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EXCAVATIONS AT MOCHLOS, 1989(PLATES 89-104) HE MOCHLOS EXCAVATION PROJECT involves the cleaning and excavation of a number of related sites on the island of Mochlos and its adjacent coastal plain, located just east of the Bay of Mirabello in eastern Crete. The island appears to have been connected to the plain at one time by a narrow isthmus and the area to have formed, as it still does, a geographical unit, stretching about five kilometers along the coast and isolated from the interior of Crete by the Ornos mountains (Fig. 1). The project, organized as a joint Greek-American excavation under the direction of the authors, began in the summer of 1989.1 It continues the cleaning and survey operations that the authors conducted in the 1970's and early 1980's but is the first systematic excavation on the island since the original excavations by Richard B. Seager in 1908.2
THE HISTORY OF EXCAVATIONThe area has been explored by several archaeologists, beginning with Seager, whose work on the island is well known, largely because of the important Prepalatial cemetery that he exposed on the western side of the island with its treasure hoards of gold jewelry, seals, and stone vases. He also found contemporary settlement remains along the south coast of the
I The 1989 excavation was carried out by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and the Archaeological Institute of Crete under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.We are indebted to the Greek Archaeological Service for granting the excavation permit. 1 ____ 2 3 _ 4 5 6 7~~~~~~~~~~~ M1OCH FIG. 2. Topographic map of the island of Mochlos (Frederick Hemans el al.) This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 22:00:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 416 JEFFREY S. SOLES AND COSTIS DAVARAS island and excavated parts of an extensive Neopalatial settlement, along with settlement remains of the Mycenaean, Roman, and Early Byzantine periods (Fig. 2). No further work was done in the area until the 1950's when Nicholas Platon, then Director of Antiquities in Crete and Director of the Heraklion Museum, carried out rescue operations and small trial excavations along the coastal plain opposite Mochlos. In 1955 he excavated a round tholos tomb, of a type normally found in the Mesara in southern Crete, at Galana Charakia, a short distance below Myrsini. It held pottery of the EM III, MM IA, and MM IB phases.3 He also reported Minoan buildings of uncertain character at Chalinom...
