(no subject)

Earliest Minoan palaces were believed to be redistributive centers like later Mycenaean ones
this interpretation is now being question

Knossos the only known site in Crete through the 5th millennium BCE (so some 3 millennia)
its great antiquity gave it a privileged position, access to the ancestors, etc.

Hepzefa Tomb in Egypt has Minoanizing elements in the ceiling pattern, 1953-1908

Why did Crete get more complex societies at the time everything else was collapsing? Maybe because supply was cut off because of collapses elsewhere, so instead of oversupply and inflation, we have scarcity and monopolies, which allow more stratified societies to emerge.
The climate change around 2200 BCE may have also encouraged concentration on the few most viable areas, and drawn attention away from the more marginal areas.

Neopalatial
Knossos had a throne; other palatial sites did not

150 By LM IA, Phaistos seems to have diminished in importance: no administrative documents come from Late Minoan contexts there, and there is little evidence for occupation in LM IB.
151 To support Knossos as a superregional island center, prestige and display objects that can only have been produced at Knossos were disseminated across the island. It is important to keep in mind that these Knossian objects may have bene produced for ceremonial purposes, because they often take ceremonial form (such as...impractical animal-headed pouring vessels and funnels known as rhyta,) and depict ritual scenes (bull-leaping, men at peak sanctuaries, and elaborately dressed women
152 the huge size of Knossos (the palace is almost twice as big as Phaistos), its continuity (no LM IB destruction within the palace)
153 Special Palatial Tradition pottery, most often reproduced in books, but not for every day use
floral style continued plant style that preceded it, but LM IB introduced marine style
potters seem to be following wall paintings, not innovative themselves
154 Scientific analysis has revealed that in general, Minoan pottery shapes and motifs were imitated, but that the vases themselves did not travel abroad. Marine style vases found outside Crete, for example, were often locally produced, not imports.
Virtually all Neopalatial arts and crafts on Crete originated in the Protopalatial period and continue to evolve, a good indication that the change from Proto- to Neopalatial did not involve a major cultural break despite the rise to a new level of technical competence
155 Minoan Type A swords have a grip that is riveted to the blade; the design is therefore not suitable for slashing but rather is good for thrusting and stabbing. These swords were the best produced in the Aegean, and ancestral to those that developed later. Although some of these Type A swords were used on Crete, many were deposited in the shaft graves at Mycenae. It would be interesting to know more about how the mainland élites acquired them; suggestions include spoils of war taken from vanquished opponents, armaments for retainers, or acquisitions made by mainland visitors to Crete. Armorers were responsible for two kinds of shields, the "tower" and the "figure-eight", both made of bull's hide stretched over a supporting wood or wicker framework: these are represented in art, though no actual examples survive.
156 silver "Siege Rhyton" from Mycenae, were found on the mainland, but were probably produced by Cretan artists
157 scraps of painted plaster at the site of Tell el-Dab'a (the ancient Hyksos capital of Avaris) in the northeast delta of Egypt. Among the surviving pieces are human figures, naturalistic landscape elements, and scenes of bull-leaping. do not copy Minoan frescoes in exact detail, may imply simple influence from Crete (date disputed, 16th century)
158 Boxer Rhyton
pieces of the Sanctuary Rhyton from Zakros were found scattered throughout the west wing of the palace. may be deliberate destruction for ritual purposes, or vandalization in the upheavals at the end of the Neopalatial period. Large-scale relief work in stone is notably absent from the Aegean, except the Lion Gate Relief at Mycenae, whose sculptural technique and iconography follow Minoan practices
159 red & green marble from the southern Peloponnese; green, black, & white-speckled lapis lacedaimonius from Sparta, and obsidian from Yiali, an island off the south west coast of Anatolia. Blue lapis lazuli came from a single known source in Afghanistan and amethyst from Egypt, whereas black hematite, blood-red carnelian, and rock crystal may have derived from several different sources, including Mesopotamia
160 from the eastern Med: elephant and hippopotamus ivory, glass, and faience
161 breechcloth secured at the waist, codpiece in combat and bull-leaping, kilt over this, cloaks/mantles depending on the weather, pointed leather sandals laced up the ankles, and sometimes leggings

Minoan religion, burial customs, and administration

165 foundations of Neopalatial religion laid in the Protopalatial period, and probably much earlier, in cults at caves, peak sanctuaries, and communal tombs easy to access
horns of consecration (symbol shaped like abstract bull horns)
166 Crete lacks evidence for the large formal temples like Egypt and Mesopotamia
sanctuary at Kato Syme, Proto and Neopalatial cult activity, cult continuity into the historical period when sacred to Hermes and Aphrodite
some ritual structures laid out on a steep slope below an imposing waterfall around areas that included large bonfires and places where votive offerings such as stone offering tables were deposited
167 Zakros Sanctuary Rhyton depicts a peak sanctuary consisting of a tripartite façade with horns of consecration and "masts" set in the background like a backdrop for the courtyard in front.
168 unclear what depictions of women are of goddess
mistress of the beasts a good candidate
borrowing of Tawaret, a hippopotamus goddess associated with women and childbirth in Egypt
169 Xeste 3 at Akrotiri had an intriguing fresco depicting two young women flanking a seated "Wounded Woman" with a bleeding foot, above a lustral basin (small sunken room of unknown function)
some scenes show bulls trussed on low tables, there seems little doubt that some of them were killed and consumed, in a practice that may have been social, religious, or both
170 possible indications of human sacrifice, not certain
What can be said with certainty is that the widespread destructions at the end of LM IB marked a significant change in Minoan religious practices
171 wide variety of practices: tholos tombs (round domed tombs), burial in built structures, inhumation, use of terracotta sarcophagi, and the collection of skulls following the decomposition of the body
172 individuals were laid to rest initially on plain or painted wooden biers or beds, sometimes deposited atop a low, built platform or dais. Significantly, this burial practice foreshadows by some seven centuries the later Greek rituals of prothesis (mourning the deceased on a bier) and ekphora (carrying a bier to a grave site) that we see on Late Geometric vases
173 simple scenario: the administrators tie string around the handles of the bushels of olives and over cloths that cover the mouths of the wine jars. Over the knots of these tied strings they then press lumps of clay and impress the clay lumps with the engraved seals and finger rings provided by the state (sth like this probably going on at Lerna in EH II)
174 early Knossos sealings were impressed by seals bearing the name "JA-SA-SA-RA", may be the name of a goddess akin to Hittite Esha-sara or Levantine Asherah.
175 Linear A is found on different kinds of clay documents: sealings over knots of string, prismatic sealings over tightly wrapped leather packages (probably written documents on parchment), "roundels" that look like discs and are impressed by seals around the rim, and neat rectangular clay tablets.
176 Because the earliest habitation levels in Crete betray a full knowledge of developed Neolithic culture and many of the objects look Anatolian in inspiration, it is presumed that Crete was deliberately colonized by people from southwest Anatolia
177 The phrases on side A begin with similar signs, and those on side B end in similar signs, suggesting repetitious phrases on A and rhyming phrases on B. For these reasons, it is likely that the Phaistos Disc records a poem or song, or, if it is religious, as some suppose, a chant or hymn.
178 If Crete in the Neopalatial period was heavily urbanized across most of the island, then it is difficult to imagine it fragmented into mutually exclusive states; instead, we should imagine a centralized political control, Knossos with some sort of hegemony symbolized by its throne, with secondary (Phaistos, Malia) and tertiary regional centers, along with large and small towns and farms.
179 Evidence from frescoes also suggests that Minoan society was sex-segregated, at least at ceremonial gatherings
representations of female deities, mostly seated
far fewer representations depict what could be male divinities: men who stand between two rampant lions or who hold griffins on a leash
180 more women than men, however, appear in powerful roles, at a larger relative scale
181 no known matriarchies, Crete best candidate

Minoan Crete and the Aegean islands

186 At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, the communities of the Cyclades and of other islands of the Aegean Sea were so radically altered by contact with the Minoan civilization that scarcely an aspect of life in them was left unaffected
187 Thucydides says Minos ruled the Cyclades
188 cannot yet determine specific areas on Crete that influenced the Aegean; Crete is not monolithic
189 Thera erupted, towns remained undisturbed until they were noticed on Therasia and Thera in the course of mining for volcanic products to be used as ingredients in cement for the Suez Canal
190 Akrotiri remains date to end of Neolithic transition into EBA
Neopalatial vases directly imported from Crete in large numbers into the Aegean, plus imitation
191 Akrotiri houses two and even three stories
192 Ship Fresco
Xeste 3, so-called because of its imposing ashlar (prepared (or "dressed") stone work of any type of stone) façade (xeste is Greek for "hewn"), second best explored house (other is West House)
193 The availability of easily sawn volcanic stone made it possible to imitate Minoan ashlar masonry on Thera more closely than was possible on islands like Keos, where the local geology provided no such suitable materials
islanders familiar with Minoan sealing practices
Linear A
194 Ayia Irini, settlement on Keos, abandoned temp after the end of the EBA, following the Kastri Group
resettled in early MBA, cosmopolitan from the very beginning
195 Period IV, little Minoan influence despite some contact
Period V, Minoan influence
Linear A
Period VI following, avalanche of Minoan influence
196 House A, most impressive domestic building
Minoan features: columned hall, paved bath, elegant parlor, light well (small room open to the sky)
197 Phylakopi on Melos also shows the Minoanization process
198 Cretan contacts with Iasos (in Caria) and Miletos established in EBA, important as early as MBA
199 warp weighted loom of Cretan design at Miletos
carbonized wooden throne
200 mines at Laurion near Athens, silver, lead, copper
already being used in early times
Minoans interested, have contacts with island between them and Attica
201 population growth on Crete, all fertile areas in use, may have looked for relatively vacant islands
202 In some instances, it seems likely that members of factions who competed for control of Aegean centers adopted the latest Cretan fashions, in a desire to gain prestige.
203 adoption in the Aegean of a common system of measurement. From Keos to Miletos, sets of weights calibrated to a Minoan scale have been excavated
205 It has, in fact, been suggested that the archaeologically recognizable destruction at Phylakopi at the end of phase II was the result of a Cretan raid
Not so long ago, it was widely believed that the New Palace period in Crete was brought to an end by the eruption that swallowed Akrotiri and the other settlements in the island in a rain of volcanic debris. It is now clear that this was not the case. The volcano did not erupt as late as LM IB, but in the later LM IA phase. The catastrophe devastated settlements on Thera and had an impact on other parts of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. A deep stratum of ash has been excavated at Trianda, elsewhere in the Dodecanese, and even in the remains of prehistoric Miletos. Strong tsunamis seem to have followed an explosion that had a force perhaps ten times that of the eruption of Krakatau in 1883.