The Minoan settlement in Myrtos

By Kreeta.info/Juhani

Updated 15.03.2014

Close to the village of Myrtos, on the top of a high hill, there is one of the Minoan settlements in Crete; its stony foundations have been excavated and there are pieces of thousands of years old pottery lying everywhere. The site is easy to reach on foot from Myrtos, just a couple of hundred metres walk towards Ierapetra and after a bridge there are the signs to the left where the site is. It’s well worth going all the way to the top because there you find the most interesting structures.
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The Minoans lived on the hill in the background, Myrtos is outside the picture on the right.
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The top of the hill overlooks the surrounding areas, at the back there is the Myrtos village and between the hill and the village there is the Myrtos river.
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The main entrance was probably from the east where the steps rise to the top of the hill.
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One special detail are the skilfully made ashlar foundations.
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The Minoans built here also sewerage system, paved traffic routes and to the northeast slope of the hill, a stony water tank.

From the site were also found a tomb and ossuaries with the remains of 65 dead. An ossuary is an area where the bones of the dead are collected after the bodies have fully decomposed, it is in use also nowadays in Crete.
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Skilfully carved surface of a stony pillar.
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The biggest of the Minoan buildings was situated on the south side of the hill, it is based on a supposition that in the Late Minoan era it had been the ruling building of the Myrtos valley.
In the front there are the remains of two stony pillar bottoms and behind them there are the wall and floor structures.
Archeological excavations of the whole site were made by Gerald Cadogan in 1970-1982.
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Sources: Wikipedia
              uk.digiserve.com
Pictures:  © Juhani Viitanen
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