European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Archaeological Sites abound on the Island and Are often within easy walking distances of Fotens and hotels. Life size Wall reliefs of a charging Bull and an elegant. Young Man nicknamed Quot the Prince of the  and in a room at the top of the Central Complex there is Cluster of smaller frescoes a Birds crowd scenes with tiny smiling dark haired figures waving gaily and Bull leapers a. A. 7-y a a these Are the remains of Europe s first civilisation a and. The continent s oldest throne is Here a Graceful Stone chair still in place against red painted Walls in rooms that face onto the Central court \. Therein a wooden replica nearby for visitors to try. It s surprisingly comfortable thanks to minoan. Craftsmen a a who sculpted the chair seat to  human seat. Some things Don t change. A a. At Cournia we got  a. We had just Quot done Quot Knossos and the museum and we figured that was enough for the minoans a now on to. Other things. Heading East from her Akmion we had sailed past the Seaside Palace of Malia and a number of lesser Sites but then As the Highway curved Inland at Crete s. Narrowest Point Vve saw what looked like the ruins of an immense apartment building spread out on a Low Hillside.  too Good to miss. We screeched to a Stop pulled out our cameras grabbed the Blue guide Crete and went in for a look. / a that Guidebook one of a British series begun in 1915, now became our constant companion. Our tediously a a detailed irritatingly Correct frequently Bong a companion. A. _ a sample1. Quot of rum Tiv t nl11ranar i tall to it a staircase 11 leads Down to the mini court but it is better to keep to the upper Long corridor 7 Quot. A a e got mad at 1 ia1 Bare Quitle s Siola Lity but without it the Sites we ruled would have been Littfe More than n be. It it f i Uii of.  cd a. A a at Cournia Vve followed its directions up the main Stone paved Street into what had been a Maze of / 7 House blocks. By a mv--7-7 Cournia was t a Palace it was a town and it still Felt like one even though Only Low Walls remained shoulder i Glutt most framing tiny rooms like those in a Pueblo in the american Southwest. A7/ every now and then a at a ,.in a miniature. Square at a sudden intersection a we found Odd Stone pits like boulders with a round deep hollow in the a Center. 7y. A -. .7 pc a 7-.--7. Y7 7 y a a a a what were they for the Blue guide was silent so we 7 speculated 7 7 ,7 7 storage containers i guessed for Vyater no there. Weren t enough of them to Supply a town this size. What then of flour but would t such Staples have been kept in individual houses these pits were Ahvay outside houses. Could they have been communal of but for a what. A .7. Yvo 7 Quot a a a a 7 a Quot grinding flour my Friend said firmly yes that had to be it. These must have been big Stone mortars and the go urn inns probably shared them. We could imagine the people chatting As they worked or waited a turn to Pound their Grain. A a -. 7 a. A. A a a a / a i squinted my eyes to shut out the Daylight and. Quot Quot. Pictured what it would be like to come into Cournia in an ancient Twilight the Walls of the houses rising a Story. Or two above my head the Stone pavement solid. Quo underfoot the Oil lamps being lighted in the Little rooms it would have Felt of course like coming Home. 7 at Vakros we dug. It was t exactly our fault we. A Quot blamed curiosity and potsherds. A. For the first 20 years of my conscious life i wanted to be an archaeologist getting As far As a University dig at a a 3,000-year-old.site in Lebanon. I spent that student a a a frescoes at Knossos show minoan dress styles. Summer trying to assemble broken pottery. It got old a Well older a Quick but it left me with an admiration for the stuff a a a a. Y a a ceramics survive a in fragments to be sure a but forever making them useful for identifying and dating Sites. A Crete i took to giving my companion min lectures on the subject. A Quot there s some Quot i said on a path near the top of the Vakros site which lies close to sea level on Crete s Southeastern coast. 7. I reached Down and picked up a Reddish potsherds. Quot see this one s a rim a the Potter would have crimped it Voith his fingers like this7&Quot a a a a a a a a. There was  nearby and another and. Another a the path was studded with them. Suddenly. We were both on our Knees scratching at the dirt Voith. Our fingernails grubbing potsherds out of the ground As if they w Ere gravel. Rims the neck of a Small Jar part of a plate a they were everywhere. Then i found one that called for reverence. It was the base of a Small cup one of those thin teacups Vve d seen in the museum. The swirled Marks were still Clear on the Bottom where the Potter had Cut it free of the wheel it was quite possible i told my companion that no one but us had touched it since the Palace of Vakros was a destroyed a like most of the other big Sites a in about 1450 . .7. _. A a. A. /. Once i. Knew a Potter who used this motto for his work Quot Clay remembers the hands that made  a. 7 a holding the fragment of the cup at Vakros was almost like touching those ancient hands the idea gave me Goose a a bumps. A 7 a. A Quot then Vve came to Pur senses yanked Back to the late. A a 7 continued of Page 6 january 12, 1995 stripes Magazine 5