- Zakros
Zakros ( _el. Ζάκρος) is a site on the eastern coast of the
island ofCrete (in modern-dayGreece ) containing ruins from theMinoan civilization . The site is often known to archaeologists as Zakro or Kato Zakro. It is believed to have been one of the four main administrative centers of theMinoan s, and its protectedharbor and strategic location made it an important commercial hub for trade to the east.The
town was dominated by thePalace of Zakro , originally built around1900 BC , rebuilt around1600 BC , and destroyed around1450 BC along with the other major centers of Minoan civilization. Extensiveruins of thepalace remain, and are a populartourist destination.Geography
Zakros is sometimes divided into "Epano Zakros" ("Upper Zakros"), the portion higher up on the hillside, and "Kato Zakros" ("Lower Zakros"), the part near the
sea . A ravine known as the "Ravine of the Dead" runs through both the upper and lower parts of the ancient site, named after the numerousburial s that have been found in thecave s along its walls.Epano Zakros is convert|38|km|mi|0|abbr=on from
Sitia . The road passes throughPalekastro where it doubles back towards the south. A comparatively large village, Zakros includes in its community the following smaller villages: Kato Zakros, Adravasti, Azokeramos, Kellaria, Klisidi and the small hamlets of Ayios Georgios, Sfaka, Kanava and Skalia. The asphalt road ends at Kato Zakros.Archaeology
Zakro was first excavated by D.G. Howarth of the British School of Archaeology at Athens and 12 houses were unearthed before the site was abandoned. In 1961,
Nikolaos Platon resumed the excavation and discovered the Palace of Zakro. This site has yieled severalclay tablet s withLinear A inscriptions. [Jan G. P. Best and Fred Woudhuizen, "Lost Languages from the Mediterranean", 1989, Brill Archive ISBN 9004089349] An ancientlabyrinth has been discovered at this site similar to the Minoan sites ofKnossos andPhaistos . [Rodney Castleden (1990) "The Knossos Labyrinth: A New View of the 'Palace of Minos' at Knosos", Routledge ISBN 0415033152] [ [http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10857/phaistos.html#fieldnotes C.Michael Hogan, "Knossos Fieldnotes", The Modern Antiquarian (2007)] ]Footnotes
External links
* [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2376 Hellenic Ministry of Culture page for Zakros]
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