Hagia Photia, Siteia

Archaeological research in the Hagia Photia plain, a narrow stretch of flat land at the base of the highlands which separates the northern coast of Crete at Siteia from the southern, was until the early 1980s largely restricted to the excavation conducted by Prof. Costis Davaras in the Early Minoan I-II necropolis (2800-2300 BC). There he uncovered some 300 small chamber tombs of Cycladic type, containing chiefly ceramics either imported from the Cyclades or modeled on that tradition, as well as quantities of large obsidian blades brought from the Cycladic island of Melos, the chief source for this volcanic stone. The presence of this colony appears to have been related to the trade in this raw material. Otherwise the area was virtually unknown. The cemetery at Hagia Photia was recently published (Davaras and Betancourt 2004).