Phylakopi Excavation 1911
Excavation: Research excavation
The excavation lasted from March 30th to May 30th, with a break for the Greek Easter. Miss Lorimer and Mr. Halliday were present throughout, Mr. Droop except for a week after Easter when he was at Sparta, Mr. Tillard until Easter, and Miss Lamb and Miss Tennant from Easter to the end of the work. Mr. Thompson also assisted during a visit of a week. The Director was present throughout. The German Institute kindly lent their old and experienced foreman, Evangelis Kosmopoulos. Mr. W. J. Jones was present from May 15th to 29th as architect, and made the plan and drew some of the more important vases. A series of photographs was taken by Mr. R. R6hrer, the photographer of the German Institute, who had previously worked for the School at Sparta. As mender, Joannis Katsarakis came from Palaikastro. The work was on a moderate scale, the number of workmen varying from 20 to 50. The finds are to remain in Melos to form the nucleus of a local Museum. The object of the excavation was naturally to supplement the results of the previous work, especially in the light of our greater knowledge of Crete and the mainland of Greece. The following brief account will shew that some measure of success was attained in this. At the beginning of the excavation a few trial pits were made to explore the lower levels in parts of the site which had been previously dug, notably underneath the Palace and in the region to the north of it on the edge of the cliff, where the earliest remains had been found. The results of these operations were to give good preliminary ideas of the stratification, and to produce a number of vases, but no buildings of importance were found underneath the Palace, and the remains of the earliest settlement seemed to have been entirely exhausted at the first excavation. After Easter the main part of the year's work was begun, which was to clear to the bed-rock a substantial area of the town which had been hardly touched before. This was the region in the south-east part of the town, just inside the eastern part of the great wall, and occupies squares, &c., &c., on the plan in Phylakopi (j. H. S. Supp. Papers, 4) H4, H5, J4, J5. The surface of this area was practically flat, and proved to have been terraced at some period since the desertion of the site. In consequence of this the houses were somewhat destroyed to the north, but excellently preserved to the south at the outer edge of the terrace. Here there was a metre-and-a-half of surface soil almost entirely without sherds, and below this walls to a further depth of six-and-a-half metres, before the rock was finally reached. This area was sufficient to give satisfactory results, and in several points Mr. Dawkins was able to carry further the observations of the previous excavators.
Active from 30 Mar 1911 to 30 May 1911.
Dawkins, Mr Richard McGillivray
Halliday, Sir William Reginald
Lorimer, Miss Hilda Lockhart
Droop, Professor John Percival
Thompson, Mr Maurice S. O.B.E.
[Journal] The Annual of the British School at Athens, no. 16 (1909/1910).