantial houses flanked the palace of Knossos in north-central Crete.
Those immediately adjacent to it, like the Royal Villa or the South
House, excavated by Sir Arthur Evans, are well known, as are the Little
Palace and Unexplored Mansion to the north-west. In fact the whole lower
western hill-slope (Bougadha Metochi, the modern village) was terraced
with fine, ashlar masonry buildings, served by well-engineered paved
roads. The present volume publishes part of one such building, excavated
by the Greek Archaeological Service. The pottery within it - as always
at Knossos astonishing in quantity and excellent in quality - is
particularly important for the first stage of these large buildings,
Middle Minoan IIIA (Early and Late), the 17th century BC. One piece also
throws light on bull sacrifice at Knossos. Another object, a stone
weight, confirms the close relationship of the Minoan, Theran and West
Syrian systems of mensuration. A later pottery deposit adds to evidence
of wide destruction at Knossos at the final moment of independent Minoan
civilisation, Late Minoan IB c. 1440 BC. The history of the building is
also set within that of the wider Cretan and southern Aegean regions
during the Bronze Age.
