From the Protogeometric (PG) period onwards, a large settlement that remained continuously occupied until the beginning of the seventh century BCE started developing in the highest part of the central valley. This settlement is attested by the presence of PG sherds on the surface, but thus far no residential architectural remains could be securely dated to the PG period until now. Somewhere in the eighth century BCE, the settlement was radically restructured. Megalithic terrace walls were built, structuring the slopes and supporting buildings, the back walls of which were constructed against the shaved bedrock. Most of the buildings and their floor levels are now gone due to erosion.

View of the settlement from the North-West (F. Gaignerot-Driessen)

Anavlochos 2022 topographical map (L. Fadin, B. Guillaume, F. Gaignerot-Driessen)

However, in the highest part of the Northeastern slope, a complete and separate district was brought to light. We labelled it the Quartier de la Forge, as it yielded very well preserved Early Iron Age industrial contexts evidencing intense metallurgical activities. The ceramic assemblage recovered from this area is limited, but can provisionally be dated from the middle of the 8^th c. onwards to the very beginning of the 7^th c. BCE (Late Geometric-Early Archaic period). The complex consists of three parts (Residence A, Bench Building B, Forge C) built on two terraces (1 and 2), which were accessed by a ramp and supported by megalithic walls founded on bedrock. In its latest architectural phase, the large Residence A is composed of five rooms and a courtyard that are built on three levels. Building (B) consists of a bench room (4.102), which could seat about 20 people and served as a forge in an earlier phase of use, and of a putative storeroom, located on a higher level. Forge C, which is built on a separate terrace, probably represents a later addition to the district, when Building B was equipped with benches and was no longer used as a forge. It includes a smithy (4.100) and its dump (4.101). On the most recent of the three successive floor levels exposed in the workshop, a smithing hearth flanked by two square blocks that served as anvils was identified. Moreover, large quantities of metallurgical waste (hammerscales, iron slags and furnace walls) were recovered from Forge C, indicating that not only iron but also steel objects were intensively manufactured in this area of the settlement.

Orthophotograph of the Quartier de la Forge (Gaignerot-Driessen et al. 2022: fig. 20)

Sketch plan of the Quartier de la Forge (Gaignerot-Driessen et al. 2022: fig. 21)

On the opposite slope, a terrace already reported by Demargne, and therefore labelled “Demargne’s Terrace”, was striking for its impressive size and megalithic retaining walls, its central location and its high visibility and reachability from any other place of the settlement. Excavations here revealed a large building, accessed by a ramp and established on two different levels. In its latest architectural phase, it is composed of three rooms (4.401, 4.405 and 4.402), a vestibule (4.403) and a courtyard (4.404).

Orthophotograph of Demargne’s terrace (Gaignerot-Driessen et al. 2023: fig. 23

The important assemblage of objects recovered from Room 4.402 offers an exceptional situation at the scale of the settlement, as the buildings excavated until now were generally almost emptied and cleaned out before the desertion of the site. But the size and organization of the rooms excavated on “Demargne’s Terrace” are very comparable to those of the residence of the “Quartier de la forge” and they yielded no specific equipment for the gathering of people. Therefore, although it cannot be excluded, at this stage of research, there is no clear evidence for any communal or public function for this building.

Based on the pottery recovered, the settlement was seemingly abandoned by the end of the first half of the 7^th c. BCE.

 Bibliography:

F. Gaignerot-Driessen forthcoming. Before the Polis: Recent Excavations at Anavlochos, Lasithi (2017-[2020]2022), in I.D. Fappas and P.P. Iossif (eds), Αρχαιολογικές Συμβολές. Ανατολική Κρήτη (Archaeological Contributions 5), Museum of Cycladic Art: Athens.

F. Gaignerot-Driessen, P. Baulain, R. Channell, G. Erny, B. Jagou, A. Lattard, R. Machavoine,  S. Sorin 2023. Fouilles de l’Anavlochos V: La nécropole et l’agglomération urbaine du vallon central, Bulletin archéologique des Écoles françaises à l’étranger 4.

F. Gaignerot-Driessen, P. Baulain, G. Erny, B. Jagou, C. Judson, A. Lattard, R. Machavoine,  A. Paillard 2022. Fouilles de l’Anavlochos IV: L’agglomération urbaine du vallon central et la nécropole, Bulletin archéologique des Écoles françaises à l’étranger 3.

F. Gaignerot-Driessen, P. Baulain, G. Erny, B. Jagou, R. Machavoine, O. Vanwalleghem 2020. Fouilles de l’Anavlochos III: L’agglomération urbaine du vallon central et la nécropole de Lami, Bulletin archéologique des Écoles françaises à l’étranger 1.