THE TImma project

Welcome to the website of the Timbers in Minoan and Mycenaean Architecture (TiMMA), a project funded by the French National Research Agency. This platform offers thorough documentation on Aegean Bronze Age timber remains.

Apart from exceptional discoveries such as Akrotiri (Thera), known as the 'Pompeii of the Aegean,' timber evidence is usually scant in this region due to climatic conditions and post-depositional processes. However, imprints, charcoals, burnt woods, and bases of columns or pillars suggest that wood was intensively used in construction, both in Crete and on the Greek mainland.

This international and multidisciplinary project aims to reconstruct the role of timber in Minoan and Mycenaean architecture, specifically for load bearing, strengthening, and anti-seismic purposes. Through the study of woodworking tools, it also intends to identify possible transfers of techniques and movements of craftsmen on both sides of the Aegean Sea. Finally, it aims to propose technically consistent 3D reconstructions of buildings.

Seven sites, which provide the most numerous timber remains, have been selected to carry out these analyses, namely: Tiryns, Pylos, Mycenae (Peloponnese), Malia, Kato Zakros, Phaistos, Agia Triada (Crete), and Akrotiri (Thera).

                                                 A project funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR 21-CE27-0029)