New Light on Gournia: Unknown Documents of the Excavation at Gournia and Other Sites on the Isthmus of Ierapetra by Harriet Ann Boyd

During the pioneering years of archaeological exploration in Crete, between 1900 and 1904, the American archaeologist Harriet Ann Boyd excavated a number of sites on the Isthmus of Ierapetra. The results of these excavations and particularly that of the Bronze Age site at Gournia, were published by Boyd in a series of preliminary reports and in a final publication. But the basic source of information for any comprehensive reconsideration of archaeological material -the excavation records- was largely lacking. In 1990 an important part of the lost original archive, consisting of excavation notebooks, miscellaneous notes and drafts of reports, letters and financial records, came to light. This monograph gives a synopsis of the documents; it focuses on the archaeological information, which mainly concerns Gournia. Descriptive data, sketches and line plans of the settlement buildings and the tombs (some completely unpublished) and information on their contents which emerge from the Archive are quite detailed, shedding new light on our knowledge of Gournia. The author assesses this information, comparing it with the published accounts and with the remains still visible on the site. She also points out the importance of the new information for further studies.