Department of History and Archaeology

The Archaeology and Art History Section of the Department of History and Archaeology undertook to study and publish the discoveries from the Vrisina Temple under the supervision of Iris Tzaxili, associate Professor. Summit temples are typical of the Minoan Civilization: they are locations at a specific altitude, not far from settlements, where, in a short space of a few square meters, hundreds of statuettes of people or animals along with broken vessels are found stuck in rock crevices or ground cavities, together with ceramics fragments. Due to the high concentration of statuettes, those are characterized as worship sites. Until now, almost no summit temple has been fully published. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the activities that were carried out was the full publication of the archaeological material related to the Vrisina summit temple.

By recording the already abundant material, the students of the Department had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with issues of handling and studying the archaeological finds. At the same time, on-the-spot visits to the temple were organized, and the archaeological study was complemented with archaeology features of the location.