On Saturday, I visited Kommos on Crete. A Bronze Age habor town with interesting Greek levels as well. Kommos is regarded as the likely major Minoan port for the Mesara (the fertile plain situated on the south central coast of Crete) serving the important Minoan sites of Phaistos and Ay. Triada. The excavations by Joseph and Maria Shaw of the University of Toronto revealed monumental architecture of Minoan date at the site (which Bob Bridges patiently pointed out to me) as well as possible storage sheds for Bronze age ships.
From my perspective, one of the most interesting things about the site was the array of imported material from as far afield as Egypt, the Levant, and Cyprus. As we are beginning to argue for Pyla-Kokkinokremos, Kommos appears to have been a point of contact between the Mesara and the major trade routes of the Eastern Mediterranean. This brought site considerable prosperity and may have allowed it to exert some autonomy despite the proximity of Phaistos and Ay. Triada. The presence of monumental architecture at least suggests that the folks at Kommos invested in some form of large scale building and this may suggest an effort to cultivate a distinct identity. Like Pyla-Kokkinokremos with its nearby and powerful neighbors of Kition and Hala Sultan Teke (and the looming regional superpower of Enkomi), the settlement structure, economic organization, and political character of Bronze Age Crete may have been far more "multipolar" than some of better-known schematics would allow.
As an added bonus, Shaw has written a brilliant guide to Kommos which talks not only about the architecture and finds, but also bring alive the back story of running a major excavation. From expropriating lands to raising money to the relations with local community, the guide places the site not only in archaeological context, but also in the context of the excavation process. Even if you don't ever visit the site (which is generally kept locked), the guide is an entertaining and informative read.
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