Koumasa is the site of a prepalatial cemetery on Crete. The cemetery is located between Loukia and Koumasa near the southern border of the

Mesara The Messara Plain or simply Messara ( el, Μεσσαρά) is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruin ...

plain, right at the foothills of the

Asterousia Asterousia ( el, Αστερούσια) is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archanes-Asterousia Archanes–Asterousia ( el, Αρχάνες-� ...

-Mountains. This

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

site was first excavated by Stephanos Xanthoudides from 1904 to 1906, which was published in The vaulted tombs of Mesara. After another campaign within the years 1991 and 1992 by Alexandra Karetsou and Athanasia Kanta, the site is investigated by the University of Heidelberg supervised by Prof. Dr.

Diamantis Panagiotopoulos Diamantis Panagiotopoulos (born 6 July 1967, Athens, Greece) is an Aegean Bronze Age archaeologist and Director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Heidelberg. Education Diamantis Panagiotopoulos studied Classical Archae ...

Archaeological Area

The site contained four tombs; three tholos tombs and one rectangular tomb. Circa 10 meters in diameter and a couple of meters in height, Minoan tholoi are considered to be the tombs of the elite and often richly-stocked with valuable objects. Though the site is known mainly for these sepulcral remains, as being part of Xanthoudides fundamental studies, the site extends further to the east. There, on the steep slope as well as on top of the mound itself, Minoan archaeologists expect the position of the actual city and a precinct of bronze-age Koumasa.

Investigation

After Xanthoudides excavation back at the beginning of the 20th century, Koumasa was robbed and declined until 1991, when Alexandra Karetsou and Athanasia Kanta redirected the attention to the very promising site. The excavations went on until 1992, but were dropped afterwards. With the permission of the Greek ephory ( Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων) the site is since 2012 under investigation again by a multi-year interdisciplinary research programme of the University of Heidelberg, under the direction von Prof. Dr.

. The aim is to further investigate the site and its immediate landscape with both archaeological and scientific methods. Within this project experts of the geographical Institute of Heidelberg, supervised by Prof. Dr. Olaf Bubenzer, examine the Koumasa-Area with Terrestrial-Laser-Scanning. In cooperation with the Ben Gurion University of the Negev micromorphological specialists, supervised by Prof. Dr. Yuval Goren, contribute as a third part to the interdisciplinary project.

Archaeological finds

Pottery is of the Early Minoan IIA Koumasa style (hence the name of the site). * Clay and stone vases *

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

s * Figurines * Tools * 3 Silver Daggers

References

*Swindale, Ian
"Koumasa"
Retrieved 13 January 2006 *Xanthoudides, Stéphanos, The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, 1924. *Herrero, Borja Legarra, The Secret Lives of the Early and Middle Minoan Tholos Cemeteries: Koumasa and Platanos, in: J. Murphy - Ph. Betancourt, Prehistoric Greece. Regional and Diacronic Studies on Mortuary Systems, 2011. Minoan sites in Crete Ancient cemeteries in Greece {{AncientGreece-archaeology-stub