Archaeology Magazine has a fascinating online “interactive dig” based on the Zominthos dig on the Greek island of Crete where there have been some pretty amazing Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age finds.
If you follow the various links listed on the left side of the site’s homepage to their video tour of the site, daily life, fieldnotes, and special finds, as well as the links at the bottom of their homepage, you will see a wide array of photographs of the dig in progress and the objects and structures they have found, along with explanations and analysis. A small heads up–You may find yourself in the midst of Greek language pages occasionally which you may or may not be able to get translated by a google translator. Just click back into the site’s homepage if you find yourself confronted by an alphabet you can’t read. There is an abundance of English language material.
Have fun digging at Archaeology Magazine’s Zominthos site on the island of Crete and explore the Mycenaean and Minoan Bronze Age world almost first hand.
I love the week by week field notes. Thanks for sharing this.
I find the gradual uncovering bit by bit enjoyable–the real archaeology as opposed to the unrealistically fast picture one gets from various pbs etc shows where they compact months or years of work into one whirlwind.
I just watched the professor's beautiful video and am fascinated by the image of what looks to me like an archangel. Do you know anything about it? Lovely. Many thanks.
I went back to the video because I wasn't sure what you were referring to, but I'm still not. Do you mean in the video tour of the site or within the Greek part of the Zominthos website? What was the context of the image that looks like an archangel, so I can find it and perhaps help you identify it?
I was looking at the video of the site, narrated by the professor. About a third of the way into the video he showed some treasures found in the cave – jewels, what looked to be a coin and this figure on a plaque or coin. I thought later that it might be Icarus. But now when I look at it again, it seems to be a feminine figure holding a staff. Whatever it is, I find it beautiful.
I’m not sure about the coin; it appears to be from a later date and I can’t quite see the inscription clearly enough to read the Greek. But if you’re talking about the square plaque with the winged goddess levitating, she would be Potnia Theron, Mistress of the Animals.
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