Dissertation committee:
Παναγιώτα Πολυχρονάκου-Σγουρίτσα, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Χρύσανθος Κανελλόπουλος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Απόστολος Σαρρής, Ερευνητής Α΄, Ινστιτούτο Μεσογειακών Σπουδών, Ίδρυμα Τεχνολογίας και Έρευνας
Ελένη Μαντζουράνη, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Ελευθέριος Πλάτων, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Γιώργος Βαβουρανάκης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Ελευθερία Τσακανίκα-Θεοχάρη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Σχολή Αρχιτεκτόνων Μηχανικών, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο
Summary:
Unlike the vast majority of neopalatial buildings situated in coastal or lowland areas, the discovery of the Zominthos Building in central Crete, on the northern slope of Psiloritis at an altitude of about 1,200 meters, raises new scientific questions on the role of mountains and the extent to which natural environment impacted on how Late Bronze Age buildings were constructed.
In this context, the present study focuses on the presentation of the architectural elements and the construction techniques of the Zominthos Building (walls, ground and upper-storey floors, columns and piers, staircases and stairs, doors and windows, benches, niches, drains), compared with the key features of neopalatial buildings. An innovative three-stage methodology was used for managing and documenting archaeological information which includes: data collection and processing, information technologies, scientific tools and results.
To this end, as part of this dissertation, a new version of the cultural information system Synthesis was released from the Center for Cultural Informatics of FORTH-Institute of Computer Science in relation to the management, organization, study and documentation of data on prehistoric buildings, from the initial stage of the excavation to the final publication.
This information system based on the semantic international standard CIDOC CRM and its compatible extensions CRMarchaeo and CRMba. For its design and implementation was used an innovative semantic modeling methodology which derived from the combination of archaeological excavation data with preserved architectural remains. In this context, the Synthesis system was extended in order to support new entities, like Archaeological Site, Archaeological Building, Area, Room, Pottery Units, Structural/Architectural Elements, Finds, Excavation Events, Printed Archive and Parallel.
Considering that architectural elements form an integral part of a wider framework of a comprehensive study of the building architecture and construction, this dissertation proposes a separation, with architectural criteria, of the spaces of the ground floor in the Zominthos Building in 10 (ten) units (A-I); an attempt is also made to identify the most important of them with the typical room types of Minoan architecture.
In connection with the importance of the study of the upper-storey for Minoan architecture, we separate the outdoor and indoor spaces of the Zominthos Building on the basis of specific criteria, we calculate the surface of the non-preserved upper storey and present a plan for it, based on the analysis of individual architectural features. Regarding the roof and the degree of influence of the wider natural environment of the area as well as the relief of the Cretan landscape on the construction of the Zominthos Building, we investigate the roof structure in relation to the general context of the era, in a mountainous area with difficult climatic conditions.
To substantiate the conclusions regarding the architectural elements and the construction techniques, with an emphasis on the non-preserved parts of the upper-floor and the roof, we have created a three-dimensional photorealistic model and digital representations of a section of the Zominthos Building.
The final conclusions of this study include an evaluation of the methodology applied, and observations as well as future questions on both the neopalatial buildings and the general context of the period and on the character and function of the Zominthos Building in relation to the choice of location, size, method of construction and architectural design. An important part of the conclusions are the basic similarities, differences and peculiarities of the Zominthos Building, as found in the present study, compared to the major buildings of the Late Bronze Age in Crete and Thera, with emphasis on the ones nearest to Zominthos, namely Tylisos and Sklavokambos.
Keywords:
minoan architecture, prehistoric archaeology, neopalatial buildings, archaeological data, documentation, information system, CIDOC CRM, digital representation, Zominthos Building
