Minoan Research Articles

The “Lady of Zominthos”

Several news outlets for October 2020 have reported the discovery of a Middle Minoan terracotta figurine dubbed “The Lady of Zominthos.”

Palatial Crete: recent discoveries & research, 2014–2019

This contribution reviews recent and ongoing excavation, landscape and publication projects undertaken on Crete over the course of the last six years and covering the period from Middle Minoan IB to the end of Late Minoan IIIA (ca. 1900–1300 BC). The aim is to provide an extensive, although not exhaustive, summary of research conducted in the field and highlight some current trends in the study of Palatial Crete.

The Maritime and Riverine Networks of the Eurotas River Valley in Lakonia

Abstract Lakonia is remembered in Homeric epic as the locale where Queen Helen was abducted to Troy, becoming the face that launched 1,000 ships. In Bronze Age reality (ca. 3000–1200 BCE), Lakonia was one of the earliest areas on the Greek mainland to be influenced by Minoan civilization, achieve social complexity, and progress toward Mycenaean statehood. We examine how these cultural developments were supported by Lakonia's riverine topography. The perennial Eurotas River connected intervisible Bronze Age sites in the Spartan Plain with coastal port cities, thereby facilitating flows of ideas, people, and trade, particularly with Minoan Crete via the island of Kythera. We argue that Minoan interest in Lakonian raw materials resulted in the acquisition of finished prestige goods and specialized knowledge by Lakonian elites and contributed to emerging Lakonian social complexity. We conclude that Lakonia's riverine landscape was an important factor in its early development toward Mycenaean statehood.

Silver and silvery alloys in Early Minoan IB Crete

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis carried out in the last years on silver objects from three different Cretan Early Minoan cemeteries, Hagia Photia Siteias, Kephala Petras, and Livari Skiadi, dated to ca. 3000 to 2800 BC. The classes of objects discussed in this paper comprise mainly daggers and jewelry pieces; other kinds of items, however, can also be included as comparisons. For this project various groups of copper-alloy and silver-alloy artifacts from Hagia Photia, from the Petras rock shelter, and from Livari have been analyzed. The silver-based objects of this period can be distributed into two groups according to their composition: unalloyed silver and alloys of silver and copper or silver and arsenical copper. The analyses of the metal finds, both of silver and of arsenical copper, from the three sites indicate their appurtenance to the same metallurgical tradition, common to the areas around the Black Sea, Anatolia, and the Near East, with similar metallurgical practice, esthetic choices, and styles.

WINGLESS GRIFFINS AMONG PAPYRUS PLANTS FROM NEOPALATIAL KNOSSOS? A RECONSTRUCTION PROPOSAL OF THE SEAL IMPRESSION CMS II8, 321

This paper offers a new interpretation of the motifs preserved on the fragmentary Late Minoan (LM) I seal impression from Knossos CMS II8, 321, proposing a reconstruction of the original scene as two couchant overlapping griffins without wings among papyrus plants. If correct, the combination of all these elements is quite exceptional, since this scene would provide a unique reflection in glyptic art of the famous Throne Room decoration of Knossos, with its imposing wingless griffins immersed in a lush landscape of papyrus-reeds. Although a well-known ivory plaque from Mycenae displays a similar composition with a single, ‘classical’, winged griffin, no seal image seems to show also the wingless beast and the overlapping pose of two couchant griffins. The present investigation explores several parallels not only for this rare, yet well-attested, compositional scheme in Aegean art, but also for the figure of the wingless griffin. Both will be found in the Pylian palace decorative programme, which offers further griffins without wings – even in glyptic art – a meaningful parallel, since the interconnections between the Palace of Nestor and the Palace of Minos provide some of the most intriguing material in the study of Aegean imagery.

A new look at the Minoan ‘blue’ monkeys—ADDENDUM

A new look at the Minoan ‘blue’ monkeys—ADDENDUM

Similarities of Minoan and Indus Valley Hydro-Technologies

This review evaluates Minoan and Indus Valley hydro-technologies in southeastern Greece and Indus Valley Pakistan, respectively. The Minoan civilization first inhabited Crete and several Aegean islands shortly after the Late Neolithic times and flourished during the Bronze Age (ca 3200–1100 BC). At that time, the Minoan civilization developed fundamental technologies and reached its pinnacle as the first and most important European culture. Concurrently, the Indus Valley civilization populated the eastern bank of the Indus River, its tributaries in Pakistan, and the Ganges plains in India and Nadia (Bangladesh), spreading over an area of about one million km2. Its total population was unknown; however, an estimated 43,000 people resided at Harappa. The urban hydro-technologies, characteristics of a civilization can be determined by two specific aspects, the natural and the social environment. These two aspects cover a variety of factors, such as climate and social conditions, type of terrain, water supply, agriculture, water logging, sanitation and sewerage, hygienic conditions of communities, and racial features of the population. Therefore, these factors were used to understand the water resources management practices in early civilizations (e.g., Minoan and Indus Valley) and similarities, despite the large geographic distance between places of origin. Also discussed are the basic principles and characteristics of water management sustainability in both civilizations and a comparison of basic water supply and sanitation practices through the long history of the two civilizations. Finally, sustainability issues and lessons learned are considered.

The Veneti the Heirs to the Minoans

The article is devoted to the problem of the origin of various groups of the Veneti, known in historiography, based on data from archaeology, linguistics, and anthropology. Toponymic markers-ethnonyms use as the most important evidence of possible residence and subsequent spatial movements of tribes. It is justified that these geographical names appear, as a rule, when ethnic groups move to a new territory with an alien autochthonous population. The toponyms, ethnonyms provide an opportunity to identify areas of distribution and possible migration routes of the tribes. The article explores issues related to the migration of the Veneti during the Bronze Age disaster from the Northwestern part of the Asia Minor peninsula to Europe. It is justified that the Western Anatolian cultures created under the significant influence of the Minoan culture and the Veneti are among its successors. There is evidence that the self-name of the Minoans could be the ethnonym associated with the custom of painting the bodies of men in red. Evidence provided the trade of Ancient Egypt with the land of Rutenu (Ruzenu) could conducted with the Minoans and they could establish ports on the coast of the Levant, which became famous at afterwards.

David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet, by Thomas Dilworth, David Jones: A Christian Modernist?, ed. by Jamie Callison, Paul S. Fiddes, Anna Johnson, and Erik Tonning

David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet, by Thomas Dilworth, David Jones: A Christian Modernist?, ed. by Jamie Callison, Paul S. Fiddes, Anna Johnson, and Erik Tonning

From Storage to Disposal: a Holistic Microbotanical Approach to Domestic Plant Preparation and Consumption Activities in Late Minoan Gypsades, Crete

The analysis of microbotanical remains (starch grains and phytoliths) from food-related domestic contexts and artefacts has the potential to provide insights into daily plant preparation and consumption activities. In particular, pottery vessels offer an unparalleled comparative framework for the study of food preparation and consumption, since pottery is used for a variety of domestic food-related activities, including storage, processing and serving. This study illustrates the potential of microbotanical remains to provide a holistic approach to the plant food preparation and consumption cycle—from storage to disposal—through the analysis of starch grains and phytoliths from Late Minoan storage, cooking and serving vessels recently uncovered at the Knossian ‘neighbourhood’ of Lower Gypsades. The results show that starch grains and phytoliths are more abundant and diverse in cooking vessels, presumably reflecting a higher deposition of microbotanical remains as a result of the disturbance caused by cooking. The results further offer insights into Minoan storage and cooking practices at Gypsades, suggesting that cereals were stored de-husked in pithoi and, possibly, in palm leaf baskets, and later cooked together with non-staple plants. The virtual absence of microbotanical remains from serving vessels may be due to depositional factors and/or the fact that some of the vessels analysed in this study were used for serving/consuming liquids or animal products, and not plants.

Seals and Sealings in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia

Seals and Sealings in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia

Η Μαγεία του πλοίου και της θάλασσας στη Μινωική Κρήτη: προκαταρκτικές παρατηρήσεις

From the simply designed fish at the stern of Cycladic ships to the majestic “baroque” compositions of the 17th - 18th century and the wood carvings of modern times, the prow is connected, firmly in time, with a multitude of magical religious beliefs. At the same time, the presence of the oculus in the bow does not seem to have a purely decorative character, as the magica and abominable properties of the eye are known. Animal-shaped emblematic bows and sterns as well as written oculi seem to be associated with the supernatural and magical properties of ships over time, echoing beliefs whose origins are lost in the depths of time and are intertwined with the “animation” of the ship as a living organism with its own biography. The article attempts to detect the above parameters in the cultures of the Aegean Bronze Age and especially in Minoan Crete

“Неінтерпретабельні” критські алфавітні написи: “етеокритська” мова як фригійська?

The article is devoted to an old problem of several “Eteocretan” (i.e. “true Cretan”) inscriptions in Greek alphabet, found in Classical Crete (dated to c. 6–4 c. BC), but not interpreted in Greek until the present time. Despite several hypotheses, the problem remains unsolved. However, this enigma is very important to reconstruct the ethno-linguistic map of ancient Crete as the craddle of Minoan civilization and the oldest interpretable scripts in Europe (Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A). According to a commonly accepted view, the “Eteocretan” inscriptions can be a rest of “Pre-Greek” languages of the island – despite the “Eteocretan” and the Linear A inscriptions demonstrate no common linguistic features. The present author proposes an interpretation of the “Eteocretan” language as Phrygian. The latter was a close relative to Ancient Greek, splitted from it c. 4000 BC. This hypothesis correlates with another idea of the same author – of the presence of some Phrygian phonetic features in the language of Cretan hieroglyphs. Some “satem” elements of Phrygian, Cretan hieroglyphs, and Eteocretan (the name of Praisos as possible homonym of the “satem” Indo-European name of pig) make a system. Summarizing, Eteocretan looks like Phrygian, more or less Graecianized. In some inscriptions, loaned lexical elements are Greek whereas basic lexical and grammatical elements are Phrygian. In such way, a conundrum of “Greek vs non-Greek” Eteocretan inscriptions can be solved.

Maria Relaki and Yiannis Papadatos (eds) From the Foundations to the Legacy of Minoan Archaeology. pp. 331, 69 b/w ills, 9 tables. 2018. Oxford: Oxbow Books (Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology). ISBN 978-1-78570-926-5, paperback £38.

This volume contains final versions of the majority of papers given at the 14th Sheffield Round Table in Aegean Archaeology, 29-31 January 2010, so it has taken a long time to arrive, but it can be said straight away that specialists in Minoan archaeology should find it worth the wait. The Round Table was held to honour Keith Branigan, founder of the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology, and its topics were evidently chosen to reflect the areas in which he has made particularly significant contributions. Thus, the papers published here are concerned principally with different aspects of the rich field of funerary activity, especially in the Prepalatial period, but also with patterns of settlement and land exploitation, and with the processes of development that brought the Minoan civilisation into being. The contribution by Relaki, the co-editor (Ch. 2), stands out in focusing on another field in which Branigan was active at an early stage, that of developments in technology, their spread within Crete, and their links with the outside world, notably the Cyclades and Egypt.

Faltering Complexity? The Context and Character of Settlement at Priniatikos Pyrgos in Early Minoan III–Middle Minoan IA East Crete

Faltering Complexity? The Context and Character of Settlement at Priniatikos Pyrgos in Early Minoan III–Middle Minoan IA East Crete

Lyre shaped motif and its origins

Lyre shaped ornament is a common motif of ornamental and folklore applied art. But, unfortunately, the origins of the lyre shaped motif are still not well investigated. In the paper we review the literature devoted to the study of the emergence and spread of a lyre shaped motif and analyze museum exhibits from catalogs and published sources. The aim of the study is to define the сenters of the lyre motif origin and the paths of its distribution. Material and methods. Article analyzes lyre shaped motifs in museum artifacts, folk arts and crafts using materials presented in published literature and catalogs of museum exhibits. A spiral motif originated in Egypt. The origins of the lyre motif in ancient Egypt are probably connected with the iconography of the Egyptian god of Hathor, who was depicted as a woman with a headdress decorated with lyre shaped horns and a solar disk between them. It should be noted that the tradition of depicting a human face with cow horns has connections with the Neolithic period of the Nile Valley, where cattle breeding arose in the 6-5th millennium BC. The first cases of using a lyre shaped motif occured in scarab-like seals of Egypt and Minoan culture. Artifacts with a lyre shaped motif were observed related, dating from the Minoan and Mycenaean periods, during to the period of classical Hellenistic Greece. A lyre shaped motif was spread along trade routes from Crete to the Danube, the Elbe, the shores of the Baltic Sea and, together with the Celts, penetrated into Britain, from the Greek colonies of the Black Sea to the Scythians. In the Asian part of the Eurasian steppes, this motif symbolized the image of the eagle totem animal depicted like a griffin, especially in the early Scythian and Hunnic period. The origins of the lyre shaped motif in the Asian steppe, apparently, were the ancient motifs “taotie” in China and “masks” in the Russian Far East. The popularity of the lyre shaped motif in the folk arts and crafts of the Turkic peoples was probably due to the spread of this motif within the Scythian community, when there was a cult of the eagle-like griffin and totem.

West Asian sources of the Eurasian component in Ethiopians: a reassessment

The presence of genomic signatures of Eurasian origin in contemporary Ethiopians has been reported by several authors and estimated to have arrived in the area from 3000 years ago. Several studies reported plausible source populations for such a signature, using haplotype based methods on modern data or single-site methods on modern or ancient data. These studies did not reach a consensus and suggested an Anatolian or Sardinia-like proxy, broadly Levantine or Neolithic Levantine as possible sources. We demonstrate, however, that the deeply divergent, autochthonous African component which accounts for ~50% of most contemporary Ethiopian genomes, affects the overall allele frequency spectrum to an extent that makes it hard to control for it and, at once, to discern between subtly different, yet important, Eurasian sources (such as Anatolian or Levant Neolithic ones). Here we re-assess pattern of allele sharing between the Eurasian component of Ethiopians (here called “NAF” for Non African) and ancient and modern proxies. Our results unveil a genomic legacy that may connect the Eurasian genetic component of contemporary Ethiopians with Sea People and with population movements that affected the Mediterranean area and the Levant after the fall of the Minoan civilization.

Power Ranges

During the Aegean Bronze Age, the island of Crete was home to Minoan civilisation (3100–1300 BCE). The Cretan landscape is characterised by prominent mountain ranges. During the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) cult sites began to proliferate on mountain peaks in response to climatic changes. Peak sanctuaries were locations of popular religious expression focussed on human, animal, and environmental health and fertility. In the Neopalatial period (1750–1490 BCE) peak sanctuary cults were appropriated by palatial elites and the Minoan cosmological framework, oriented toward mountains, was institutionalised. Analysis of the Minoan landscape, palatial art, architecture, and ritual performance demonstrates a close association between elite figures and real and symbolic mountains. The metaphysical terrain of Crete was politicised as mountain symbolism was used to naturalise Neopalatial elite status and identity. The mountain form signified and symbolised power relations functioning as an instrument of elite ideology.

A MIDDLE HELLADIC TOMB IN THE ATHENIAN KERAMEIKOS AND SOME THOUGHTS ON THE EARLY CONNECTIONS OF ATTICA

This paper focuses on a presentation and discussion of the solitary Middle Helladic tomb found in the Athenian Kerameikos. Our purpose is twofold: first of all, to present in detail the tomb offerings that we were able to relocate, and to suggest a MH I date for the burial. Secondly, given the significant presence of ceramic imports from various Aegean islands, we outline the connectedness that Attica enjoyed at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. This is a story that involves not just Athens, but Aigina, the Argolid, and Minoan Crete, as well as the much sought-after metal ores of Laurion.

The Late Bronze Age Eruption of Santorini Volcano and Its Impact on the Ancient Mediterranean World

The Late Bronze Age eruption of Santorini occurred 110 km north of Minoan Crete (Greece). Having discharged between 48 and 86 km3 of magma and rock debris, the eruption ranks as one of the largest of the last 10,000 years. On Santorini, it buried the affluent trading port of Akrotiri. Modern volcanological research has reconstructed the eruption and its regional impacts in detail, while fifty years of archaeological excavations have unraveled the events experienced by the inhabitants of Akrotiri during the months that led up to the eruption. Findings do not favour a direct relationship between the eruption and the decline of the Minoan civilization, although tsunamis and atmospheric effects may have weakened Cretan society through impacts on shipping, trade and agriculture.