A palimpsest of destruction and reuse. New chronological insights from the double vases and Linear B tablets from the Northern Entrance Passage of the Palace of Knossos
(2026) British School at Athens. Annual — Vol. 121, p. p (2026)
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- (en) The long-standing debate in Aegean archaeology concerning the date of the major fire destruction of the Palace of Knossos – and thus the chronological framework of the centralised administration documented in the Linear B clay tablets preserved by that conflagration – is here reassessed through a focused study of the Northern Entrance Passage (NEP). This area yielded a major concentration of Linear B tablets associated with approximately forty intact ceramic double vases. A re-examination of this ceramic assemblage, addressing both chronology and taphonomy, clarifies its relationship with the tablets and the stratigraphic context of the NEP archive. Building upon the recent, in-depth reassessment of the tablets deposit from the NEP and integrating architectural, stratigraphic, and textual evidence, the study of eleven previously unpublished double vases conserved in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum resolves the apparent discrepancy between the ceramic and textual evidence with regard to physical condition and spatial distribution. The vases indicate a continued use of this area of the Palace into LM IIIB, representing its final phase of activity, whereas the tablets reflect an earlier LM IIIA2 administrative horizon that was secondarily incorporated into a later deposit.
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Langohr, C., & Mouthuy Ophélie. (2026). A palimpsest of destruction and reuse. New chronological insights from the double vases and Linear B tablets from the Northern Entrance Passage of the Palace of Knossos. British School at Athens. Annual, 121, p. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/278227 (Original work published 2026)