Mesara Plain

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Mesara Plain is the name of an illuvial plain in southern Crete, to the east of and overlooked by the ruins of Minoan Phaistos.[1] It stretches for about 50 km, with a width of about seven km. Since 1500 BC the plain has grown up to 6 km due to a build up of illuvial sediment. Clays from the Mesara have been found to be the source of significant amounts of Cretan Minoan pottery; soil and rock types from the fringes of the Mesara, particularly the foothills of the Asterousia Mountains at the south and the foothills to the north within the Psiloritis Mountains.[2] Alternatively this landform is known as the Messara Plain.

Panagia Kaliviani

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ C.Michael Hogan, Phaistos Fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian (2007)
  2. ^ Joseph W. Shaw, A Lm Ia Ceramic Kiln in South-Central Crete: Function and Pottery Production, 2001, ASCSA, 172 pages ISBN 0876615302

[edit] Literature

  • Livingstone Vance Watrous, Plain of Phaistos: Cycles of Social Complexity in the Mesara Region of Crete, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA (2006), ISBN 1-931745-14-5.

Coordinates: 35°02′14″N 24°50′46″E / 35.03722°N 24.84611°E / 35.03722; 24.84611