Polish excavations at the mountainous site of Karfi (Lasithi, Crete): a preliminary report on the 2023 and 2024 seasons
2025, 34, Numer 1
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Karfi is an important site located in a remote mountainous area of Crete at an altitude of 1140 m. It is distinguished by its large size and by its foundation during a widespread population shift that occurred throughout the Aegean —most clearly documented in Crete— around 1200 BC. A small part of the settlement was excavated in 1937–1939 by the British archaeologist John Pendlebury. Karfi is one of the best-preserved sites of the period in question and may therefore help to illuminate the much-debated problem of why a large part of the Cretan population moved to mountainous areas that had been rarely, if ever, previously occupied. Apart from its main period of occupation as a defensible settlement, Karfi also served during the Middle Bronze Age II (approximately 1800–1700 BC) as a ritual place. This article presents a short report with preliminary results from two excavation seasons conducted in three different sectors, each representing different aspects of the site’s use and history. The excavations were carried out on behalf of the Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens under one of the first excavation permits issued by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport to a Polish academic institution.
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