The Harbor Complex of the Minoan Town at Gournia

In 1901, Harriet Boyd excavated several Minoan structures on the coast at Gournia. She subsequently focused her attention on the Late Bronze Age town of Gournia and did not publish her work on the coast. In 2008 and 2009, the Minoan remains investigated by Boyd along the shore and coastal plain of Gournia were cleaned, mapped, and photographed. This fieldwork uncovered structures identified as a monumental shipshed, fortification walls with towers, a cobbled street running from the harbor toward the town of Gournia, a gate by the Gournia River, two dams at the mouth of the river, and sets of agricultural terraces. Drawing on data from the 1992–1994 Gournia Survey, finds from the 2008–2009 cleaning, and the 2010–2011 excavations at Gournia, this study presents evidence for the function of these structures and considers their dates and cultural context within Bronze Age Crete.