Phaistos and the Sea. Searching for Landing Places Along the Western Mesara Coast: a diachronic perspective

Patterns of settlement evolution and human occupation cannot be thoroughly explained without considering how the environment impacted human choices. This is especially true in the case of prehistoric Crete, where interdisciplinary procedures based on ancient geomorphology, paleoclimate and various other proxies1, have highlighted that important environmental transformations received varying human responses at different times: from retreat and resilience to mobility and interconnectivity.2 Coastscapes have in particular received important new attention, thanks to investigations of sea-level changes and coastline transformations, offering new perspectives on cultural discontinuities in such zones.3 Environmental and archaeological datasets thus constitute parallel and potentially complementary perspectives on the complex past relationships between people and water. This paper will explore the changing relationship between Phaistos, its regional coastline and the sea in prehistory as revealed by environmental and archaeological data.