The North Terrace (Zone 8)

Immediately north of Building CD is a flat terrace. Geophysical survey had showed the presence of architectural remains in this area. Excavation revealed several buildings of different date (Figure 7). To the west, there may have been a square tower with a small enclosure wall, dating to LM II/IIIA1. Next to it was a small graveyard comprising exclusively children: five were buried in vases (Figure 8) and one child was in a pit. The vases in which they were buried suggest a more or less contemporaneity with the tower.

Near the pot burials was the complete skeleton of a calf, found with its legs together and probably the remains of a sacrifice similar to that shown on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. This cemetery lies above a house seemingly destroyed by earthquake in Middle Minoan IIIA with plenty of deposits left. More to the east are the badly preserved remains of a Late Minoan IB structure. The west part of the house seems to have suffered from fire bit was reused afterwards. In the east part are the remains of an impluvium – a shallow basin surrounded by four column bases.

The pottery of this area is Late Minoan IB but seems somewhat later than the Late Minoan IB fire deposit found in the east part of Building CD. It is earlier, however, than the LM II/IIIA1 tower. This then suggests that in Sissi also we have different phases in the Late Minoan IB period.