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Messara Plain
The Messara Plain or simply Messara () is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruins of Phaistos and Hagia Triada, near the middle are the ruins of the ancient city of Gortys. Since 1500 BC the plain has extended by up to 6 km due to a buildup of alluvial sediment. Clays from Messara have been found to be the source of significant amounts of Minoan pottery; soil and rock types from the fringes of Messara, particularly the foothills of the Asterousia Mountains at the south and the foothills to the north within the Psiloritis Mountains. In the Messara, olive trees, vineyards and horticultural crops are grown. Part of the products grown here are placed on the domestic market. Α substantial part of the produced olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festos - Valley Of Messara 2
Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south central Crete. It is notable for the remains of a Minoan palace and the surrounding town. Ancient Phaistos was located about east of the Mediterranean Sea and south of Heraklion. Phaistos was one of the largest cities of Minoan Crete. The name Phaistos survives from ancient Greek references to a city on Crete of that name at or near the current ruins. History Bronze Age Phaistos was first inhabited around 3600 BCE, slightly later than other early sites such as Knossos. During the Early Minoan period, the site's hills were terraced and monumental buildings were constructed on them. Like other large Minoan cities, there was a palace that was built in an area that had been used earlier for communal feasting. The palace was built on a hill in the East and an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asterousia Mountains
The Asterousia Mountains are a range in southern Crete separating the Messara Plain from the Libyan Sea. Evidence of ancient Cretan cultures have been found in excavations performed within sites contained in this range; moreover, one of the most significant Minoan sites on Crete has been excavated at nearby Phaistos to the north; apparently, the Phaistos palace was designed to permit views over the expansive Messara Plain and the Asterousi Mountains. A further historical name for this range is reported by Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ... as the Kofinos Range, named after the highest peak of Asteroussia, Kofinas (1231 m). The village of Kapetaniana sits on the southern slope of the mountains. See also * Hagia Triada * Ambas Gorge and W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messara Plain
The Messara Plain or simply Messara () is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruins of Phaistos and Hagia Triada, near the middle are the ruins of the ancient city of Gortys. Since 1500 BC the plain has extended by up to 6 km due to a buildup of alluvial sediment. Clays from Messara have been found to be the source of significant amounts of Minoan pottery; soil and rock types from the fringes of Messara, particularly the foothills of the Asterousia Mountains at the south and the foothills to the north within the Psiloritis Mountains. In the Messara, olive trees, vineyards and horticultural crops are grown. Part of the products grown here are placed on the domestic market. Α substantial part of the produced olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messara Horse
The Messara (also known as ''Cretan horse''Jasper Nissen: ''Enzyklopädie der Pferderassen''. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 2003, (German)) is a light riding and draft horse found on the island of Crete off the coast of Greece. History The native mountain-type Messara pony has been on the Island of Crete for at least 1000 years. The name comes from the Messara Plain where they are usually found. Cretan horses were developed by crossing native and Arabian breeds imported during the Ottoman occupation in the 17th century.Hendricks, Bonnie. ''International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds''. University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, p. 283. It is now a rare breed with only around 100 representatives. Since 1994 there is a studbook and a conservation programme has been started. Characteristics The main coat colours found in the Messara are bay, brown (a variation of bay), black and gray. They usually stand between high. They retain some characteristics of their Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a condiment, or as a salad dressing. It can also be found in some cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soaps, and fuels for traditional oil lamps. It also has additional uses in some religions. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine, with wheat and grapes. Olive trees have been cultivated around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. In 2022, Spain was the world's largest producer, manufacturing 24% of the world's total. Other large producers were Italy, Greece, and Turkey, collectively accounting for 59% of the global market. The composition of olive oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest, and extraction process. It consists mainly of oleic acid (up to 83%), with smaller amounts of other fatty acids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crops
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species are cultivated in rows or other systematic arrangements, it is called crop field or crop cultivation. Most crops are harvested as food for humans or fodder for livestock. Important non-food crops include horticulture, floriculture, and industrial crops. Horticulture crops include plants used for other crops (e.g. fruit trees). Floriculture crops include bedding plants, houseplants, flowering garden and pot plants, cut cultivated greens, and cut flowers. Industrial crops are produced for clothing (fiber crops e.g. cotton), biofuel (energy crops, algae fuel), or medicine (medicinal plants). Production There was an increase in global production of primary crops by 56% between 2000 and 2022 to 9.6 billion tonnes, which represents a 0.7 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vineyards
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards are often characterised by their , a French term loosely translating as "a sense of place" that refers to the specific geographical and geological characteristics of grapevine plantations, which may be imparted to the wine itself. History The earliest evidence of wine production dates from between 6000 and 5000 BC. Wine making technology improved considerably with the ancient Greeks but it was not until the end of the Roman Empire that cultivation techniques as we know them were common throughout Europe. In medieval Europe the Catholic Church was a staunch supporter of wine, which was necessary for the celebration of the Mass (liturgy), Mass. During the lengthy instability of the Middle Ages, the monasteries m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Trees
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of subtropical evergreen tree in the family Oleaceae. Originating in Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean Basin, with wild subspecies in Africa and western Asia; modern cultivars are traced primarily to the Near East, Aegean Sea, and Strait of Gibraltar. The olive is the type species for its genus, '' Olea'', and lends its name to the Oleaceae plant family, which includes species such as lilac, jasmine, forsythia, and ash. The olive fruit is classed botanically as a drupe, similar to the cherry or peach. The term oil—now used to describe any viscous water-insoluble liquid—was virtually synonymous with olive oil, the liquid fat made from olives. The olive has deep historical, economic, and cultural significance in the Mediterranean; Georges Duhamel remarked that the "Mediterranean ends where the olive tree no longer grows". Among the oldest fruit trees domesticate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psiloritis Mountains
Mount Ida (), known variously as Idha, Ídhi, Idi, and Ita (the massif including the mountain is called Psiloritis, ), is the highest mountain on the island of Crete, with an elevation of . It has the highest topographic prominence of any mountain in Greece. A natural park which includes Mount Ida is a member of UNESCO's Global Geoparks Network. Located in the Rethymno regional unit, Ida was sacred to the Titaness Rhea in Greek mythology. On its slopes lies one of the caves, ''Idaion Antron'', the Idaean Cave, in which, according to legend, the god Zeus was born. Other legends, however, place his birthplace in Psychro Cave on the Lasithi Plateau. An archaeobotanical study was conducted that looked at the different plant bases in Minoan villas during the Neo-palatial time period in Crete. There was a rich range of food plants that were found to contain essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and sources of vitamins. The study took place on Mount Ida, at the Minoan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foothills
Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hills and the adjacent topography, topographically higher mountains, hills, and uplands. Frequently foothills consist of alluvial fans, bajada (geography), coalesced alluvial fans, and dissected plateaus. Description Foothills primarily border mountains, especially those which are reached through low ridges that increase in size closer and closer to the mountain, but can also border uplands and higher hills. Examples Areas where foothills exist, or areas commonly referred to as the foothills, include the: *Appalachian Mountains, Appalachian foothills in Western North Carolina and Northwestern South Carolina, USA *Sierra Nevada foothills of California, USA *Foothills of the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, USA *Rocky Moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alluvial Plain
An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular time. In contrast, the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time. As the highlands erode due to weathering and water flow, the sediment from the hills is transported to the lower plain. Various creeks will carry the water further to a river, lake, bay, or ocean. As the sediments are deposited during flood conditions in the floodplain of a creek, the elevation of the floodplain will be raised. As this reduces the channel floodwater capacity, the creek will, over time, seek new, lower paths, forming a meander (a curved path). The leftover higher locations, typically natural levees at the margins of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minoan Pottery
The Minoan civilization produced a wide variety of richly decorated Minoan pottery. Its restless sequence of quirky maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the Archaeology, strata of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean Sea, Aegean islands and mainland Greece, in Cyprus, along coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans. The pottery includes vases, figurines, models of buildings, and burial urns called larnax, larnakes. Several pottery shapes, especially the rhyton cup, were also produced in soft stones such as steatite, but there was almost no overlap with metal vessels. The finest achievements came in the Middle Minoan period, with the palace pottery called Kamares ware, and the Minoan chronology, Late Minoan all-over patterned "Marine Style" and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
