Malia n’est « pas un port » ?

Abstract

The coastal area of Malia, a Minoan palatial town from the 2nd millennium BC has not been favored in archaeological exploration conducted for more than a century, and thus remains relatively unknown. Despite the location of the site on the northern coast of Crete, a port has not been clearly identified and its very existence has been debated. It is generally considered that the palace of Malia turns its back to the sea to lean towards the exploitation of the grounds, the coastal spaces forming especially the liminal ‘domain of the dead’. The available data, in particular thanks to recent research, makes it possible to qualify this point of view by showing the variety of uses of coastal spaces and their importance in the development of the site. Beyond the assessment of the coastal resources exploited by the Minoans, the article faces two important questions for understanding the history of Malia and its place in the Aegean during the Bronze Age: the issue of the port, where exceptional infrastructures have been identified, and that of the funerary areas which are compared with the ‘house tombs’ of eastern Crete.

Keywords

• Crete
• Malia
• Aegean sea
• port