DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3005#0007
R. B. SEAGER—THE CEMETERY OF PACHYAiMMOS, CRETE J
ancient importance was principally due to a road crossing the
island at this point more useful in the days of small sailing craft
than in our era of steamships.
There is no real harbor at the northern end of the Isthmus.
The Tholos of Kavusi and Gournia are both open roadsteads.
The rocky point at Pachyammos offers a partial shelter for small
craft in all but the worst storms. In Minoan times, before the
subsidence of the coast so noticeable in this part of the island,
the shelter may have been better as the reef of rock stretching
out from the end of the point may have then broken the force of
the waves whereas today it is almost completely submerged.
At any rate, Pachyammos, poor harbor as it is, must have been
the principal northern port of the Isthmus and it has always
seemed odd that there were such scanty traces of a Minoan
settlement at this point.
The shore at Gournia, which lies about twenty minutes
walk to the west of Pachyammos over two hilly ridges, could
offer no shelter of any sort for shipping. In Minoan times
Gournia was the principal town of the district and, for lack of
anything better, seemed to have been the starting point of our
supposed trade route across the Isthmus.
Owing to recent discoveries we can now correct this error
and Pachyammos assumes its natural position as a place of
importance in ancient times and the site of a Minoan port.
In October, 1913, the northern villages of the Isthmus
suffered severely from one of the torrential rains which some-
times visit the island of Crete. In such a bare mountainous
land these storms can work a vast amount of damage in a very
short space of time. Owing to the lack of vegetation on the
mountain sides, there is nothing to check the torrents of water
which, in their struggle to reach the sea, tear great channels
ancient importance was principally due to a road crossing the
island at this point more useful in the days of small sailing craft
than in our era of steamships.
There is no real harbor at the northern end of the Isthmus.
The Tholos of Kavusi and Gournia are both open roadsteads.
The rocky point at Pachyammos offers a partial shelter for small
craft in all but the worst storms. In Minoan times, before the
subsidence of the coast so noticeable in this part of the island,
the shelter may have been better as the reef of rock stretching
out from the end of the point may have then broken the force of
the waves whereas today it is almost completely submerged.
At any rate, Pachyammos, poor harbor as it is, must have been
the principal northern port of the Isthmus and it has always
seemed odd that there were such scanty traces of a Minoan
settlement at this point.
The shore at Gournia, which lies about twenty minutes
walk to the west of Pachyammos over two hilly ridges, could
offer no shelter of any sort for shipping. In Minoan times
Gournia was the principal town of the district and, for lack of
anything better, seemed to have been the starting point of our
supposed trade route across the Isthmus.
Owing to recent discoveries we can now correct this error
and Pachyammos assumes its natural position as a place of
importance in ancient times and the site of a Minoan port.
In October, 1913, the northern villages of the Isthmus
suffered severely from one of the torrential rains which some-
times visit the island of Crete. In such a bare mountainous
land these storms can work a vast amount of damage in a very
short space of time. Owing to the lack of vegetation on the
mountain sides, there is nothing to check the torrents of water
which, in their struggle to reach the sea, tear great channels