The publication of the West Wing of the Minoan palace of Kato Zakros

The palace complex of Kato Zakros is one of the most important buildings in Minoan Crete, whose form and finds that directly allude to the great palace of Knossos. The site is located in the far-east part of Crete, in a coastal location of great strategic and economic importance. According to the results of more recent research, the palace complex whose remains are currently visible on the site was established in the late 16th/ early 15t century BCE and was completely destroyed c. 1450 BCE (end of the Late Minoan IB period). The ‘destruction horizon’ recovered around the complex included thousands of ceramic vessels, but also hundreds of artifact of rare materials, many of which were imported from other regions in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, such as the Peloponnese, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Cyprus, Egypt and the Near East. The finds from the undisturbed Treasury of the Shrine of the West Wing of the complex include more than a hundred ritual objects used in palatial ceremonies and are considered the most important assemblage of such items that have been hitherto unearthed in Minoan Crete. 

The publication project of the West Wing aims at (i) the completion of the conservation and documentation of the finds (including their illustration and photography), (ii) the study and documentation of the architectural remains, (iii) the digitization of all archival material related to the original excavation, (iv) the specialized study of various categories of finds according to their material and, (v) eventually, the presentation, in published form, of the final publication of the excavation according to space and the full presentation of all relevant evidence.

The publication project is director by Prof. Lefteris Platon.