An intact skeleton of a woman lying next to a magnificent necklace and other important items from the Early Minoan era (circa 2,600 BC), were discovered recently at the archaeological site of Sisi on Crete, according to Greek Reporter.
Sisi, located in the prefecture of Lasithi, is one of the most significant Bronze Age excavations in Crete in the last decade due to its extent, chronological range, and type of buildings uncovered.
The site is located on the coastal hill of Kephali of Agios Antonios, locally known as Buffo. Its strategic position attracted the attention of early settlers, and it remained occupied from its foundation around 2600 BC until the end of the Bronze Age around 1200 BC.
A box-shaped grave belonging to the post-Minoan era containing an almost intact skeleton of a woman was discovered.
A copper mirror with an ivory handle, copper dress pins, and a necklace with fifteen olive-shaped, golden beads and fifteen smaller golden beads were also discovered in the woman’s grave. These types of burials are rare on Crete, with the exception of Knossos and Chania.
Further excavations uncovered a decorated floor built with high-quality mortar and a well-made 33-meter (109-foot) long clay drainage pipe, according to the Ministry.
Significant findings from lesser-known eras have also been discovered in other parts of the hill, among them a residence that was destroyed in the mid-Minoan era.
Sisi was damaged by fire and abandoned.
Sisi was apparently only one of a series of little hamlets that dotted the coast of the larger Malia Bay at first, but, soon, it outgrew its neighbors and become the second largest settlement after Malia in the region.
“After the abandonment of the settlement by its people, who left almost the entirety of their material culture in loco, a monumental structure was constructed to the east of the village,” the Greek Ministry of Culture stated in their announcement.
“This building became the heart of the later west wing,” the statement noted, “even though it was destroyed by a fire in 2,500 BC. Its remains were almost fully incorporated into the construction of a complex of monumental buildings with a courtyard, which was constructed around 1,700 BC.”
Sissi was destroyed by fire, like so many other Minoan settlements and palace centers, and the nature of occupation drastically changed. The ruins of one or more Neopalatial buildings were partly incorporated and built over by a new style of structure that betrays influences of the Mycenaean mainland.
The site was suddenly abandoned in the late 13th century BC. Fortunately, apart from the metal, all other objects were left in place, allowing a proper reconstruction of its internal functioning.
The Kephali Hill at Sisi would, in the centuries to follow, become a place of memory and gradually disappear from history.
The Kephali Hill at Sisi would, in the centuries to follow, become a place of memory and gradually disappear from history.n — Greek Reporter.
