The Western Siteia Foothills are a range of foothills in
Lasithi in eastern
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. They are transitional in altitude between the
Ornon Mountains, which trends from west to east starting at
Kavousi
Kavousi is a historic village in the municipality of Ierapetra in the prefecture of Lasithi in eastern Crete. "Kavousi" in the Cretan dialect means "water source" (Greek: Πηγή). The village is situated 19 km (11.8 mi) northeast of Ie ...
in
Ierapetra
Ierapetra ( el, Ιεράπετρα, lit=sacred stone; ancient name: ) is a Greece, Greek town and municipality located on the southeast coast of Crete.
History
The town of Ierapetra (in the local dialect: Γεράπετρο ''Gerapetro'') is loc ...
and ending at Praesos in the east, and the north coastal plain around and west of Sitia. Part of the
Sitia Mountains
The Sitia or Siteia Mountains, also known as the Sitiaka Range, are a group of four mountain ranges extending SW-NE in Lasithi in eastern Crete, Greece. Stretching from the southern coast to the plain of the city of Sitia on the northern coast, t ...
, they complete the SW-NE trending massif of ridges from
Ierapetra
Ierapetra ( el, Ιεράπετρα, lit=sacred stone; ancient name: ) is a Greece, Greek town and municipality located on the southeast coast of Crete.
History
The town of Ierapetra (in the local dialect: Γεράπετρο ''Gerapetro'') is loc ...
to the plain of
Sitia itself.
Geologically, there is little difference between the Ornon Mountains and their northern foothills, which are west of Sitia. The same ravines cut through them both, draining from the Ornon into the Sea of Crete. The Ornon, however, are nearly uninhabitable for villages, due to their altitudes and steep slopes.
On the northern side, there are no hills greater than . This is not a good line of demarcation, however, as the hills are all much lower than 800 m. The occupation line for villages is about the contour line. These villages are in the Western Foothills, not the Ornon range. It so happens that a line drawn along the 400 m contour is parallel to the slightly lower Route E75.
Archaeologists of the early 20th century discovered that the foothills up to the occupation line had been heavily settled by
Minoan civilization
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 1450BC ...
, which makes sense, because Sitia is a good port, and the Minoans seldom settled the vulnerable coasts but moved up into the mountains valleys, with some notable exceptions, such as the town of
Mochlos. Consequently the Western Siteia Foothills have been excavated at many sites, including such villages as Lastros, Myrsini, Mouliana, Plakalona, and others. The name used by the archaeologists for the hills remains.
Geography
The foothills are entirely in the municipality of
Siteia
Sitia ( el, Σητεία) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 9,912 inhabitants (2011) and the municipality has 18,318 (2011). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos and northeast of Ierapetra. Sitia port is on the ...
in
Lasithi regional unit.
See also
*
Richtis Gorge
Richtis Gorge ( el, Φαράγγι του Ρίχτη, Faraggi tou Richti) is a gorge in Crete, GreeceMap of Richtis Gorge here. It is a state protected park near Exo Mouliana, Sitia, eastern Crete (Greece) that starts at the traditional village ...
Notes
Citations
External links
Mountains of Crete
Mountain ranges of Greece
Landforms of Lasithi
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