Toward a Definition of Minoan Agro-Pastoral Landscapes: Results of the Survey at Palaikastro (Crete)

Abstract

Agricultural production and the palatial redistribution of staples have played a key role in the debate concerning the emergence of social complexity in Minoan Crete. However, much of the focus has fallen on major settlements where such products were consumed, rather than on the landscape where agricultural surplus was produced. While there is no shortage of landscape surveys on Crete, their emphasis has typically been on the distribution of rural settlements instead of on identifying landscape structures and arrangements-such as terraces, enclosures, and field systems-that might provide data about a territory's economic focus. A key aim of the new survey at Palaikastro has been to address this bias. By combining extensive archaeological survey with differential GPS (DGPS) measurements, high-resolution aerial photography, and microrelief generation and analysis, the project has identified hundreds of structures, forming an almost continuous fossilized landscape and providing important clues on landscape management practices. The results highlight the importance of pastoral practices, to which a large part of the landscape was dedicated. Agricultural arrangements were also documented in the form of terraced areas adapted for dryland agriculture and reflecting concerns for soil retention. We argue that a highly structured landscape, indicative of pressures in land use, was established during the Middle and Late Minoan periods across Palaikastro's territory. 1 introduction When archaeologists first started to take into account the local socioeconomic conditions on Bronze Age Crete for explaining the emergence of complexity, they could hardly ignore the substantial storage facilities at each of the main palatial sites of Knossos, Phaistos, and Malia. These facilities seemed ideally suited to the accumulation and control of large quantities of 1 Th is fi eldwork was completed with permit ΥΠΠΟΤ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΑΡΧ/Α2/Φ1/14658/ 240, under the auspices of the British School at Athens. We are most grateful to the Lasithi Ephorate of Antiquities, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, and the British School at Athens. Funding and support was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Hal Jackman Foundation, and the Universities of Toronto, Nott ingham, Bristol, and Louvain. We would also like to thank Tim Cunningham for sharing his extensive knowledge of the study area and Paul Halstead for conducting ethnographic interviews of local residents and for his willingness to discuss the hypotheses presented in this fi eld report. In relation to Paul's work we would also like to acknowledge our informants at Palaikastro: Manolis Mavrokoukoulakis and Kostas Mazonakis. Discussions with Santiago Riera, Alexandra Livarda, Llorenç Picornell, and Athanasia (Nancy) Krahtopoulou greatly contributed to improvements in the report, but, as always, all errors remain our own. Finally, we would like to warmly thank the three anonymous reviewers for the AJA and Editor-in-Chief J...

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