The Kavousi Project (also known as the Kavousi Excavations) was a multidisciplinary program of archaeological investigations (active seasons of fieldwork: 1978–1984, 1987–1992) in the area of Kavousi, a historic village at the eastern end of the Gulf of Mirabello in East Crete, Greece.Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1985; Day, Coulson, and Gesell 1986; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1988; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1995; Gesell and Day in Haggis 2005, pp. xvii–xix; Gesell and Day in Day, Klein and Turner 2009, pp. xxv–xxvii. The objective of the project was to restudy a number of archaeological sites originally investigated by the pioneering American archaeologist Harriet Boyd [Hawes] in the early years of the 20th century,Boyd 1901 focusing on the Greek Dark Age sites of Kavousi Vronda and Kavousi Kastro, but also including tombs at nearby Aloni, Plaï tou Kastrou, and Skouriasmenos, all located in the northern foothills of the Thripti Mountains of eastern Crete.
The Kavousi Project was directed by Geraldine C. Gesell (University of Tennessee), Leslie Preston Day (College of Wooster; later, Wabash College), and William D.E. Coulson (University of Minnesota; later, American School of Classical Studies at Athens). The research and fieldwork were conducted with permission from the Greek Ministry of Culture, under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Archaeological Service. Major financial supporters of the Kavousi Project included the University of Tennessee, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Geographic Society, the American Philosophical Society, the American Council of Learned Societies, the David A. Packard Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Joullian Foundation, Mr. Richard L. Sias and Mrs. Jeannette F. Sias, and many others.Day, Klein and Turner 2009, pp. xxix–xxxi.
History of Research In 1974, Geraldine C. Gesell and Leslie Preston Day initiated a project to locate a number of ancient sites previously investigated by early American archaeologists in the Isthmus of Ierapetra, many of which were not marked accurately on maps of the time.Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983; Gesell and Day in Day, Klein and Turner 2009, pp. xxv–xxvii. By 1978, this informal survey was narrowed to sites in the area of Kavousi. In the same year (1978), Gesell and Day were joined by William D.E. Coulson to establish the Kavousi Project. When formal excavations at the sites of Vronda and Kastro began in 1987, the Kavousi Project became known as the Kavousi Excavations. A brief chronological outline of the work is as follows: 1978: mapping of sites in the Kavousi area. 1979: study of material from a tholos tomb (now designated Vronda IX) discovered at Vronda by local landowner George Sekadakis in 1951 and housed in the archaeological collection of Ierapetra; study of material housed in the Herakleion Museum from tombs at Plaï tou Kastrou (pottery and metal object purchased by British archaeologist Arthur Evans in the late 19th century), Vronda, Chondrovolakes, Aloni, and Skouriasmenos (all excavated by American archaeologist Harriet Boyd [Hawes] in 1900–1901). 1981: cleaning of tholos tombs at Vronda, tombs at Aloni (southwest of the Kastro) and Ridopoulia (east of Kavousi village). 1982–1983: cleaning of Kastro in preparation for balloon photography for The Aerial Atlas of Ancient Crete;Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1992, pp. 120–123, figs. 16.2–4. drawing of architectural remains and additional surveying on Kastro. 1983–1984: cleaning and mapping of architectural remains on Vronda. 1985: conference held in Ierapetra and Kavousi to present the current findings and develop interest in future excavations. 1986: study season. 1987–1990: large-scale, scientific excavations at both Vronda and Kastro.Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1988; Gesell, Coulson, and Day 1991; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1995. 1988–1990: diachronic archaeological survey (Kavousi-Thriphti Survey) of the Kavousi region conducted as a component of the Kavousi Project.Haggis and Mook 1993; Haggis 2005. 1991: study season. 1992: final season of excavation and cleaning at Vronda and Kastro. 1987–1992: pedological and geomorphological investigations in the Kavousi region conducted as a component of the Kavousi Project.Morris 2002; Morris, Ammons, Timpson, and Foss in Haggis 2005, pp. 153–165. 1993–1996: site conservation and consolidation at Vronda and Kastro. 1993–2003: study seasons. 2005–present: publication of the Kavousi Excavation Series by INSTAP Academic Press.
Today, select antiquities discovered by the Kavousi Project and Kavousi Excavations are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos and in the Archaeological Collection of Ierapetra. Other artifacts, notebooks, original drawings and plans, and photographic contact sheets are housed in the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete (INSTAP-SCEC) in Pacheia Ammos in eastern Crete, Greece. The primary photographic archives (black-and-white film negatives) are curated by the Department of Classics at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville); copies of color slides and some other materials are also preserved in the W.D.E. Coulson Archives and Library in the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology at the University of Thessaly (Volos, Greece).
Archaeological Sites Investigated
Kavousi Vronda
Settlement site, c. 427 meters above sea level, established slightly later than Kavousi Kastro and inhabited for up to four generations (around 120 years) before being abandoned at the very end of the Late Minoan IIIC period (c. 1050 BCE).Boyd 1901, pp. 131–136; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983; Haggis 2005, pp. 134, site 77; Day, Klein, and Turner 2009; Day and Glowacki 2011; Day et al. 2016. Vronda ("Thunder Hill"; or Βρόντας) was briefly explored by Harriet Boyd [Hawes] in 1900 and extensively excavated by the Kavousi Project from 1987 to 1992. At its greatest extent, the Vronda settlement covered an area of at least 0.50 hectares and consisted of about 20 houses, a large "special status" building on the summit that may have been the home of the community leader and a place for ritual feasting and drinking ceremonies (Building A-B), a freestanding temple or shrine of the "Goddess with Upraised Arms" () (Building G), and a kiln. In the Subminoan–Protogeometric periods (late 11th and 10th centuries BCE) — and continuing until the early Geometric period (9th century BCE) — Vronda was used as a cemetery for inhumation burials in at least 11 small, stone-built and corbeled tholos tombs. Located at the northern and northwestern edges of the Late Minoan IIIC settlement, these tholos tombs may have been constructed by the descendants of the original villagers, some of whom most likely had moved to the higher settlement at Kavousi Kastro. In the Late Geometric–Orientalizing periods (8th to 7th centuries BCE), numerous stone-built enclosures (cists) for cremation burials were constructed within and around the long-abandoned and partially collapsed Late Minoan IIIC houses and shrine. As an extensively excavated settlement from a single period of occupation, Kavousi Vronda provides insights into domestic activities, architecture, religion, and social organization of a community at the very beginning of the Greek Dark Ages (Late Minoan IIIC, or 12th to 11 centuries BCE). Its later cemeteries, used by the inhabitants of Kavousi Kastro and/or nearby Azoria until the late-7th century BCE, attest to regional mortuary practices, rituals, and ideological concerns throughout the Early Iron Age.
Kavousi Kastro
Settlement site, c. 713 meters above sea level, founded early in the Late Minoan IIIC period (12th century BCE) and continuously inhabited down to the Orientalizing period (late 7th century BCE), after which the site was abandoned.Boyd 1901, pp. 137–143; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1992; Coulson, Haggis, Mook, and Tobin 1997; Coulson 1998; Haggis 2005, pp. 136, site 80 The Kastro ("Citadel" or "Castle"; ) was briefly explored by Harriet Boyd [Hawes] in 1900 and extensively excavated by the Kavousi Project from 1987 to 1992. At its greatest extent, the settlement on the Kastro covered an area of at least 0.84 hectares. While most of the preserved architectural remains belong to the Late Geometric–Early Orientalizing phases (8th to 7th centuries BCE), there is ample evidence for the construction of walls, rooms, and houses in the Late Minoan IIIC and Protogeometric periods (12th to 10th centuries BCE), with renovations and additions over time. In particular, the Kastro settlement seems to have grown significantly at the end of the Late Minoan IIIC period. Since this is precisely the same time that the settlement at Kavousi Vronda was abandoned, it is likely that at least some of the population of Vronda was absorbed into the community at the Kastro. The Kastro may have become the dominant site in the Kavousi region from the 11th through the 8th centuries BCE. In the Late Geometric period (second half of the 8th century BCE), the excavated portion of the settlement included at least 21 houses, one of which (Building H) may have been a "special status" structure distinguished by its size and highly visible location on the western slope. Kavousi Kastro thus reveals a long sequence of occupation that provides insights into domestic activities, architecture, and social organization of a community throughout the entire Early Iron Age. Its well-preserved Late Geometric–Early Orientalizing (8th to 7th centuries BCE) settlement enhances our understanding of ancient society in a key period of Cretan history immediately before the transition to larger urban centers in the Archaic period (6th century BCE), such as at nearby Azoria.
Aloni (Skala) Location of four tholos tombs, c. 300 meters southwest of Kavousi Kastro, originally excavated by Harriet Boyd [Hawes] and Blanche Wheeler in 1901 and reinvestigated by the Kavousi Project in 1981.Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983, pp. 410–412; Haggis 2005, pp. 134–135, site 78. The tombs at Aloni ("Threshing Floor"; ), also known locally as Skala ("Stairway" or "Ladder"; ) are now designated Aloni I–IV. Only three tombs (Aloni I, II, and IV) were still preserved in 1981. Ceramic remains suggest periods of use in the Subminoan–Protogeometric, Geometric, and Late Geometric–Early Orientalizing periods. Based on their location and period of use, it is likely that these tombs formed part of a cemetery used by inhabitants of Kavousi Kastro.
Plaï tou Kastrou Location of at least one stone-built tholos tomb on a slope c. 200 meters south of Kavousi Kastro, from which the British archaeologist Arthur Evans had obtained antiquities in 1896 and 1899.Boyd 1901, pp. 149; Gesell, Day, and Coulson 1983, pp. 412–413; Haggis 2005, pp. 136–137, site 81. The artifacts from the tomb at Plaï tou Kastrou ("Slope of the Kastro"; or Πλαγί του Κάστρου) date to the Subminoan–Early Protogeometric and Late Geometric–Early Orientalizing periods. Based on its location and period of use, it is likely that the tomb at Plaï tou Kastrou was used by inhabitants of Kavousi Kastro.
Skouriasmenos