The INSTAP Study Center for East Crete offers many advantages to individual scholars and projects working on Crete. Featured here are summary accounts of the facilities at the Center, or "The Kentro" as it is affectionately known to the local villagers.

The Library

The Library

The library's collection focuses on all periods of Cretan history and culture with an emphasis on the Aegean Bronze and Iron Ages. In addition to numerous books and periodicals, the collection contains many geological maps of Crete and the surrounding islands, and an extensive offprint file with over 2000 articles.

Periodicals and serials housed at the Center include: Aegean Archaeology, Amaltheia, American Journal of Archaeology, Anatolian Studies, Annual of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene, Antiquity, Archaeologia, Archaeologischer Anzeiger, Archaeologike Ephemeris, Ariadne, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Corpus der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel, Cretica Antica, Cretan Congress, Cretan Studies, Archaeologikon Deltion, Etudes Cretoises, Hesperia, Hydra, Incunabula Graeca, Jarbuch des Deutschen Archaeologischer Instituts, Journal of Field Archaeology, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Journal of Prehistoric Religion, Kadmos, Kretika Chronika, Kretike Estia, Kretiko Panorama, Kretikoi Orizontes, MASCA Journal, Minos, Opuscula Atheniensia, Praktika, Studi Micenei ed Egeo Anatolici, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Temple University Aegean Symposium, and Archaeologikon Ergon. The library's holdings do not circulate.
Contributions of books, offprints, and maps relevant to the Aegean are sought and will be much appreciated. To make a donation, please contact the Director or the Director's Assistant or the Library Intern

The Computer Laboratory

The Computer Laboratory

Several PCs, supporting printers, and large flatbed scanners and film scanners are available to members at the Center. One of the PCs has a digitizer and is exclusively dedicated to AutoCAD applications. The Computer Laboratory and the library both have tables with electrical outlets that can be used by individuals who bring their own laptops. For a list of the software available at the Center, please contact the Director.

The Conservation Laboratory

The Conservation Laboratory, staffed year-round by a Chief Conservator, is equipped to offer state-of-the-art consolidation, protection, and restoration to a wide range of archaeological materials including bone, shell, ceramics, and metals. Conservation work is available only with prior approval to avoid scheduling conflicts. For information about the conservation techniques performed at the Center, contact the Director or the Chief Conservator

The Conservation Laboratory

The Photographic Studio and Dark Room

The Chief Photographer

The Photographic Studio and Dark Room are staffed during the summer months with a professional Chief Photographer, who provides timely, high-quality service to members. High-quality digital photography is available, as well as traditional black and white prints, color prints, and slides. Photographic services are offered by the Center's photographer to both individuals and projects on a per print/slide charge.

The Photographic Studio also offers aerial photography using radio-controlled cameras suspended from kites. For further information, please contact the Director or Chief Photographer.

The Drafting Room

Our Drafting Room is equipped with large tables, two adjustable drafting tables, a light table, and storage drawers for maps and over-sized drawings. In addition, a PC computer dedicated to AutoCAD is located here.

The Drafting Room

Work Spaces

Various Work Spaces are available to members of the Center. Interior space with tables and cabinets is located in the study hall. The stoa offers covered exterior space with tables, and additional space is located in the central courtyard and in the exterior court behind the Center's building.

The CourtYard

The central courtyard provides an attractive work area as well as a formal backdrop for the Center's Summer Lecture Series. Lecture topics from last summer included: "Izmir Region Excavations and Research Project" and "Filling the Gaps: Recent Excavations at Petras Siteia (A Celebration of 20 years of work at the site)"

The study hall provides a large well-lit, interior space for artifact processing, with plenty of tables, shelves, cabinets and comfortable chairs. This room also contains a small kitchen equipped for both cold and hot refreshments. In addition, a local baker provides the Center with freshly baked goods every morning.

The Study Hall

The Stoa

The stoa, which overlooks scenic mountains and the Isthmus of Ierapetra, is used by projects for the processing and sorting of potsherds and other finds during the summer. The mild Cretan spring and autumn also allow this covered, exterior space to be utilized by individual members during other seasons.

Special Equipment and Additional Services

An EDM (Electronic Distance Meter) TOPCON Total Station survey instrument with supporting equipment, computer, and software is available for use in surveying and mapping projects. The equipment records coordinate points and elevations which can be stored and manipulated later in the computer laboratory. Common applications include the creation of contour maps and three-dimensional texture maps as well as models of structures on archaeological sites. The equipment can be used by properly trained members with the permission of the Director. For further information, please contact the Director.

EDM (Electronic Distance Meter)

The conservation laboratory is now equipped with a portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument (or LIBS laser) constructed by the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas. Under the direction of laboratory personnel the LIBS can obtain rapid, nondestructive, qualitative elemental analysis of a wide variety of ancient materials including metals, faience, and ceramic decoration. For further information, please contact the director.

The W.A. McDonald ceramic petrography laboratory concentrates on projects concerning the island of Crete and offers the archaeologist an integrated approach to the provenance and technology of ceramics.

The Study Center is now equipped with a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
system from Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. which is operated by a trained
member of the INSTAP Publication Team (currently during summer months). Data is collected in individual transects, or profiles, along an x-y axis and depth is recorded in time (nS) which can be converted to meters. After data collection, the files are transferred to a computer or laptop and processed.

A geological reference collection of rocks and minerals found in central and east Crete is available to aid the identification of the material used for stone artifacts. A comparative skeletal collection for zooarchaeology was started in the summer of 2002 and continues to grow with contributions from local residents and organizations, and a partial human skeleton provides a useful reference for research by physical anthropologists.

A digital still camera and a digital video camera with supporting software can be borrowed on request, and a copy stand is available.

Sieving equipment at the Study Center includes two water sieve systems
for the recovery of paleobotanical remains and several rocker-sieves for dry-sieving soil on excavations sites.

Members can access both E-mail and the web at the Study Center, and
one telephone is operated by phone cards purchased in the nearby village. A
washing machine is also available to members.