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During the Bronze Age, the inhabitants of regions of Crete, mainland Greece, and Cyprus inscribed their languages using, among other scripts, a writing system called Linear A. These symbols, mainly characterized by combinations of lines, have, since their discovery, remained a mystery. Not only is the corpus very small, but it is challenging to link Minoan, the language behind Linear A, to any known language. Most decipherment attempts involve using the phonetic values of Linear B, a grammatological offspring of Linear A, to 'read' Linear A. However, this yields meaningless words. Recently, novel approaches to deciphering the script have emerged which involve a computational component. In this paper, two such approaches are combined to account for the biases involved in provisionally assigning Linear B phonetic values to Linear A and to shed more light on the possible connections of Linear A with other scripts and languages from the region. Additionally, the limitations inherent in such approaches are discussed. Firstly, a feature-based similarity measure is used to compare Linear A with the Carian Alphabet and the Cypriot Syllabary. A few Linear A symbols are matched with symbols from the Carian Alphabet and the Cypriot Syllabary. Finally, using the derived phonetic values, Linear A is compared with Ancient Egyptian, Luwian, Hittite, Proto-Celtic, and Uralic using a consonantal approach. Some possible word matches are identified from each language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viticulture and wine making have been at the heart of discussions concerning the Mycenaean society with elite groups which emerged in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. In the south of Greece, in Crete and the Peloponnese, viticulture and wine consumption are mentioned in 2nd millennium bc Linear B texts. Despite the key role of the grapevine, however, little direct archaeobotanical evidence has been available from the Peloponnese until now. This paper reviews all the archaeobotanical Vitis finds from the Peloponnese (pollen, charcoal, grape pips) and adds new data from the site P.O.T.A. Romanou that have been analysed in an integrated study with morphometric analyses of grape pips, charcoal identification and spatial distribution. We are able to show that during the 3rd millennium bc there was an incipient form of grapevine cultivation in the Peloponnese which provided an adequate yield for wine making at P.O.T.A. Romanou. Despite the lack of morphologically domesticated grape pips, there is convincing evidence for the identification of the early steps of viticulture in the region, a process that later led to systematic cultivation under control of the vineyards by elite parts of society during the 2nd millennium bc, as described in the Linear B archives. Our study supports the view that the early stages of viticulture might not be recognisable in the archaeobotanical record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

The calcareous skeletal remains of various microscopic organisms such as foraminifera and ostracods are a striking feature of thin sections of many archaeological ceramics from the Aegean Bronze Age. While the presence of these calcareous microfossils in pottery has been noted for some time, attempts to utilize them to further the aims of ceramic compositional analysis have been few in number. In the following paper, we take a first detailed look at the occurrence and utility of calcareous microfossils in archaeological ceramics. By presenting selected case studies from the Bronze Age of Crete, we demonstrate the potential of calcareous microfossils, especially the extremely small ‘nannofossils’ and the highly contextual geological information that they contain, in terms of the characterization and grouping of ceramics, the determination of their provenance and the reconstruction of ancient technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details the sourcing by neutron activation analysis of 60 obsidian artifacts from Quartier Mu, an important Middle Bronze Age complex at Malia, central Crete. Four sources are represented--three Aegean (Sta Nychia and Dhemenegaki on Melos, plus Giali), and one central Anatolian (East Göllü Dağ), an unusually wide array in an Aegean Bronze Age context, and one that reflects the community's varied craft-working activities and overseas contacts. The raw materials enjoyed different uses, with clear evidence for the differential consumption of Melian obsidians. Furthermore, the East Göllü Dağ material attests connections with the kingdoms of central Anatolia at a crucial period of Crete's own (pre)history, the time of the first 'Minoan palaces'. It is suggested that the movement of this obsidian was embedded within diplomatic contacts and/or the metals trade: tin coming from the east, with Aegean silver channeled to the central Anatolian kārū and their Assyrian sponsors beyond. [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]

Abstract: The modelling of past settlement and landscape structure from incomplete evidence is a well-established archaeological agenda. This paper highlights a model of spatial interaction and settlement evolution that has long been popular in urban geography and which was first applied to model historical settlement hierarchies some twenty-five years ago, but whose use since then for archaeological purposes has been very limited. Via a case study from Bronze Age Crete, we extend the analytical range of this model by suggesting ways in which it can (a) remain effective in the presence of missing data, (b) be given a stronger grounding in the physical landscape, and/or (c) be used to consider the evolutionary trajectory of settlements and physical routes over time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this paper is to contribute to the decipherment of the Phaistos Disk. The present assumption is that the Disk was a solar calendar. The proposed method is used to recreate the night sky over Crete in the year 1613 B.C., beginning on September 1, and to follow the astral phenomena for a year thereafter. In addition, the figures on the Disk are interpreted by what is known about Bronze Age Cretan culture, especially agriculture. The result was a set of plausible interpretations of most of the icons found on the Disk. The conclusion is that the Phaistos Disk Unknown Script was created primarily to serve as a guide to the timing of agricultural activities and religious rituals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Olive wood, stone olive presses and clay spouted tubs, used for separating olive oil and water, are found on Crete in association with the Late Bronze Age archaeological evidence for earthquake and fire damage to property. Recovery of these artefacts suggests that the Cretan olive industry was adversely affected by the volcanic eruption on the neighbouring island of Santorini. The intention in this paper is to sketch the background to Minoan olive farming, and then to examine the archaeological evidence for connections between the Santorini eruption and the Cretan olive industry in the Late Bronze Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this report is to provide a summary of the latest developments in the textile archaeology of Greece and the broader Aegean from the Neolithic through to the Roman period, focusing in particular on recent research on textile tools. Spindle-whorls and loomweights appeared in the Aegean during the Neolithic and by the Early Bronze Age weaving on the warp-weighted loom was well established across the region. Recent methodological advances allow the use of the physical characteristics of tools to estimate the quality of the yarns and textiles produced, even in the absence of extant fabrics. The shapes of spindle-whorls evolved with the introduction of wool fibre, which by the Middle Bronze Age had become the dominant textile raw material in the region. The spread of discoid loomweights from Crete to the wider Aegean has been linked to the wider Minoanization of the area during the Middle Bronze Age, as well as the mobility of weavers. Broader issues discussed in connection with textile production include urbanization, the spread of different textile cultures and the identification of specific practices (sealing) and previously unrecognized technologies (splicing), as well as the value of textiles enhanced by a variety of decorative techniques and purple dyeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new micromorphological evidence from the 2013–2015 Palace and Landscape at Palaikastro (PALAP) excavations (Crete, Greece) provides significant information on a new area of the Bronze Age urban center of Palaikastro and its surrounding environment—a microecological narrative. The evidence suggests that slope processes had a significant impact on the area of three newly excavated buildings during the Neopalatial period (1650/1640–1440/1430 B.C.). The findings indicate that phases of gradual sediment accumulation, associated with flooding and eolian deposition, occurred during the Middle Minoan III to Late Minoan IA periods; such phases may indicate active slope or landscape management (e.g., terracing). In contrast, periods of increased slope instability, possibly relating to abandonment phases, occurred in the Late Minoan IB period. Combined with other archaeological evidence, micromorphological observations suggest a local aridity event in Late Minoan IB, and this dry period may be connected to larger regional and Mediterranean climatic patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, an intaglio gem was discovered in Pylos (Messenia, Greece) from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age with a scene of two warriors in combat. This representation is part of a group of similar images on seals. The analysis of these objects allows the suggestion that the scenes depicted on them are based on the same story/myth. This story helped to build the ideology of the Mycenaean elites based on, among other things, the use of violence in social life and set patterns of behavior, while at the same time linking the Mycenaeans living in different parts of Greece, especially in Mycenae, Pylos and Vapheio. Perhaps it had an epic dimension similar to Homer's much later work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of a state on Crete at the beginning of the second millennium bc has usually been considered under the secondary state paradigm. Most explanations rely on the role of conspicuous consumption and emulation mechanisms at a time when Cretan elites were exposed to the developed stratified systems of the east Mediterranean. A careful review of the data, especially those derived from funerary contexts, struggles to identify such dynamics but reveals a varied range of identities being negotiated and redefined simultaneously at the local and regional level. Informed by ethnographic parallels, an alternative model for Crete is proposed in which change is understood as a social phenomenon that involved a wide proportion of the population and brought broad benefits that sustained the adoption and development of the transformed systems. Crete is presented as a rich archaeological example that may also help in rethinking similar processes in other parts of the Mediterranean and further afield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Bronze Age in Crete, agriculture, pottery production, metallurgy, textiles, architectural feats, trade, and other specializations flourished. Throughout habitation on Crete, pottery production was an area of craftsmanship and practicality from the end of the Neolithic to Mycenean and Iron Age. This experiment, however, relates to the Late Minoan I period in the geographical region of Mochlos. The Artisan's Quarter is a building that contains various rooms that have been tied to craftsmanship and workshops. Once connected by a land bridge to the ancient site of Mochlos, this particular building would have been the place of vast amounts of pottery production. Activities would have ranged from the clay preparation to forming the vessels by hand or wheel to the decoration choices to the firing, and then finally to the exportation. For this experiment, the construction of the kiln was based on the research of two kilns of differing sizes and characteristics in this area, combined with other Late Minoan sites on Crete, to understand firing techniques and building aspects. Chalinomouri was another place of specialization. It was a small habitation that seemed to concentrate on agriculture. The pottery collected from this site varies in date and function, which is similar to that of the Artisan's Quarter. As seen in the excavations at Mochlos, the scored basins were discovered fragmented within various rooms of different activities, suggesting their fabrication and possible function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harbor site of Kommos, Crete, has yielded rich evidence for long-distance exchange in the form of ceramic transport jars of types used not only for distribution within Crete and the Aegean, but also across the eastern Mediterranean. An integrated petrographic and chemical approach is here employed in order to determine the provenance of short-necked amphoras, transport stirrup jars, Egyptian jars, and Canaanite jars. The results reveal a detailed picture of local jar production within southern Crete, as well as jars that have their origins in the Nile Delta and at several specific locations along the Levantine coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although aspects of Arthur Evans's vision of Minoan society have undergone modification during the course ofthe 20th century, his basic interpretation of the monumental building complex with courts at Knossos as a Palace-Temple, or the residence of both a political and religious authority, remains the dominant paradigm in Minoan archaeology. When set within the context of other contemporary Bronze Age societies in the eastern Mediterranean, however, Evans's model of a priest-king who resided in a Palace-Temple is actually highly unusual and anomalous. Indeed, it will be argued that the Palace-Temple model was invented by Evans as a distinctive, formative and intermediate stage between the Oriental Temple, which was the model then current in the Near East at the time of his writing, and what might be termed European kingship. The perception that Cretan culture and society was essentially European (and thus different from the East) formed a cornerstone of Evans's vision and its enduring popularity goes some way to explaining why the intellectual and empirical origins of Evans's Palace-Temple model have not previously been critically reassessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the relationship between the language of the first millennium Eteocypriot text and the three Bronze Age languages. The study analyses the four corpuses of the language and uses syllabograms in investigating the autonomous units as well as the complete sequence in the Eteocypriot inscriptions. Results of the study shows that the isogloss -ti (Eteocypriot) ∼ ti? (CM 1) is effective because it features several concordant details. Another result suggests that the frequency of reduplicated signs is importantly different in Eteocypriot ∼ CM 1 (§ 3.1.1). It also says that there are two features that confront Eteocypriot to CM 1, however they seem not enforcing.

The Neopalatial period of Middle to Late Bronze Age Crete is marked by a dramatic increase in the depiction of non-human animals. In contrast to the domesticates listed in the Linear A documents, the animals which appear on frescoes and seals are largely wild or supernatural, or in non-domestic scenes (particularly bull-leaping). This article seeks to explore the quantitative differences between the types of animals displayed on different media, and ask why non-domestic animals appear in such significant proportions. Arthur Evans and subsequent scholars have explained this phenomenon as an expression of interest in the natural world. Instead of this modernist view, it will be argued here that it is by trying to approach these depictions as expressing specifically Bronze Age human-animal relations that the role of such animals in Cretan society can be understood. From a relational perspective, the animals depicted can be seen as active participants in prestige activities such as hunting or bull-leaping rather than the passive motifs of artistic naturalists. This perspective might also provide a more illuminating answer to the question: why depict animals? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ritual provides the forum for both the expression of cultural identities and the articulation of social strategies. Studies that analyse ritual sites and artefacts in isolation fail to recognize this tension fully, and also tend to assume a sharp distinction between 'religious' rituals and 'non-religious' rituals. This article seeks to shed new light on the relationship between power and ritual in Neopalatial Crete (c. 1700-1450 BC), by analysing the distribution of objects of dedication across the entire landscape of north-central Crete. The comparison of the Knossos and Malia regions indicates that this relationship differs substantially in this part of Crete alone. While artefacts common to ritual sites have been found widely throughout the Knossian region, further east they tend to be concentrated at the site of Malia. Furthermore, the ritual sites from the Knossian region fall into distinct categories, which suggests that they performed various roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that conventional archaeological approaches to food need a sophisticated theoretical framework which acknowledges food's involvement of the human body. Issues of wine and olive oil production and consumption in Bronze Age Crete; Relation to broader social and political developments on the part of Bronze Age Cretan farmers.