1/ The Neolithic package in Crete appears for the first time around 7000 BC. in Knossos with a community of settlers from Western Anatolia, which did not know the technology of pottery (Pre-Pottery Neolithic).
2/The interesting thing is that recent surveys have shown that within the community, chipped stone objects were found that bear characteristics of the Aegean Mesolithic tradition,which means that this short-lived community came into contact with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
3/ Crete has already been inhabited since the Lower Palaeolithic through the maritime migration of Neanderthal populations using improvised rafts and making use of the sea route Mani > Kythera > Antikythera > Western Crete > Gavdos.
4/ After a gap in the Neolithic presence in Crete, we have successive migrations of populations from Anatolia, holders of the complete Neolithic package, with the result that during the Middle Neolithic Crete has been completely Neolithic.
5/ During the FN - EBA in the Aegean (NE Aegean - Cyclades - Attica) a highly developed culture is created, which has influences from Western Anatolia, but also the Balkans and has as its main characteristics the development of metallurgy, navigation and long distance trade.
6/ From the FN to EM II, Crete, especially in its east, seems to have strong commercial, cultural and racial ties with the Cyclades (indications of marriages with Cycladic islands have been reported), ➡️
➡️ while in its interior there is a cultural and population homogeneity, despite some local deviations.
7/ When in the helladic area during the transition from EH II/III and similarly in the Cyclades, a strong cultural intersection / breach is observed as a consequence of a wave of destructions, in Crete a cultural continuity is demonstrated.
8/ The conditions of upheaval that are observing in the period before the establishment of the first palaces (EM III - MM I), is due to the intense competition of local elites for the power and not to the migration of new population groups. ➡️
➡️ Some of the achievements of the Minoan civilization are cultural loans from areas of the East through trade, contacts and man's need for progress and innovation.
9/ When the Mycenaeans first invaded Khania and Crete (<1450 BC) via the sea route from southern Laconia, they established an initial palatial administration in Crete that ensured military control of the main centers of the island.
10/ Until 1370 BC the Mycenaean control of Western and Central Crete was complete, while the local Minoan element had taken refuge in the east of the island with the Mycenaeans having no relations with this part of Crete.
11/ After 1240 BC we have signs of the collapse of the Mycenaean confederation (archaeological findings - Hittite texts) and the appearance of the first signs of insecurity in the Aegean (piracy / out control armed groups) ➡️
➡️ with Crete being one of the first areas which were affected, as indicated by the appearance of the first mountain refugee shelters (>1230 BC).
12/ Finally, as I mentioned the destruction of Troy VIi was due to attacks by multinational sea raiders and took place around 1210 BC. It is very likely that the majority of the raiders were wandering pirates of the Aegean and some of them have their bases in Crete.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1️⃣ In the 1950s, a very interesting finding was discovered by chance in Dohnsen, Lower Saxony, which immediately aroused the interest of the scientific community. It was a bronze cup with exceptional artistic features both in its shape and decoration.
2️⃣ The bronze cup referred to Aegean patterns and the first ascertainments were that it is a artefact that was a product of long-distance transit trade between the Aegean and local communities within the context of the circulation of metal objects during the Late Bronze Age.
3️⃣ Although the archaeological context in which the bronze cup was found is uncertain, important Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement sites rich in archaeological remains and artefacts have been identified around and within close proximity of its find site, 👉
1/ According to the Hittite texts the Myc warlord Attarsiya carried out military operations in Anatolia and Cyprus around 1400 BC. We don't know if Attarsiya was the king of Mycenae, however he must have been an important member of the most powerful royal family of the Myc world.
2/ However, what was the visitor seeing when he was coming to Mycenae at the time of Attarsiya? He certainly was not seeing the majestic palatial Mycenae with the large building complexes and the huge walls, which were creations of newer periods.
3/At the time of Attarsiya,Mycenae was a settlement in constant expansion,being in the vestibule of implementation of the great palatial construction program,which began a few years later with more important elements the construction of the palatial complex and the fortification.
1️⃣A similar pattern of abandoning coastal and lowland sites to defensible mountainous sites is observed in Crete with the beginnings of the phenomenon being traced shortly after 1250 BC. Then the first destructions in Cretan coastal sites take place,while others decline abruptly.
2️⃣ In the coming years, Crete will become a field of a) intense pirate activity by multinational groups of sea raiders, some of which establish temporary fortified settlements on coastal hills, and b) immigration movement both from the Mainland and from Italy.
3️⃣Within a generalized climate of instability and insecurity, a significant portion of the local population retreats to inaccessible mountainous locations,often facing a daily life of hardship,such as the people of Karphi, who were living crowded under extreme weather conditions.
1️⃣ The megaron was not a Mycenaean innovation, but appears for the first time in the Helladic area as a central building where the local ruler probably lived in the Neolithic fortified settlements of Dimini and Sesklo. However it may have had a more communal character.
2️⃣ During the Early Helladic, the megaroid building structure and architecture appears in the monumental corridor houses in Lerna, Aegina etc. These buildings functioned as the administrative and financial centers of the local communities (houses of powerful local elites?).
3️⃣ During the EH III - MH period apsidal megaroid buildings became the main type of domestic unit. It consisted of a narrow rectangular building with an apsidal end. In some cases they were divided into three rooms: a narrow, open or closed, vestibule leading to a large central👉
1/ At the beginning of the 9th century BC settlers from the mainland settled to the north of the Gulf of Smyrna in a poor coastal site, which was nevertheless endowed with two sheltered harbors, the existence of which was to play a decisive role in the future of the newcomers.
2/ The tradition states that the founders of Phocaea were not Aeolians, but Phocians (Dorians) who arrived in the area under Athenian leadership and settled on land granted to them by the nearby Aeolian colony of Cumae. After a few years, however, the elites 👉
👉 of newcomers accepted that they were descendants of the mythical Athenian king Codrus and entered the Ionian League. Archaeological evidence demonstrates an initial presence of Aeolian pottery, which at the end of the 9th century BC, is suddenly replaced by Ionic motifs.
1/ During the Post-palatial period, the Cyclades are a field of intense rearrangements with the collapse of Mycenaean mainland control, the arrival of refugees from the mainland and the emergence of new local elites with a strong maritime and military character. #Sifnos
2/ A memorable case is the strong fortified settlement of Agios Andreas in Sifnos, which appears to have been founded by members of some mainland Mycenaean palatial authority shortly after the advent of LH IIIB2 (second half of the 13th century BC).
3/ The strategic site of the hill of Agios Andreas, which was covered by dense woody vegetation of a species of low cedar, dominates the central and SE part of Sifnos, allowing the control of a large part of the island, the port at Plati Gyali and an extensive sea area of Aegean.