564 EXCAVATIONS AT GOURNIA, CRETE. 



dry in summer. The southern end of the ridge Avas used in Greco- 

 Roman times, for here in the chapel of Aghia Pelaghia is a stone bear- 

 ing the inscription " Kl3'thos made (it)," and close at hand graves 

 have been discovered containing Roman vases. This end of the ricige 

 being for the most part an irregular mass of limestone, is suitable, per- 

 haps, for burial, but not for hal)itation. Farther north the ridge be- 

 comes less rugged; platforms of earth are upheld by rock ledges ; there 

 is a slight dip, and we stand on the acropolis of the ancient city^ every 

 foot of its summit and slopes covered with roads and dwellings. Cut 

 the rock reappears at the northern point of the ridge, beyond which 

 the valleys meet and extend in one plain to the sea. The eastern valley 

 and a small part of the plain can be cultivated, but hills and shore 

 bear no crops except stones and low carob trees. The rugged charac- 

 ter of the ridge and the dense growth of carobs which covered it made 

 it possible for the acropolis to escape the notice of passing archeolo- 

 gists, although many had traveled along the important highway from 

 llerakleion to Sitia, which actually crosses the lower part of our site 

 and lies within one-eighth of a mile of the acropolis itself. The higher 

 hills south and southwest of Gournia are composed of pudding stone, 

 w^hich easily breaks off in shallow caves, while the lower hills are of 

 limestone, like the ridge. 



Our town, which until we know its ancient name must be called 

 by the modern designation Gournia, covered not onlj'^ the middle of 

 the ridge, Avhere it rises 200 feet above sea level, one-quarter of a mile 

 back from the gulf, but extended across the eastern valley up the 

 hills to the east and northeast, so that the acropolis was the center of 

 a settlement of considerable size. To-day the nearest harbor is at 

 Pachyammos, a small coast-guard station three-quarters of a mile 

 east of Gournia. This place seems destined to grow to an important 

 port. An excellent road, built by French soldiers during the recent 

 international occupation of Crete, connects it with Hierapetra, on the 

 south coast, only 8 miles distant, and this land connection between 

 the two seas across the narrowest portion of the island is preferred 

 to rounding Sitia, where storms are frequent and severe. The line 

 of the north shore has changed, and it may be that in early times the 

 harbor hiy in an arm of the sea directly nortli of Gournia. At all 

 events, the sea has here encroached on buildings which are proved by 

 construction and by contents to be of the same period as those on the 

 ridge. From this group of buildings a road i)robably led up to the 

 low acropolis, and on reaching the middle eminence must have met 

 a road which we have found continues on both the east and west sides 

 of the hill, rising l)v steps whei'e tlie slope is steep, and conducting 

 the traveler at length to the small palace of the local governor. 



At the beginning of excavations only a few stones showed above the 

 surface and many houses were entirely hidden, being discovered in 



