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 ...

peak sanctuaries are widespread throughout the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

(

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

). Most scholars agree that peak sanctuaries were used for religious rites. In all peak sanctuaries human and animal clay figurines have been found. Clay body parts, also called votive body parts, are also found in most peak sanctuaries. These open-air sanctuaries are found high in the mountains of Crete.

Eastern and east-central peak sanctuaries

Most peak sanctuaries are found in east and east-central Crete. *

Petsofas Petsofas is the archaeological site of a Minoan peak sanctuary in eastern Crete. It overlooks the Minoan town of Palaikastro and was excavated by John Myres in 1903. He discovered a large number of clay figurines, including animal and human figure ...

is the only Minoan site with clay weasel and tortoise figurines * Traostalos * Kalamafki (also Kalamaki) * Ziros Korphi tou Mare * Xykephalo * Vigla (also Viglos) * Zou Prinias * Plagia * Etiani Kephala *

Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

* Thylakas * Maza *

Karfi Karfi (also Karphi, el, Καρφί) is an archaeological site high up in the Dikti Mountains in eastern Crete, Greece. The ancient name of the site is unknown; "Karfi" ("the nail") is a local toponym for the prominent knob of limestone that mar ...

Central Crete peak sanctuaries

* Iouktas is probably the earliest of the peak sanctuaries. *

Tylissos Tylisos (also Pyrgos-Tylissos or Tylissos; el, Τύλισος; Linear B: ''Tu-li-so'')palaeolexi ...

(also Pyrgos Tylissos, ''not'' the same site as Pyrgos) * Gonies Philioremos

Western Crete peak sanctuaries

Vrysinas Vrysinas(βρύσινας) is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan peak sanctuary. Geography Aside from Chania, Vrysinas is currently the westernmost discovered Minoan site. Archaeology Vrysinas has yielded a single Linear A Linear ...

Spili Vorizi Spili ( el, Σπήλι) is a village in Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is loca ...

Atsipades Atsipades (Greek: Ατσιπάδες,) is an archaeological site of a Minoan peak sanctuary in western Crete. It is an open-air peak sanctuary, situated on a mountain and open to the elements. It was discovered by K. Nowicki in 1985. Location At ...

in the Korakias mountains was fully excavated in the 1980s. Its many hundred clay figurines and other ceramics have been analysed in detail.

Other peak sanctuaries

This section is for peak sanctuaries mentioned in passing in articles where more research is needed before categorizing them. *

Ambelos ''Filio'' was a Hansa A Type cargo ship which was built as ''Njong'' in 1944 by Stettiner Vulkan Werft AG, Stettin, Germany for Deutsche Afrika-Linien, Hamburg Germany. She was seized as a prize of war in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Tr ...

* Mount Ida * Korakomouri * Mare

References

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