Minoan Archaeology

During the Minoan Neopalatial period (ca. 1700-1450 BCE) female figures are depicted in visual art sitting on rocks and stepped cult structures, both of which may be symbolic representations of mountains. Trees are also depicted in conjunction with rocks and stepped altars, sometimes replacing the female figure, and suggesting a tree-and-mountain combination. These scenes echo a tradition in the iconography of Syro-Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt of an association betweenand even the interchangeability of-trees, or more broadly vegetation, and female figures. While the Minoan female figures are unidentified, the east Mediterranean examples are associated with known goddesses. This paper suggests that, along with cult structures, Cretan Neopalatial female garments also belong to this tree-and-mountain symbolic visual language. Not only do abstract mountain forms appear on female garments, but the combination of female torso and elaborate skirt forms a silhouette that evokes the cult scenes in which women sit on rocks and stepped altars and platforms. Examination of the decoration, structure, and shape of Minoan Neopalatial garments as depicted in glyptic, wall painting, and three dimensions, will demonstrate their suitability for incorporation into the classification of landscape epiphany.

"Writing as Material Practice grapples with the issue of writing as a form of material culture in its ancient and more recent manifestations, and in the contexts of production and consumption. Fifteen case studies explore the artefactual nature of writing — the ways in which materials, techniques, colour, scale, orientation and visibility inform the creation of inscribed objects and spaces, as well as structure subsequent engagement, perception and meaning making.

Covering a temporal span of some 5000 years, from c.3200 BCE to the present day, and ranging in spatial context from the Americas to the Near East, the chapters in this volume bring a variety of perspectives which contribute to both specific and broader questions of writing materialities.

The authors also aim to place past graphical systems in their social contexts so they can be understood in relation to the people who created and attributed meaning to writing and associated symbolic modes through a diverse array of individual and wider social practices."

The Minoan civilization of Crete survived from the 3rd millennium to the 1st millennium BCE. By the 2nd millennium BCE, Minoan society shaped into a highly differentiated complex society, with a diverse division of labor and permanent social statuses, manifest not least in its ceremonial courtyard complexes, known as "palaces," its depiction of ritual behavior, and its religious iconography. Along with this came an affluent Minoan culture, teeming with labyrinthine palaces, beautiful frescoes, and intriguing ritual life. Unfortunately for scholars, the Minoan scripts, Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A, have not yet been deciphered and so there is no linguistic evidence to assist in understanding more about Minoan life. Scholars rely heavily on archaeological information, such as material culture and human remains, in order to understand Minoan society.

Sanctuaries in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece appear to have property which they manage. This means that they are not merely ideological institutions, but also command financial power and resources, an important conclusion for the Greek prehistoric social economy.
This wealth amassed by the sanctuaries is result of dedications which can be seen as a form of storage, religious storage.

• a c t e s • d e • c o l l o q u e s • • r a p p o r t s • d e • f o u i l l e s • • t h è s e s • d e • d o c t o r a t • • m o n o g r a p h i e s • • a c t e s • d e • c o l l o q u e s • An Archaeology of Forced Migration The Content This collection of papers explores whether a meaningful distinction can be made in the archaeological record between migrations in general and conflict-induced migration in particular and whether the concept of conflict-induced migration is at all relevant to understand the major societal collapse of Bronze Age societies in the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 13 th c. BCE. Helped by modern perspectives on actual and recent cases of conflict-induced migration and by textual evidence on ancient events, the different areas of the Mediterranean affected by the Late Bronze Age events are explored.

This paper summarizes archaeological research on the Bronze Age of the island of Crete during the last decade. It starts off by highlighting the most important excavations and surveys and the publication of data through monographs, periodicals, scientific proceedings and other media. Next it considers how our conventional understanding of Minoan Culture has been affected both by recent research and discoveries and by theoretical and interpretive shifts. Emphasis is placed on the influence of various social theories that have questioned the focus on centralization at different scales and increased our appreciation of specific cultural practices and dynamics by using bottom-up and embodied approaches. As such, chronology, architectural studies, pottery, cult, iconography and social and political systems are discussed, as are aspects of materiality, corporeality, performance and gender. Finally, the changes in the academic environments dealing with Minoan archaeology receive some attention.

Forthcoming April 2017

https://upers.kuleuven.be/en/book/9789462701052

Chapters by:
Simon Jusseret (The University of Texas at Austin, Université catholique de Louvain)
Manuel Sintubin (KU Leuven)
Jan Driessen (Université catholique de Louvain)
Susan E. Hough (U.S. Geological Survey)
James P. McCalpin (GEO-HAZ Consulting Inc.)
Christoph Grützner (RWTH Aachen University, University of Cambridge)
Thomas Wiatr (RWTH Aachen University, German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy)
Charalampos Fassoulas (Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete)
Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos (National Observatory of Athens)
Jack Mason (RWTH Aachen University)
Klaus Reicherter (RWTH Aachen University)
Clairy Palyvou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Eleftheria Tsakanika (National Technical University of Athens)
Jeffrey S. Soles (University of North Carolina – Greensboro)
Floyd W. McCoy (University of Hawaii – Windward)
Rhonda Suka (Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii)
Colin F. Macdonald (The British School at Athens)
Tim Cunningham (Université catholique de Louvain)

During the Aegean Bronze Age (ca. 3,200-1,100 B.C.), blue pigments are rendered from a myriad of different sources across distinct media: from naturally-occurring minerals such as riebeckite and lapis lazuli to man-made compounds like Egyptian blue, and even plant- and animal-based pigments, such as murex purple and indigo. The ways in which these colors are employed in wall painting, however, often leaves modern viewers with more questions than answers. For instance, why render the shaved scalps of young individuals in blue? The fur of monkeys and cats, and the feathers of birds are not blue in reality either, so why depict them as such? One might turn to color theory, which is well established for the art of neighboring regions (Egypt, Mesopotamia), yet no such over-arching theory exists for the Aegean. Previous, cursory explanations for the choice to show a pictorial element as blue either regard Aegean artistic norms as mildly derivative of Egyptian artistic convention, or simply state that blue is more visually appealing than gray or brown. Rather than entertain reductionist notions, this paper seeks to propose a new, polyvalent understanding for the use of Aegean color. Not only might the pigments themselves serve as material references to the places from which they come (mostly The East), but blue may also be considered a luxury pigment, perhaps evocative of inextricable notions of personal or regional identity, access to far-flung trade networks, and participation in or belonging to an elite, international lineage.

This paper will consider the West House at Akrotiri in its context of a model Theran house and “typical urban house of the Minoan era in general,” combining old interpretations with new spatial studies including space syntax and 3D visibility analysis. This will allow for a better understanding of not only any architectural intentions behind the construction of the building, but some analysis of the mural rooms in the house, which still spur discussions surrounding their use and accessibility.

This paper focuses on the occurrence of sealings impressed by the same seal faces or by very similar seal faces at different archaeological sites in the Late Minoan I period. Sealings are small clay lumps impressed one or more times with one or more seal faces, and at times inscribed with Linear A signs. Such a sealing system was aimed at controlling the mobilization of resources and goods. The existence of a dense network of inter-regional trade in the Neopalatial Period is indeed well documented by the overall archaeological evidence. Since impressions left on clay nodules by the same seals or by very similar seals occur on different types of sealing found at different sites on Crete (Knossos, Sklavokambos, Hagia Triada, Gournia, Zakros, and Chania) and outside Crete (Akrotiri on the island of Thera), we can argue that the inter-regional trade was, at least in part, managed by one or more central administrations. The aim of this paper is to clarify this last point and address the issue of whether or not we can infer the existence of diplomatic and legal bonds between the Knossos Palace and the other main Aegean settlements from the sealings.

That the 'natural' world was imbued with symbolic and religious meaning in Minoan Crete has been suggested since the early days of Minoan archaeology. Notwithstanding, it often remains unclear how certain constituents of the physical environment acquired specific meanings, and what such meanings imply for the actual dynamics of human-environment relations. This paper considers the relationship between (what is today construed as) religion and human engagement with the environment in Minoan Crete. An 'ecological' perspective is adopted which assumes that both organisms and inanimate objects are a result of and subject to continuous development, and their identity is defined by the network of relationships they are endowed with. The idea is put forward that the relationship between people and certain landscape elements were of a social kind, based on mutuality and intimacy, and that some activities conventionally identified as religious or ritual are better understood in terms of practical engagement with the physical environment.

Ηράκλειο 1998 ΤΟ ΑΜΠΕΛΙ KAI ΤΟ ΚΡΑΣΙ ΣΤΟ ΠΡΟΪΣΤΟΡΙΚΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ* ΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ ΚΟΠΑΚΑ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΟΣ-ΕΠΙΚ. ΚΑΘΗΓΗΤΡΙΑ ΠΑΝ/ΜΙΟΥ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ Στη μεγάλη οικογένεια των περί τον οίνον ειδικών -βοτανολόγων, χημι¬ κών, γιατρών, γεωγράφων, φιλολόγων, φιλοσόφων, ποιητών...-εγγράφονται και οι αρχαιολόγοι, που, μαζί με τους ιστορικούς, ενδιαφέρονται ολο¬ ένα και περισσότερο για τον "πολιτισμό του κρασιού". Πώς εμπλέκονται οι αρχαιολόγοι στην ιστορία του κρασιού; Αντί εισα¬ γωγής, να αναφερθώ σύντομα, στις βασικές κατηγορίες των δεδομένων από τον κύκλο του αμπελιού και του κρασιού των περασμένων κοινω¬ νιών, τα οποία επιβιώνουν μέσα στο χρόνο και είναι, συνεπώς, αρχαιολο¬ γικά "ανιχνεύσιμα". Η πρώτη κατηγορία περιλαμβάνει τα αμεσότερα τεκμήρια, τα ίδια, δη¬ λαδή, τα αρχαία οικοδεδομένα. Τα βιοκατάλοιπα, όπως αυτά διασώζονται στις γεωλογικές και τις ανθρωπογενείς στρωματογραφίες, συλλέγονται στο πεδίο και αναλύονται στο εργαστήριο. Αλλοτε πρόκειται για μικροοκοπικά υπολείμματα, αόρατα στο γυμνό μάτι, όπως οι κόκκοι γύρης στα δείγματα των παλυνολόγων και τα κατάλοιπα κρασιού, που ανιχνεύουν οι αρχαιομέτρες στα τοιχώματα των αγγείων1. Ταρταρικό οξύ, πιθανόν κρα¬ σί, ανιχνεύθηκε, πρόσφατα, στο εσωτερικό αμφορέα του τέλους της 4ης π.Χ. χιλιετίας, από το Godin Tepe, στο Ιράν2. Στην ανασκαφή εντοπίζο¬ νται, τις περισσότερες φορές, μεγαλύτερα, μακροσκοπικά οργανικά κατάλοιπα, τα οποία μελετούν οι παλαιοεθνοβοτανολόγοι. Στην ενότητα αυτή συγκαταλέγονται τα -απανθρακωμένα, απολιθωμένα ή διατηρημένα σε υγρά περιβάλλοντα-υπολείμματα σταφυλιών, και σπανιότερα στην Ελλάδα, κομμάτια από το ξύλο των κλημάτων3. Σημαντικούς, τέλος, μάρ¬ τυρες αποτελούν τα αποτυπώματα αμπελόφυλλων ή γιγάρτων σε αρ¬ χαία νωπά υλικά. * Ευχαριστώ την Ένωση Χημικών για την πρόσκληση στο Συμπόσιο αυτό και την ευκαιρία μιας ανταλλαγής εμπειριών που προέρχονται, επιτέλους, από διαφορετικές ερευνητικές κατευθύνσεις.

The systematic excavation of the Minoan sett lement at “Kalo Chorafi”, Mylopotamos
Anastasia Tzigounaki
The paper gives a brief overview of the archaeological work of the systematic excavation at “Kalo Chorafi”, Mylopotamos for the years 2014-2016. The extensive Minoan settlement in the bay of Kalo Chorafi is
located on the north coast of central Crete, between Bali and Sisses. It
has been under excavation since 2014 under the direction of the author.
Kalo Chorafi is one of a series of Minoan coastal settlements in the wider area of the north coast, such as Panagia in Charakas and Katevati to its west and Pera Galenoi and Agia Pelagia to its east. According to the preliminary study of the excavation data, a building complex dates to the MM ΙΙΙ – LM I period. Additionally, remains of at least two walls appear to date to LM III on the basis of a few but characteristic movable finds, mainly of ritual character.

"Ex oriente nigri: "Captain of the Blacks" and the Fabrication of the Minoan Culture

The fabrication of the Minoan culture is the specifically modern phenomenon, closely linked to the imperial and colonial conquest and appropriation of Ancient Greece. The Greek war of independence created an arena in which Europe could take part in the fight for its cradle. In the postcolonial key, the paper situates the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" into the context of the fabrication of the Minoan culture and the colonial narratives inscribed into it. In the beginning of the 20th century, this colonial past of the notion, known today as the Minoan culture, played a major role in the definition of the European past, present and future. The Minoan culture, as a colonial discursive formation in archaeology, has remained in the framework of the culture-histori-cal paradigm, but beyond it as well. The paper argues that the reconstructionof the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" in the works of Arthur Evans is the consequence of the colonial racism, putting the emphasis on the colour of the skin as a racial/ ethnic category. The interpretation that the dark-skinned figures are of the African origin has rarely been questioned, but rather perpetuated as a given.

Key words: Minoan culture, racism, "Captain of the Blacks", Egypt,colonialism, post-colonial perspective"

The commercial level trading which emerged at the start of the Bronze Age was made possible by a common written language. That language was Akkadian in its syllabic (cuneiform) form, its phonetic form (Phaistos Disk and these Minoan Linear A tablets) and all the early alphabetic texts prior to the rise of Greek and Latin. These translated Minoan Linear A texts from Crete preserve a moment in time before being buried by an earthquake. At the time of the earthquake a severe drought was occurring which both increased the demand for temple services and caused a crisis of faith among the temples which began to blame one of the two possible spiritual power classes. The traditional fishing culture focused on spiritual motion powers while the newer agricultural culture focused on life-growth powers. The motion power class rituals were the "magical" rituals by their definition. The life-growth rituals centered around food and feasting. Prior to the drought both power classes were engaged equally by the temples but a split was now developing. The texts can be divided into three types: shipping tags, ritual item lists from various temples, and wall labels used in building construction. This paper supersedes the initial exploration paper on this subject (Olmsted July 2020) having a more complete sign assignment chart and lexicon. All texts are translated according to the scholar's standard.

The palace at Knossos hosts one of the largest corpora of Late Bronze Age wall paintings in the Aegean. It was also one of the earliest corpora to be uncovered. As a result it holds a unique position within the historiography of Aegean wall painting. This paper focuses on the relief wall paintings from the palace. Over the history of scholarship these have been given widely divergent dates from the 17 th century BC all the way down to the 14 th century BC. This paper returns to the original excavation records of the palace's wall paintings to explore what can and cannot be said about their original find contexts. It then goes on to discuss the ramifications of the information and the lacunae for our understanding of the place of these wall paintings in the broader history of Aegean wall decoration.

The ancient complex of Knossos, Crete, has a built history spanning nine millennia. The most recent manifestation includes highly contested, twentieth-century reconstruction works. Knossos occupies an important place in the ancient history and architecture of the Mediterranean. Despite this, Knossos, nor any ancient Minoan site, is not inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL). While demonstrating the “Outstanding Universal Value” of Knossos, this paper proposes that a new submission to inscribe the “Minoan Palatial Centres” on UNESCO’s WHL would be strengthened by outlining Sir Arthur Evans’ reconstruction work and architectural speculation c.1900–1935. This paper will explore why Evans may have connected mythology and monarchy to Knossos, and why the connection is still being used to enhance the heritage value of the sites today. The proposal for the “Minoan Palatial Centres” to be included on the WHL need not rely on Evans’ theories and reconstructions (many which have since been disproven), but nor should they be hidden. The inconvenient history of the “Evansian Period” of Knossos and the Minoans is an indelible element of Knossos’ historical narrative and could ameliorate this proposal to inscribe sites of great importance to the ancient built environment.

This paper examines the interplay between manufacturing parameters and material properties in archaeological ceramic cooking ware. While previous studies on material properties have focused on the response of ceramic vessels to mechanical and thermal loads, emphasis is placed here on thermal properties and their influence on the suitability of a vessel to be used for different cooking methods. We illustrate how the material properties of a ceramic cooking vessel are influenced by its manufacture and how these material properties in turn may influence the performance and ultimately selection of certain vessels to be used for specific cooking practices for the example of late Bronze Age (LCIA) cooking vessels from Akrotiri, Greece.

in S. Cappel, U. Günkel-Maschek, and D. Panagiotopoulos (eds.), Minoan Archaeology: Perspectives for the 21st Century, 2015.

The Bronze Age settlement of Papadiokampos is located in the coastal plain west of the Trachilos peninsula near Siteia in eastern Crete. It was discovered by Chrysa Sofianou of the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture and is the focus of her ongoing research program. Assistant in mapping the Late Minoan harbor town has been provided by the Publication Team of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete. Topographic mapping of the site has revealed building remains that stretch for approximately 250 m along the coast, the majority of which are situated several meters above sea level along the cliff.

Ground Penetrating Radar, or GPR, was systematically used in all four areas of the site before excavation (Areas A, B, C and D). It has proven instrumental in the location and identification of subsurface features, such as the ground plans of House A.1 at the western edge of the Late Minoan I settlement and House B.1 located 100 m to the east. In both cases, the subsurface features detected by the radar match precisely with the excavated finds. Equally important, excavation in Areas A, B and D proved that the voids observed by the radar were open spaces, thus eliminating the need for further excavation in those specific areas.

This course presents a broad survey of historical forces at work over the past 6,000 years, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves along categories of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to meet the challenges of the increasing human population and its demands on natural resources: thus, it examines continuity and change in societies over time, in different places, and among various peoples.

At LM IB Ayia Triada, nearly 150 seal-types were involved in over 1,000 contemporary administrative transactions. This was the first study of the sealings focusing on their exceptional record of use: Which seals were most frequently used, and for what kinds of business?
While some of data has been superceded by subsequent studies -- and the old numbering systems needed to be updated -- I believe that the analysis is still of value.

Kamares Ware is one of the most famous pottery styles in archaeology. Its shapes and creative decorations have been differentially studied in the past, mainly from a stylistic perspective. However, its complexity and the fragmented state of the Middle Minoan Cretan contexts have at times hindered our attempts to make sense of its horizontal and vertical dynamics of transmission. Publications accumulated in decades have produced descriptions of Kamares Ware pottery styles from various centres around Crete. These genealogies of pots illustrate continuity in both material forms and correlated practices that lasted for several generations. By looking at style from the perspective of Material Engagement Theory and radical enactive theories of cognition, I illustrate that the long-term development of the Knossian Kamares style describes something more than a succession of forms and decorations: a novel form of memory. Specifically, I argue that the Knossian Kamares style is a form of transgenerational memory continually re-created every time potters made new vessels in this style. Furthermore, by rethinking the notion of autobiographical memory from psychology and the cognitive sciences, I present for the first time the idea that transgenerational memory might also be productive of identity.

MINOAN LINEAR A, VOLUME II:
CORPUS OF TRANSLITERATED LINEAR A TEXTS, PART 1: ARKHANES – KEA
For a long time many scholars hesitated to transliterate Minoan Linear A as long as there was no decisive evidence that the phonetic values of Linear A signs were essentially the same as those of their Linear B counterparts. The question as to whether graphic identity of Linear A and B signs does or does not reflect phonic identity was tested with the help of computer methods by D.W. Packard, first in an unpublished doctoral thesis at Harvard,  A study of the Minoan Linear A tablets, 1967, then in two articles, and finally in a monograph Minoan Linear A, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London 1974. He constructed nine fictitious decipherments redistributing the Linear B phonetic values among the Linear A signs in such a way that no sign had the same value in any of them. To avoid unwarranted variations affecting the results he re-allocated the values only to signs within the same range of frequency. In a tenth ‘decipherment’ he used the Ventris's values of signs showing graphic identity in Linear A and B. Considering the results within Linear A the ratio of so-called confirmatory alternations is just over 2 : 1 in favour of decipherment by the Ventris's values over the average result of the fictitious decipherments. M. Pope, and J. Raison, ‘Linear A: Changing perspectives’ in Études minoennes I, BCILL 14 (1978), ed. Y. Duhoux, 24-25, found that Packard’s results were even better (3 : 1), if they were adjusted for context. Rightly they argued that confirmatory alternations are more significant, if the contexts are similar so that we are likely to be dealing with words and names from the same semantic sphere. Likewise, comparing Linear A with Linear B, the ratio of confirmatory alternations is just over 3 : 1 in favour of decipherment by the Ventris's values, and what is more important: if the Linear A matches with Linear B from Knossos are separated from those from the mainland, the ratio is 5 : 1 for Knossos and 4 : 3 for the mainland. These results offered so much confidence that J. Raison and M. Pope could provide ‘Le vocabulaire du linéaire A en translitération’ in the same issue of Études minoennes I, 131-190.
Writing of the present Corpus of transliterated Linear A texts was started along with research on my thesis on "The onomastics of the ‘Minoan Linear A’ and ‘Linear B’ documents and their historical significance", dissertation University of Sheffield 1987.
All texts have been provided with information about the joins that have been made, inventory numbers in the musea, certain (c.q. probable) dating based on the finding place and datable context, adequate bibliographical information, a critical apparatus, in which the different readings of respective editors are collated, compared and sometimes judged. The author hopes that this publication will contribute to the quality of philological and linguistic research on the Linear A inscriptions. It is advisable to consult the editions with good photographs of the texts, in particular L. Godart – J.-P. Olivier, Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, Vol. 1-5, Études Crétoises XXI, 1-5, Paris 1976-1985. See also www.minoanscript.nl.