Neolithic Antecedents

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, excavations beneath Bronze Age strata at Dimini and Sesklo in Thessaly and Knossos on Crete revealed an earlier epoch of human occupation, characterized by stone tools, handmade pottery, and the bones of domesticated animals ( Evans 1901 ;Tsountas 1908 ). Termed Neolithic by analogy with other European regions, it was immediately clear that this was a phase of village-dwelling farmers, the Aegean's fi rst agricultural society. An Imagined NeolithicIn these early years and under the infl uence of nationalist and colonialist agendas, a line was drawn in the sand of prehistory separating the more familiar, village-dwelling, sedentary, pottery-using farmers of the Neolithic and Bronze Age from the more alien, cave-dwelling, mobile foragers of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ( Zvelebil 1995 ). In what has become a modern origin myth for Western society, the development of agriculture and sedentism was viewed as 'an escape from the impasse of savagery' ( Childe 1942 , 55 )-a revolutionary beginning in the development of modernity, albeit one eclipsed in modern signifi cance by the 'urban revolution' and the 'emergence of civilization' in the Bronze Age ( Childe 1942 , 79-163 ;1950;Renfrew 1972 ). To modern eyes accustomed to almost constant change, the nearly constant continuity of the Neolithic seemed backward or uninteresting.

Power Ranges

“…Destruction of the palaces, probably by a series of earthquakes, and their subsequent rebuilding marked the beginning of the Neopalatial period (Late Minoan IA-B) around 1700 BCE. The Minoan palaces formed the centre of administration, storage, trade, and religion until their destruction by the Mycenaeans in the Final Palatial period (Late Minoan IB-II) around 1490-1430 BCE, with Knossos itself finally destroyed around 1350 BCE (Tomkins 2010;Manning 2010). While the Minoans possessed writing systems, the hieroglyphic and Linear A texts remain undeciphered and while the Linear B texts from Mycenaean Knossos and Pylos provide some insight, we rely primarily on archaeological evidence including architecture, iconography, crafts and the environment in reconstructing Minoan culture.…”

Dropping Ecstasy? Minoan Cult and the Tropes of Shamanism

“…Destruction of the palaces, probably by an earthquake, and their subsequent rebuilding marked the beginning of the Neopalatial period (Late Minoan IA-B) around 1700 BCE. The Minoan palaces formed the centre of administration, storage, religion and trade until their destruction by the Mycenaeans at the end of the Neopalatial period (Late Minoan IB-II) around 1490/1450 BCE (Tomkins 2010, Manning 2010).…”

Socializing geoarchaeology: Insights from Bourdieu's theory of practice applied to Neolithic and Bronze Age Crete

“…The body of work previously sketched has actively participated in breaking down the once crisp boundary separating the Cretan Neolithic and Bronze Age. The division is more of historiographic than historic importance (Tomkins, 2010). However, where human-environment interactions are concerned, such maturity is still far from being realized.…”

“…Significantly, marginal colonization on Crete has been related to a mid-Holocene climatic shift toward a more extreme aridity, seasonality, and unpredictability characterizing the modern Mediterranean climate (Tomkins, 2010; see also Roberts et al, 2001;Roberts & Reed, 2009). Marginal colonization in the area of Kalo Chorio raises the possibility that social values different from those at work in Malia may have participated in the creation of different dispositions toward the land.…”