Pseira and Mochlos are both small offshore islands. They were settled at about the same time, in the Final Neolithic period, and they both had Minoan towns during the Bronze Age. Both towns suffered destructions in LM IB.

The island of Pseira is 2.5 km long and a little over 1 km wide. Its relation to the coast of Crete can be seen in the image shown in Plate 2A. This image was taken with the French SPOT 1 Earth Observation Satellite launched on February 28, 1986. It was taken on June 21, 1987, at a time with no cloud...

The derivation of the name Pseira is not completely certain. In modern Greek the word pseira (not psyra) is used to denote something very small and unimportant. As an alternative, the name may be associated with the island’s resemblance to an insect when seen from Crete; this resemblance is certainly regarded as the origin of the name by many of the residents of the region today. Pseira’s profile resembles the pseira (spelled both Ψείρα and Ψύρα), a name used in Crete for several small, wingless insects with flat bodies in the orders Anoplura and Mallophaga, including the human body louse...

The island of Pseira is situated in the northeastern sector of the Gulf of Mirabello about 2.5 km west of the limestone headland near Mochlos village. It is separated from the Cretan mainland by waters at least 300 m deep. The islet is essentially an asymmetric block of limestone about 2.4 km long northeast-southwest, having a very steep northwest face and a more gentle southeastern slope. The outline of the island is roughly that of a figure-eight, with the northern end considerably smaller than the southern one. The highest point of the islet is 204.1 m above sea level (a.s.l.)....

An archaeologically based soil survey was carried out on Pseira during July 1987 and July 1988 to examine the present landscape and to determine the changes that have taken place in soil morphology. Soil samples were taken at twelve soil profiles (Ill. 6), and other geographical studies were conducted on the island as a whole with the intent of determining the ancient soil conditions.

The goals of the soil survey were as follows:

1. To provide detailed descriptions of the present soils and their distribution and prepare a soil map of the island.

2. To assess the potential for agricultural production through...

Islands are known for their peculiar plant life. The number of species is often reduced compared to an equivalent area of mainland, but the plants are often bizarre and specialized. This characteristic is demonstrated by Crete compared to Europe, and by the islands off Crete compared to Crete itself. For example, the islet of Elaphonisi, off the southwest corner of Crete, has quite different flora from the adjacent mainland, even though the environment is apparently similar and the two locations are now separated by sea only 1 m deep (the strait has been deeper for most of the Holocene).

Pseira...

“The Gulf of Mirabello is enclosed by picturesque mountains,” wrote Captain T.A.B. Spratt (1865, 152) “… but it presents no cultivation that is visible whilst sailing up the bay, nor a single inhabitant on its shore; all looks wild and grand from the sea.”

The abandonment of all unfortified towns along the coast in this part of Crete, a circumstance that suggests piracy and raiders, seems to have been the usual situation during most periods between the last occupation of the Early Byzantine monastery on Pseira Island and the late nineteenth century. Pseira, even more exposed than the nearby coast...

To make an evaluation of Richard Seager’s excavations on Pseira, one must understand something of his training and experience. Archaeology was just beginning when Pseira was first excavated. Seager was one of the pioneers in Cretan archaeology, and his ideas on the Minoans were still developing when he worked on Pseira Island. His interests and temperament as well as his archaeological methodology are crucial to our understanding of the work he performed; he was the first person in modern times to take a serious look at the island, and he produced the platform of knowledge on which all later research...

After Richard Seager finished his work in 1907, the island of Pseira was largely neglected by archaeologists except for an occasional visit to see the ancient remains. Seager himself guided visitors to the island on several occasions over the next few years (Hall 1910 a; 1910 b), and other visitors hired boats on their own to make the trip. They left only a few records of their visits (Schachermeyr 1938; Hammond, Dunbabin, and Roberts 1948, 41–42).

One of the best-documented trips is the journey made by John Pendlebury on his first trip to eastern Crete in 1928 (Hammond, Dunbabin,...

The early twentieth century professions, trades, and traditional crafts in rural Crete have received increasing scholarly attention as they have started to radically alter and disappear. The relevance of many of these activities to the interpretation of the archaeological record is self-evident. In a part of the world where the geography, climate, vegetation, and other factors have a direct relation to the ancient situation, the ways in which Cretans responded to challenges in the days before mechanization often have close relevance to the responses of other periods in time. Archaeologists working in Crete should not ignore the ethnological record.

The...

Although modern technology has caught up with the coastal area fishermen of northeast Crete, many of the techniques they use are still largely based on traditional practices. Electronic depth sounders have replaced lines and stones as a way of reading the seabed. A daily consultation with the national weather bureau is considered basic, but the men also spend long hours gazing at the sky for any signs of changes in the weather. The first gasoline-powered motor was introduced in the years preceding World War II. This boat was not used for fishing but for transport of goods. At that time...

The older residents of the villages at the eastern end of the Gulf of Mirabello can still recall the local sea trade of the early years of the twentieth century (for the principal informants see the list at the end of this chapter). They recollect that traffic by sea greatly changed in character during the 1940s. Before the beginning of World War II, both passengers and goods were carried regularly on a wide variety of small craft, with the sea traffic reaching its peak of volume just before the war. Local trade by sea slowed considerably during the war years,...

Before the 1940s, a series of small, privately owned operations furnished the lime needed for construction in the small Cretan villages opposite Pseira. According to one source, more than twenty lime kilns once existed, and every streambed had at least one (Zervakis interview, 8/8/88). The operations themselves were fairly simple, but they made a significant contribution to the local economy both in terms of the lime produced and the employment opportunities created during the summer months; although only a kiln or two worked each season, a busy operation could employ more than twenty men. All the lime was consumed locally,...

This chapter examines the place of ceramics during the twentieth century in East Crete, especially in the villages lying between Lastros and Exo Mouliana, above the harbor of Mochlos. It presents a view of change in pottery production and consumption, acknowledging potters’ active roles in the ceramic system of this part of the island. Ethnographic studies of potters in Crete have been carried out within two broad disciplines, those of Aegean archaeology and laographía, both of which have presented an essentially static view of the craft, emphasizing continuity within a production-based perspective. These traditions of inquiry will be considered and...

Ethnology studies carry no implication of continuity either in a population or in technology or society. On the other hand, they can suggest models for responses to specific sets of geographic situations, raw materials, and other conditions. The documentation of how an agrarian population responds to certain needs offers insights that may lead to hypotheses on how other agrarian populations may have responded, but it never proves any connection. Similarities in as many factors as possible, however, lessen the number of likely responses to any given problem. For this reason, ethnology studies are more likely to lead to useful hypotheses...