Aegean Bronze Age Art

Abstract

When we think of 'ancient art', it is probably the architecture, sculpture and paintings of Greece, Rome and Egypt that come to mind. These are archetypes that form our vision of ancient art. 1 That they occur in literate cultures in which art and text go hand-in-hand is hardly a coincidence. As suggested in a recent Companion to Greek Art, Classical archaeologists 'would rarely, if ever, speak of the Athena Parthenos, a gold and ivory cult statue designed by the sculptor Pheidias, without referencing Pliny or Pausanias'. 2 Herein we find another clue to the apparent accessibility of the art of these cultures: that artists may also be named, in this case Pheidias. We might feel that this focus on what Smith and Plantzos call the 'triumvirate' of architecture, sculpture and painting is perfectly reasonable, if these art forms are prevalent, and their study produces rich results. The downside, however, is that it leaves 'much of the rest relegated to the ill-defined catch-all phrase of "minor arts" '. 3 This bias towards 'major' over 'minor' arts becomes much more problematic when we try to explore other versions of ancient art: versions that may have little sculpture or painting to speak of, or that do not go hand-in-hand with texts. If we have in mind various kinds of prehistoric art, then of course by definition we will not have any kind of interaction between art and text to consider. If such art is then in a sense more isolated, lacking such interaction with other cultural outputs, does this make the treatment of prehistoric art

The Pottery Deposit From the Houses of the Fallen Blocks and the Sacrificed Oxen at the South-Eastern Corner of the Palace of Knossos

“…Several pots are of possible south-eastern Aegean origin, such as some vessels with a cylindrical lower body and particularly thick walls which have been characterised from the outset as ‘frequent’ in the deposit (Mackenzie 1922, 57). This type is also found in the cists below the Central Stairs and has been identified already as a south-eastern Aegean import (Knappett 2006, 111–12). An almost complete example is depicted on Evans’ figure of pots deriving from the houses treated here (PM II.1, fig.…”

Raw material choices and technical practices as indices of cultural change: Characterizing obsidian consumption at ‘Mycenaean’ Quartier Nu, Malia (Crete)

“…Before turning to the site, assemblage, and analyses, a brief terminological and culture-historical background is required (for general overviews see [ 44 , 49 ]). While the cultural name ‘Minoan’ has long been associated with the inhabitants of Bronze Age Crete (3 rd -2 nd millennia cal.…”