Archaeologists excavating at the Zominthos mountain palace site, on Crete’s Mount Psiloritis, have reported exciting new discoveries that indicate its use as an important religious sanctuary, despite the restrictions on their work the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ANA reports.
“Once again, it is shown that the Zominthos palace had a political, economic and religious character throughout its existence, due also to its proximity to the major religious center of the Ideon Andron, which enjoyed renown in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and Egypt,” a culture ministry announcement said on Friday. The Ideon Andron is a famous cave in the area.
Among the surprising finds are the remains of a burnt wooden object surrounded by thin flakes of gold, indicative of a wooden statuette covered in gold leaf and similar to gold-plated ivory statues seen in other locations. There is also a ritual pestle and a seal with an animal depiction, as well as signs of an earlier sanctuary dating back to 1900 B.C. with fragments of figurines of humans and animals, including a well-formed female figurine.
The new complex has revealed the remains of rooms with flagstone floors and a notable drains system, as well as pipes that begin in complex one and continue north. Among the various pottery finds, one room contained a flower-shaped seal dated to the period of the early palaces, while the various pottery shards show that its use even predates the foundation of the early palaces.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Olaf Tausch
