Escaping the Labyrinth: The Cretan Neolithic in Context

Description

Beneath the Bronze Age 'Palace of Minos', Neolithic Knossos is one of the earliest known farming settlements in Europe and perhaps the longest-lived. For 3000 years, Neolithic Knossos was also perhaps one of very few settlements on Crete and, for much of this time, maintained a distinctive material culture. This volume radically enhances understanding of the important, but hitherto little known, Neolithic settlement and culture of Crete. Thirteen papers, from the tenth Sheffield Aegean Round Table in January 2006, explore two aspects of the Cretan Neolithic: the results of recent re-analysis of a range of bodies of material from J.D. Evans' excavations at EN-FN Knossos; and new insights into the Cretan Late and Final Neolithic and the contentious belated colonisation of the rest of island, drawing on both new and old fieldwork. Papers in the first group examine the idiosyncratic Knossian ceramic chronology (P. Tomkins), human figurines from a gender perspective (M. Mina), funerary practices (S. Triantaphyllou), chipped stone technology (J. Conolly), land and-use and its social implications (V. Isaakidou). Those in the second group, present a re-study of LN Katsambas (N. Galanidou and K. Mandeli), evidence for later Neolithic exploration of eastern Crete (T. Strasser), Ceremony and consumption at late Final Neolithic Phaistos (S. Todaro and S. Di Tonto), Final Neolithic settlement patterns (K. Nowicki), the transition to the Early Bronze Age at Kephala Petra (Y. Papadatos), and a critical appraisal of Final Neolithic 'marginal colonisation' (P. Halstead). In conclusion, C. Broodbank places the Cretan Neolithic within its wider Mediterranean context and J.D. Evans provides an autobiographical account of a lifetime of insular Neolithic exploration. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Abbreviations Contributors Chapter 1: Introduction: Escaping the Labyrinth Chapter 2: Approaching the Labyrinth Chapter 3: Time, Space and the Reinvention of the Cretan Neolithic Chapter 4: A Sea of Agency: Crete in the Context of the Earliest Neolithic in Greece Chapter 5: The Knapped Stone Technology of the First Occupants at Knossos Chapter 6: ‘The Fauna and Economy of Neolithic Knossos’ Revisited Chapter 7: Figurin’ Out Cretan Neolithic Society: Anthropomorphic Figurines, Symbolism and Gender Dialectics Chapter 8: Living with the Dead: a Re-Consideration of Mortuary Practices in the Greek Neolithic Chapter 9: Stones of Contention: Regional Axe Production and Hidden Landscapes on Neolithic Crete Chapter 10: Neolithic Katsambas Revisited: the Evidence from the House Chapter 11: The Neolithic Settlement of Phaistos Revisited: Evidence for Ceremonial Activity on the Eve of the Bronze Age Chapter 12: Obsidian in Transition: the Technological Reorganization of the Obsidian Industry from Petras Kephala (Siteia) between Final Neolithic IV and Early Minoan I Chapter 13: The Final Neolithic (Late Chalcolithic) to Early Bronze Age Transition in Crete and the Southeast Aegean Islands: Changes in Settlement Patterns and Pottery Chapter 14: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Coping with Marginal Colonisation in the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Crete and the Aegean Chapter 15: The Neolithic-Early Bronze Age Transition in Crete: New Evidence from the Settlement at Petras Kephala, Siteia Chapter 16: Long After Hippos, Well Before Palaces: A Commentary on the Cultures and Contexts of Neolithic Crete Chapter 17: The Neolithic of Crete, as Seen from Outside