The Plain of Phaistos

Cycles of Social Complexity in the Mesara Region of Crete

by L. Vance Watrous, Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou and Harriet Blitzer

Book cover: The Plain of Phaistos

Extent: 776 pages

Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press

Subjects: Classical Studies, European Prehistory, Mediterranean Archaeology

Series: Monumenta Archaeologica

Series volume number: 23

Language: English

Hardback (Out of print)

(February 2005)

ISBN: 9781931745147

8.46 x 10.94 inches

Price: $14.95

Out of stock

PDF (Published)

(February 2005)

ISBN: 9781938770821

Price: $30.00

The Plain of Phaistos presents the results on an interdisciplinary regional field project (1984-1987) carried out on the island Of Crete. This volume traces the changing patterns of settlement and cycles of social complexity from the Late Neolithic period to the present day within the heartland of the state of Phaistos. The authors and contributors publish geological, archaeological, environmental, botanical, historical and ethnographic studies that establish the regional identity of the Western Mesara. Using a combination of empirical, processual and post-processual theoretical approaches, the volume investigates a central problem – how and why did the Bronze Age and Classical states arise at Phaistos?

  • By (author) Harriet Blitzer
  • By (author) Despoina Hadzi-Vallianou
  • By (author) L. Vance Watrous