Search

Animal depictions are frequently treated by archaeologists either as direct reflections of human-animal relations or as symbolic of social realities. This paper offers a different way of conceptualizing animal depictions, as objects which mediate between society and human relationships with non-human animals. The focus here is on the large number of lions depicted on sealstones from Bronze Age Crete, despite there being no evidence (excluding the depictions themselves) that lions were present on Crete during this period. This paper examines how these depictions change over the course of the Bronze Age, and suggests links between iconographic features and knowledge of, and encounters with, real lions. It considers the interplay between the affordances of lions revealed in the depictions, as dangerous predators, and the affordances of the objects, as a means of social interaction. The Minoan lion is an animal which is neither reducible to its iconographic manifestations nor possible to understand apart from a network of material culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a series of Bronze Age cult places in Crete, located on hills and mountains, and conventionally called peak sanctuaries. Though peak sanctuaries are among the most often discussed categories of Cretan Bronze Age sites, their identification is difficult and their interpretation often controversial. The sites are usually located far from inhabited and cultivated areas, and archaeological evidence is in most cases poorly preserved. The author has carried out fieldwork in the Cretan mountains since the early 1980's and identified several previously unknown peak sanctuaries. These, presented here, preserve much of their original distribution of finds, helping us to understand the topography and organization of ritual space, and compare it with the reconstructions already made for excavated sites. The second problem addressed in this paper is the visual relationship between peak sanctuaries and neighbouring settlements. This issue has been often discussed, but most often without analyzing the whole settlement context in which peak sanctuaries originated, developed, and declined. Finally, the possible continuation of the idea of the hilltop sanctuary and associated behaviours between the Bronze Age and Classical periods is discussed in the connection with an Archaic to Classical hilltop shrine identified on the southern coast of Crete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological studies on olive oil produced in Crete in the Bronze Age focus primarily on aspects such as the period when olive cultivation became widespread, the number of olive trees cultivated, or the quantity of oil stored in the Minoan palaces. Olive oil is however an organic substance, a perishable product, the nutritional and storage properties of which are determined by environmental, agronomic, processing and storage conditions. In this paper archaeological, environmental and biochemical evidence is combined to present a comprehensive picture of the potential quality, nutritional and storage properties of Minoan olive oil. The comparative evidence presented suggests that Minoan olive oil was equal in quality to the cold-pressed virgin olive oils produced today, and as such, the oil was nutritionally important in the Bronze Age and a valuable trade commodity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents several conference papers on the archeological studies of Eastern Crete in Greece. It mentions the report by E. Platon regarding a study season focused on pottery from excavations in the M Palace and town of Kato Zakros. It states the report by C. Sophianou regarding M Harbour town between Mirabello and Siteia bays. It also adds the report by P.P. Betancourt and C. Davaras on mapping the geology of Pseira and the quarries used by the Minoans.

Contact between Egypt and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age, especially the relationship between Minoan Crete and New Kingdom Egypt, has been the subject of much study. The relationship between the Greek (Mycenaean) mainland and Egypt is generally regarded as a more elusive topic, and most scholars seem to consider interaction between the two a matter of irregular exchange via middlemen (e.g., on Cyprus, in the Levant), rather than direct contact. This paper seeks to stimulate new thinking on this subject by positing the possibility that exchange between the two was more than a haphazard phenomenon, arguing that it was, instead, a highly organized system that involved the active engagement of the ruling elite at Mycenae as well as the pharaonic court. Using both archaeological and paleobotanical data and focusing my examination on the import into Egypt of Mycenean pottery, particularly stirrup jars, which are known generally as containers for olive oil, I demonstrate that olives and/or olive oil were a crucial part of this Late Bronze Age interstate connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of performance (and performance events) depicted in the iconography from Minoan Crete most often focus upon religious aspects of these activities. In this article, a performance approach is adopted; this alternative viewpoint emphasizes the significance of performances for materializing ideologies, reinforcing elements of the socio-political order and the negotiation of power relations. Using archaeological material from the Minoan period of Crete, the role of depictions of dances, bull leaping and boxing for the development of power relations and socio-political change are examined. It is concluded that both the representations of these activities and perhaps the activities themselves played significant roles in shaping competitive authority structures and a social order frequently influenced by competition among rival factions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We are becoming increasingly aware of regional data patterning in the archaeological record of Prepalatial Crete, yet a theoretically informed and methodologically systematic study assessing the significance of such differences is still lacking. This article investigates variation through the rich mortuary record of the period and explores the significance of such diversity for our understanding of Prepalatial Crete. A detailed analysis using mortuary data reveals a complex spatial and temporal variation in the record which raises questions about social, political and ideological differences between communities on the island during the early periods of the Early Bronze Age. Prepalatial Crete emerges from this analysis as a complex context resulting from an intricate combination of local and regional histories and trajectories and far from the unified culture that the term ‘Minoan’ implies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]