Zakros

On the south-eastern tip of Crete, on the water lies this incredible site.  A whole city!  A palace, several homes, workshops, paved streets, public fountains...  Like all sites, though, it can be hard to parse from the ground, especially when walls may be only 2-3' high or non-existent.  Invariably, I try to find the highest point to gain some perspective, and I will note that there are now explicit prohibitions about using drones.  

Sprawling map of the site, and even still, it was clear there were other ruins in the adjacent mountains and beyond the initial dig site which had yet to be assimilated.  

The full legend is in another photo--if you want to see it, leave me a note.

From map to the ground--the main palace structures.

From map to ground--the old palace quarters. 

The houses and other buildings behind the palace didn't translate as well because I couldn't get enough vertical perspective, although the pictures are still informative in other ways.

Hall of Ceremonies.  Shrine with bench and adjacent lustral basin in the background.

This is the third site where I've seen a smaller paved area enclosed by pillars.  Should I ever get a PhD in archaeology, this might be my focus.

The archives.  We had to scratch our heads to understand the vertical chambers, hypothesizing perhaps to lean clay or stone records?

 Detail showing the cavities for the wood in the walls and end cap decoration.

The Queen's megaron...

...and (en suite) lustral basin.

Road to the port

Kiln

Cistern Hall, now home to a dozen turtles and some fish.

What was particularly wonderful about this site was the ability to interact with the ruins--to wander through the rooms, to get a sense of spatial relation for proximity and utility.  For example, the main road to the port is only about 6' wide, meaning there was not significant carriage of goods via cart as there would be no way for two carts to pass.  Or that there are a number of narrow rooms (2' x 6').

Now, I also know there is an ongoing and new debate about Mycenean v. Minoan, but we did note quite a bit of similarity between these Minoan sites and the Mycenean palace in the Peleponnese, which we will revisit for a more in depth comparison.