Archaic Knossos, Archaeological Narratives, and Conservatism in Cretan Material Culture

A.L. D’Agata, L. Girella, E. Papadopoulou, D.G. Aquini (eds), One State, Many Worlds. Crete in the Late Minoan II-IIIA2 Early Period, Proceedings of an International Conference, Khania, Μεγάλο Αρσενάλι, 21st-23rd November 2019 (Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici. Nuove Serie-SMEA), 251-271., 2022

Based on a diachronic analysis of the typology and style of ceramic assemblages from several East Cretan sites (from Sissi to Palaikastro), this paper explores the different cultural processes at work within these communities during the LM II-IIIA2 early period. The degree of regional connectivity and variation in pottery consumption is assessed, and aspects of change and continuity with regard to the end of the Neopalatial period considered. In particular, the existence of a common pottery tradition – a distinctive drinking set treated in the typical dipped decoration style and technique – shared by several East Cretan sites and reminiscent of LM IB practices, is stressed. This paper also pays attention to the identification of more particular networks of interaction and this at the intra- and inter-regional level, examining specific connections with, or the absence/rejection of Knossian and Central Cretan practices. Finally, the nature of the interactions with Knossos, and with the Greek mainland, is discussed through the analysis of the ceramic category of fine medium-sized vessels decorated with various abstract motifs, and a discussion of the inception of this stylistic tradition in East Crete in LM IB. The more precise definition and chronological characterisation of distinct regional processes in pottery consumption may eventually offer a better understanding of the wider context of the socio-political changes that occurred on the island during this thorny period and, in particular, their relation to the developments that took place at Knossos.

BSA 118, 2023

In relation to previous periods, Archaic and Classical Crete presents a contraction in the material record and the evidence for overseas connections. This phenomenon has attracted wide-ranging attention in the scholarship, much of which focuses upon the major Cretan city of Knossos. The present article reviews the evidence from Knossos which suggests a decline in overseas connections and revisits the problem in the light of Archaic and Classical pottery from abroad found at the settlement site of the 'Unexplored Mansion'. On the basis of these finds, I argue that the impression of decline has been exaggerated, and has been partly shaped by methodological problems in the study of ceramics.

2019

Knossos is widely considered one of the most prosperous Aegean communities in the Early Iron Age, particularly on the basis of finds from its cemeteries. Because of later disturbance, it has not been possible to document the accompanying settlement very clearly. This paper revisits the evidence for the nature and extent of the settlement, integrating recent fieldwork with evidence from earlier excavations in the settlement and cemeteries. The Knossos Urban Landscape Project (KULP) recovered an unusually rich assemblage of ceramics from the Early Iron Age, a period that is typically under-represented in Aegean surveys. The abundance of data provides a relatively strong basis for a detailed understanding of the size and organization of the community and its development for nearly half a millennium. The surface exploration documented a wide scatter of ceramics, including in areas not previously intensively investigated. The site is shown to have been considerably larger than previously assumed already in the Protogeometric period (10th- 9th centuries BCE). The continuous distribution of material also demonstrates the expansion of a large nucleated community from a smaller core, which almost certainly survived from the Late Bronze Age. Survey in the areas of some of the dispersed cemeteries revealed no evidence for dispersed villages associated with each cemetery, refuting the model of polis formation through synoecism for Knossos. This new understanding of the settlement corresponds much better with the significance given to the site through its burial evidence, and challenges previous interpretations of the nature and extent of the settlement during the Early Iron Age.

2007

The Annual of the British School at Athens, 1994

Labyrinth Revisited: Rethinking 'Minoan'Archaeology, 2002

Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2019

For Crete, the Early Iron Age (12th–7th centuries B.C.) was an era of great prosperity and intense contacts with the Aegean and the Near East. However, in the periods that follow, the 6th–5th centuries B.C., signs of overseas activity and even human occupation diminish sharply on the island. The abrupt change from the rich material culture of the Early Iron Age to the material indigence of the Archaic and Classical periods has attracted wide-ranging attention in the scholarship. According to the scholarly consensus, Crete fell into material and cultural decline after the collapse of Phoenician trade networks around 600–575 B.C., which cut her off from her contacts with the outside world. Most discussions of this decline have focused on the major site of Knossos, which is taken to present an extreme manifestation of the phenomenon. Indeed, many scholars assume a complete absence of archaeological finds at the site between 600/ 590 B.C. and 525 B.C. and some argue for a decline of overseas connections at the city around 475–425 B.C., which they explain with a hypothesized Athenian interference in the trade networks of the Aegean. My thesis revisits these ideas in the light of previously unpublished imported pottery from the area of the Unexplored Mansion, a settlement site located northwest of the Minoan Palace of Knossos. I identify a number of imported fragments of sympotic, perfume, and cosmetic vessels from the Aegean (Attica, Corinth, Laconia) and the Eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus) which date from the purported chronological “lacunae” and indicate that these may be more apparent than real. This thesis further discusses isolated finds from other sites within the Knossos valley which date to the periods in question. I suggest that important fragments have often remained unpublished and occasionally they have been assigned an incorrect date, which has helped establish and maintain the traditional “gaps.” This situation has had a negative impact on our understanding of Crete in the Archaic and Classical periods, which can be remedied by new studies of old material and the questioning of old assumptions.

SMEA, 2012