1The 2011 four week campaign conducted in Zone 3 focused on the western part of Building CD (Rooms 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, and 3.11). Room 3.8 and the two compartments 3.9 and 3.10 were also intensively cleaned and the tumble blocking the opening between Room 3.1 and Room 4.11 was removed, without, however, revealing a threshold.

1. Room 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10

2Room 3.8 – ‘the shrine’ – was excavated in 2009 and a preliminary report was published in the previous Sissi volume (Sissi II: 89-92). In 2011, cleaning in the southern part of the room allowed the south wall to be delimited and highlighted the existence of the small space 3.12 to the south of 3.8. The excavation of compartments 3.9 and 3.10, only accessible with a ladder from the platform located to the east of Room 3.10, was also completed in 2011. A kalathos (11-09-0579-OB004) similar to the ones found in the shrine in 2009 was found against the eastern wall of Room 3.9. Under the LM IIIB floor level was a LM IA layer containing a conical cup (11-03-0579-OB003) and the leg of a tripod cooking pot with a typical oval section. The walls delimiting Room 3.9 and Room 3.10 were built above this LM IA layer. It thus became clear that these two tiny spaces were part of a building plan including Room 3.1, 3.4 and 3.8 during the last phase of occupation of the building and may have served as granaries or the like.

2. Room 3.4

3To the west of Room 3.8 and Room 3.9 is Room 3.4, partly excavated in 2008 (Sissi I: 123-125). Then different enigmatic features were encountered, including a circular hearth (C 20) (diam: ca. 1.70 m) located in the north-west corner and above all floor levels identified in the room (fig. 4.7). No clear substructure was identified. The hearth comprised a thick layer of ash and charcoal but no other material apart from some unburned shells, sherds, and fragments of plaster and pumice. A few bricks which seemed to delimit the hearth were recovered in 2008 which could suggest that the structure may rather have been an oven than a hearth, but we still lack convincing evidence to confirm this hypothesis. Fragments of two broken but complete pithoi were recovered around C 20 (fig. 4.7). Beneath the pithos to the east (11-03-0570-OB005), charcoal, shells and a concentration of unburned bones were recovered. To the south-west, against the hearth and underneath fragments of a second pithos (11-03-0570-OB008), representing the only burned sherds recovered from this part of the room, was a 0.15 m deep pit containing a stone vase (11-03-0573-OB001) and a lithic tool (11-03-0573-OB002) (fig. 4.8). Immediately to the south of the pit and roughly in the middle of the room was built a stone platform from where a conical cup (11-03-0570-OB009) and lithic tools were recovered (fig. 4.8). A triton shell (11-03-0570-OB004), kalathoi (11-03-0555-OB002, 11-03-0570-OB003 and 6), a conical cup (11-03-0570-OB007) and some shells were found in front of a large ammouda block that was lying in a niche in the north-east corner, along Wall C 21 (fig. 4.7). This ammouda block was probably fallen from the eastern part of Wall C 18. The kalathoi are similar to the ones found in Room 3.8 in 2009 (Sissi II: 89-92) and the one found between the ammouda block and Wall C 21 in 2008 (Sissi I: 125). Two of the kalathoi (11-03-0570-OB003 & 6) were found stacked and upside down. Among the finds from this part of Room 3.4 a possible seal in steatite deserves mention (11-03-0570-OB001; see Anastasiadou below). In general, the nature and the location of the finds from the northern part of the room suggest a connection with the ritual equipment from the shrine 3.8 and a possible ritual function for the hearth C 20.

4To the south, large fragments of pithoi and a mudbrick structure (C 37) in which three circular spaces were arranged was found (fig. 4.9). Since the structure, tentatively interpreted as a vase support, as well as some of the pithoi fragments clearly pass beneath Wall C 13 and were found under a LM III destruction layer, it can be assumed that this structure was related to an earlier phase of occupation of the space and built against Wall C 25 (see Sissi I: 125). The excavation of this part of Room 3.4 also yielded lithic tools, fragments of stone vases, obsidian blades, a fragment of metal, a lead cylinder (11-03-0553-OB003) and a circular lead weight (11-03-0553-OB007).

3. Room 3.6

5Cleaning of Wall C 19 in Room 3.4 revealed in the southern part a possible space for a window opening on Room 3.6 (figs. 4.9 and 4.10). This hypothesis was confirmed by the find of a jamb in ammouda fallen immediately in front of the opening in Room 3.6. A similar L-shaped block, possibly the second part of the window frame, was recovered from a dump in Zone 5 (Devolder, this volume). A bronze knife (11-03-0565-OB001), inserted in the western part of Wall C 16, was found during cleaning (fig. 4.11). The south part of the L-shaped Room 3.6 was excavated in 2008 when a large amount of pumice, known for its abrasive properties (Gaignerot-Driesssen and Driessen 2012), as well as several pithoi in which the lumps of pumice were seemingly stored, was found beneath an abandonment layer belonging to the last phase of occupation of the building (Sissi I: 123, 127-128). The excavation of the northern part revealed a similar concentration of pumice, another pithos (11-03-0557-OB002) and a lekane (11-03-0557-OB001) (fig. 4.10). Fragments of plaster were recovered from the room, most probably fallen from the walls. On the floor and close to the western façade wall was a toolkit of 28 stone items, including pounders, polishers and a polygonal possible granodiorite pestle (medium to coarse grained igneous rock) (11-03-0559-OB001) (for a detailed description and illustration, see Tsoraki this volume). From the same context also come a steatite spindle whorl with a decoration of inscribed circles (11-03-0587-OB003), very similar to that found in Zone 6 (11-06-2184-OB001; Jusseret, this volume, fig. 6.22) (fig. 4.12), fragments of possible stone vases, obsidian blades as well as an inverted quern (11-03-0561-OB005), set against Wall C 19 (fig. 4.10). A champagne cup (11-03-0561-OB002) was recovered to the south of the toolkit and represents the second prestige drinking vessel from the area since a kylix was already found in 3.6 in 2008 (see Sissi I: 123). More lithic tools were recovered from the south-eastern part of the space, particularly a fragment of a pounder (11-03-0584-OB001; 11-03-0587-OB001-2; see Tsoraki this volume).

6Once the large belly fragments of pithos 11-03-0557-OB002 were removed, two nests of spools north and south of a slab appeared together with the three legs of the pithos (fig. 4.13). In total, 58 terracotta spools, sometimes poorly fired, were collected from Room 3.6, with a range of weight between 0.63 and 0.80 g, 38 of them weighing between 0.70 and 0.75 g2 (fig. 4.14). Their presence in a LM IIIB context at the latest on a Cretan coastal site is of particular interest. These hourglass-shaped loom weights are considered as a typical production of the Sea People (Rahmstorf 2003; 2005; 2011: 320-322; Stager 1995; Yassur-Landau 2003: 588; 2010: 132, 267-270, 841). Until now the earliest published examples in the Aegean came from LM IIIB2 contexts in Kastelli Chania (Brun-Lundgren & Wiman 2000: 177-178, pl. 97, 99a. 1,3, 100b. 1-7, 1003e. 10-2, 104a. 5, 106c. 5, 110a. 9, 112c. 1; Yassur-Landau 2010: 132). Quartier Nu at Malia also yielded four comparable spools coming from probable LM IIIA2-B1 contexts (J. Driessen pers. com.). However, most of the Mainland and Aegean examples date to LH IIIC Early and later (Rahmstorf 2003; 2005; 2011: 321; Yassur-Landau 2010: 132) and they were also recovered on Crete in LM IIIC contexts, e.g. from Room K 44 in Karphi (Preston Day 2011: 123 and pl. 15c), Chalasmenos (Tsipopoulou & Coulson 1994: 80 pl. 10.3; Tsipopoulou & Nowicki 2003: 566, 580 fig. 26), Knossos (Warren 1982-83: 73 fig. 58; Evely 1984: 248, 297, pl. 231.14-5), Phaistos (Rahmstorf 2003: 400 n. 37), and Palaikastro (Sackett et al. 1965: 45-50, 305, fig. 19). In a recent theoretical approach on interregional interactions in the 12^th century Levant, Yassur-Landau (2011: 248-253) considers the use of spool loom weights on Cyprus and in Philistia during this period among other domestic behavioural patterns as an indicator of what he calls a ‘deep change’ caused by migrants intending to settle down. Nevertheless, it is worth to note that traditional, circular perforated loom weights in terracotta (11-03-0584-OB003 and 11-03-0587-OB004) were also recovered from the spool assemblage in Room 3.6 at Sissi and elsewhere in Building CD in contemporaneous contexts (Letesson, this volume). On the basis of the model developed by Yassur-Landau (2011), the ethnicity of the inhabitants of Sissi in LM IIIA-B, or at least the nature of their interaction with the Sea People during this period, clearly needs to be further explored.

7To conclude on the function of Room 3.6, it can be said from the nature of finds that the space was devoted to various kinds of domestic/industrial activities, including weaving and possibly stone working, although we lack as yet sufficient conclusive evidence to confirm this second hypothesis (Tsoraki, this volume).

4. Room 3.11

8An opening in the eastern end of Wall C 15 to the north of Room 3.6 gives access to Room 3.11 (ca. 19 m²), which, in its turn communicates with Room 4.7 to the north. It seems, however, that during the last phase of occupation of the building, all accesses to Room 3.11 were blocked. A thick and compact abandonment layer covered a destruction layer with typical architectural debris, itself covering a badly preserved pebble floor. A column base (C 39) is located in the middle of the room (fig. 4.15). The many plaster fragments found in the corners of the room suggest that the walls of the room were plastered. An important quantity of pumice stones (albeit less numerous than in Room 3.6) were collected from the abandonment layer. Very little other material was found apart from a champagne cup (11-03-0581-OB001), a kalathos (11-03-0604-OB002), a fragment of a beehive (11-03-0604-OB001), a stone bead (11-03-0591-OB002), a fragment of a figurine (turtle?) (11-03-0596-OB001), some lithic tools and obsidian flakes. A stone with a circular depression (11-03-0600-OB001), apparently fallen, was close to Wall C 19. Tests into the pebble floor brought to light a lekane (11-03-0608-OB001), next to the column base (fig. 4.10), and two other vases (11-03-0610-OB001 and 2) along the north part of Wall D 17.

5. Room 3.5

9Room 3.5, to the south of Room 3.6, was also abandoned during the last phase of the building as attested by the stratigraphy and the blocking of the door into adjacent Room 3.3 (Sissi I: 123). Excavation in 2011 revealed a circular hearth (C38) in the south-east corner below the abandonment layer. This hearth was built on a mudbrick substructure and delimited by a stone structure to the south (fig. 4.16). Waste from the hearth was seemingly deposited in a pit in the north-east corner of the room. A square stone built structure was found empty in the south-west corner.

10Immediately to the east of the entrance into Room 3.6, three large sideropetra blocks were embedded into the floor along and at a distance of ca. 0.30 m from the north wall C15. In the western part of the room, the rest of a pithos partly removed in 2008 (08-03-0485-OB001; see Sissi I: 123) was found. A large amount of pumice was also collected from this area. From the same context come two fragments of stone vases (11-03-0582-OB001; 11-03-0593-OB003), numerous lithic tools including two possible hammers (11-03-0589-OB006; 11-03-0593-OB007), a fragment of a grinding slab (11-03-0589-OB008), a stone with a circular depression (11-03-0594-OB002), a possible stone weight (11-03-0594-OB004), a circular stone object with two perforations (11-03-0594-OB001), a bone needle (11-03-0594-OB005), two conical cups (11-03-0582-OB002; 11-03-0588-OB004), a fine LM III alabastron decorated with panels (11-03-0589-OB005; see Langohr, this volume fig. 7.2) and two jugs (11-03-0585-OB001; 11-03-0589-OB003). Some patches of floor were conserved, in clay along the western wall, in tarazza along the south wall (fig. 4.16).

11Tests in the eastern part of the room revealed a Neopalatial destruction layer containing at least 15 vessels lying on the bedrock (fig. 4.16), among them an ogival cup (11-03-0598-OB001), a globular cup (11-03-0603-OB006), the base of a beehive (11-03-0603-OB007) and a conical cup (11-03-0609-OB003). Small finds further include a glass bead (11-03-0601-OB001), a terracotta circular loom weight (11-03-0601-OB003), a terracotta spindle whorl (11-03-0601-OB007) and a fine sealstone representing a lion and a tree (11-03-0603-OB001; see Anastasiadou, below). It is likely that this deposit continues. Large fragments of painted plaster were collected and it is assumed that they originally decorated the walls. Differences in the construction of the south wall C10 moreover suggest that Room 3.5 may have been cut in two east and west parts in a previous phase. During conservation of the platform in the southwest corner of the room by N. Nikakis after the excavation, a complete stone blossom-bowl (11-03-0611-OB002) was found outside and beneath this structure, along the western side. It is quasi identical to that found in Zone 2 in 2010 (10-02-2202-OB002; see Sissi II: 78 and 79, fig. 4.11g). It should also be Neopalatial.

6. A Note on the Seals (Maria Anastasiadou)

12A seal and a pendant or the remains of a pendant seal were found in Zone 3 during the 2011 campaign. Seal 11-03-0603-OB001 is a Late Minoan soft stone lentoid (fig. 4.17). The measurements of the seal are: seal faces: 1.45 x 1.40 (parallel to the stringhole) cm. The edges of the intaglio are very sharp and the engraving shows no signs of abrasion which suggests that the seal is almost workshop fresh. The piece is engraved with hand tools. Depicted is a seated lion to the left and behind it, a plant with three ‘leaves’. The pose of the lion, the depiction of four bent legs in profile, and the downwards bending claws are common in LM I lions carved on soft stone (Pini 1995: 194-200). The plant motif is also encountered on LM I seals in connection with seated lions (Pini 1995: 299, fig. 6b, c). On the other hand, rather rare among such lions is the direction of the head to the front as opposed to the back3. The seal is dated to LM I and is therefore contemporaneous to its context.

13Pendant 11-03-0570-OB001 is a soft stone pendant of an non-canonical pyramidoid shape4 (fig. 4.18). The measurements of the piece are: height: 0.98 cm; breadth (max.): 0.78 cm; stringhole: 0.20 cm x 0.25 cm5. The pendant is abraded. The stringhole has opened and is rounded from the friction of the string. The closest parallels to this piece among Minoan pendants are baton-shaped pendants dated to EM II-MM II (for these, see Effinger 1996: 48). Among seals, those with a similar shape and size are dated to EM II but some examples dating later and down to the MM II period are also encountered6. The best parallel for the shape of the piece is the seal CMS V Suppl. 1B no. 310, which interestingly also comes from a late context (LM II-LM IIIA2). If the piece is a seal, the intaglio is totally worn away as no traces of engraving can be discerned on the base.