THE MULTIPLE SEALING SYSTEM of MINOAN CRETE and ITS POSSIBLE ANTECEDENTS IN ANATOLIA

Summary: The Multiple Sealing System ( MSS ) is defined as the habitual stamping of regular combinations of two or three different seal impressions on clay nodules ( bullae ). This system was thought to be peculiar to LM IB Zakro, where it is indeed most fully developed, but a Minoan MSS can now be traced back - via MM IIIB Knossos - to the earliest administrative use of sealings on Crete, at MM IIB Phaistos. This early MSS at Phaistos has close links with a similar administrative use of seals in regular combinations at Karahöyük Level I. We suggest that the MSS is a new and objective factor to be added to the known, if often disputed, glyptic relations between MBA Anatolia and Minoan Crete.     

THE SEALING STRUCTURES OF MINOAN CRETE: MM II PHAISTOS TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS

Summary. The thousands of MM clay sealings in Room 25 of the First Palace of Phaistos testify to the importation into Crete of the Near Eastern system of storeroom administrative controls. Minoan practice then diverged from the Near Eastern model. The development of a recognizably Minoan sealing system is illustrated by the LM IB sealing deposits from Ayia Triada, Zakro and Khania (with something of its evolution traceable via Mallia and Knossos). Despite many common practices in LM IB, however, important local differences coexisted within this Minoan system, perhaps suggesting the absence of a single overriding administrative authority at this time.     

A LATE MINOAN IIIC PYXIS IN THE ANDREADES COLLECTION

Summary. A large pyxis in the Andreades collection is a fine addition to those known from Crete belonging to the LM IIIC stage, some of which were used in tombs to contain cremations. The vase displays religious symbolism on one face with its double axe set between 'horns of consecration'; the tree on the other face may also have a religious meaning. Objects accompanying the pyxis, when it was purchased, could be contemporary and belong to the same burial except for three small fibulae which must be much later. Parallels for the pyxis indicate East Crete as its place of manufacture, a region which had considerable importance in the closing stages of the Late Bronze Age in Crete.     

Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini

The explosive eruption at Santorini in the Aegean Sea during the second millennium BCE was the largest Holocene volcanic upheaval in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The eruption was disastrous for the Minoan settlements at Santorini, but the effect on human society in the neighbouring islands and regions is still clouded in uncertainty. Tsunami generation was suggested, but comparatively little evidence was found. The lack of firm tsunami traces is particularly puzzling in Crete with its coastal settlements of the Late Minoan IA period, during which the Santorini eruption occurred. Here, we report the discovery of extensive geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro in north-eastern Crete. These deposits are characterized by a mixture of geological materials, including volcanic Santorini ash, and archaeological settlement debris. Various tsunami signatures were identified: (1) erosional contact with the underlying strata, (2) volcanic ash intraclasts in the lower part of the deposit, (3) reworked building stone material in the lower part of the deposit, (4) individual marine shells, (5) marine micro-fauna, (6) imbrication of rounded beach pebbles, settlement debris, ceramic sherds and even bones, (7) multi-modal chaotic composition. Late Minoan human settlement activities at Palaikastro provided architectural and stratigraphic frameworks in space and time that recorded and preserved tsunami evidence as geoarchaeological deposits. Such stratigraphic resolution and preservation may not occur in the natural landscape. Volcanic ash transported by wind from Santorini south-east to Crete preceded the tsunami. Geological, archaeological and radiocarbon dating criteria all converge, indicating that the tsunami deposits are coeval with the Minoan Santorini eruption. Field evidence suggests that tsunami waves at Palaikastro were at least 9 m high. Inverse tsunami modeling was attempted, based on these newly discovered tsunamigenic deposits. The initial wave in the generation region at Santorini that best fits the stratigraphic data is a wave with +35 to −15 m initial amplitude and a crest length of about 15 km.     

“Mycenaean” political domination of Knossos following the Late Minoan IB destructions on Crete: negative evidence from strontium isotope ratio analysis (Sr/Sr)

Strontium isotope ratio analysis of human dental enamel and bone is applied to investigate a highly debated question of population movement and cultural discontinuity in Prehistoric Aegean Archaeology. The Late Minoan IB (ca. 1490/1470 BC) destructions on Crete are succeeded by cultural upheaval. The novel cultural features that appear at Knossos (Crete) in this period have forerunners in the Mainland. In Cretan context, the Linear B writing system, the funerary architecture and burial practices of the Mainland style are interpreted as evidence of an actual “Mycenaean” long-term settlement and political domination of Knossos. Human skeletal material from tombs that are associated with non-locals from the Mainland based upon the material culture is analysed to measure ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. The results of the analysis show that all the examined individuals from the Knossos tombs were born locally.     

Assessing the role of architecture in conspicuous consumption in the middle minoan I–II periods

Summary.  This paper uses Middle Minoan architecture to explore the degree to which the conceptualization and reconstruction of the First Palaces on Crete have been unduly influenced by the model of the Minoan palace as the centralized political, economic and religious authority. It is generally assumed that this model, first formulated on the basis of the LM II–III palace at Knossos, also serves to explain the First Palaces despite the fact that relatively little attention has hitherto been paid to their external and internal characteristics. Detailed reassessment of the available data strongly suggests that the First Palaces differed from their Late Bronze Age counterparts in several important ways. Particularly striking is the absence of so-called 'palatial' architectural features (e.g. ashlar masonry, Minoan Hall, Lustral Basin, etc.), which hitherto had been thought to form an integral part of the First Palaces. Rather, the earliest evidence for these architectural features seems to be found in elite residences in settlement contexts (e.g. Malia). This observation urges a reassessment not only of the term 'palatial' architecture but also of the nature and location of power in Middle Bronze Age Crete and the role played by architecture as a medium of elite conspicuous consumption.     

THE SEALING STRUCTURES OF MINOAN CRETE: MM II PHAISTOS TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS.

Summary. Middle Minoan Knossos shares in the sealing evolution which we have seen elsewhere on the island (SSMC I): the earliest sealings are placed directly on objects, a practice which, in time, generally yields to nodules which hang on cords (first crescents, then prismatic types) and flat-based nodules which were pressed over leather strips, presumably parchment documents. We have no LM IB sealings from Knossos, a site which might have been expected to have evolved its own local version of the Minoan sealing system. Sealings from the final destruction deposits at Knossos are at once closer to the earlier practices from Phaistos and to the later system known from the mainland. The mainland connection is seen in a reduction of sealing shapes (especially the disappearance of flat-based nodule types) and in a non-intensive, non-elite pattern of seal use.     

The volcanic eruption of Thera and its effect on the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations

Since Professor Sp. Marinatos linked the eruption of Thera with the destruction of Cretan sites, difficulties have been met in reconciling the dates of the two incidents which, based on pottery, were c. 1520 BC and 1450 BC, respectively, giving a “time gap” of 70 years. None of the mechanisms proposed for the Cretan site destructions-tsunamis, ash fallout, earthquakes, civil disturbances or invasion can be reconciled with the magnitude of the simultaneous site destructions. Therefore, an alternative theory is proposed that the Cretan holocaust was caused by “nuées ardentes” emanating from Thera. It is postulated that these were released through a “split” in the cone wall, of limited area, generating a high velocity jet of tephra fluidized in a red hot gas stream. Such a jet is immensely destructive and lethal, causing death by pulmonary oedema. The shape (like a blowtorch) and course of the ash fallout, as measured by deep sea cores, shows that these nuées ardentes passed over the eastern part of Crete, causing severe destruction and depopulation. The geological record confirms that tephra deposits from such Peléan eruptions have travelled for 160km, or more, and that normally the main eruption is preceded by a preliminary one of lesser intensity, with a time gap ranging from 51 to 203 years. Settlements on or at the base of the volcano would have been abandoned at the time of the preliminary eruption/earthquakes (c. 1520 BC). A time gap of 70 years would be reasonable, fitting with the Cretan catastrophe around 1450 BC. In the meantime, reoccupation had commenced, but was terminated by the final eruption. Apparently, Knossos on the periphery of the blast was severely damaged by fire (possibly again in LM II) and rebuilt, being finally destroyed in late LM IIIB. During this time span some “blurring” of pottery dating may be attributed to recovery and use of pottery “heirlooms”. The nuée ardente theory explains the simultaneous destruction of sites by fire and blast, the Cretan depopulation, as well as the time gap. In general ¹⁴C results confirm the dates proposed. So far tephra deposits have not been identified on Crete itself, but grains of it have been found at Pyrgos. It is suggested that cores from lake bottoms should be examined for the area, and that Cretan soil samples should be checked for tephra particles by employing the flotation technique, used in mining, for separating them.     

COUNTING THREADS. SAFFRON IN AEGEAN BRONZE AGE WRITING AND SOCIETY

The ideogram for saffron has long been recognized on the Linear B tablets from Knossos. Close examination of this corpus allows a distinction in content to be made between the LM II–LM IIIA1 tablets of the Room of the Chariot Tablets and the later LM IIIA1–2 tablets from the North Entrance Passage. It is suggested here that the later material demonstrates an increasing control over saffron production by the palace, with a greater overall quantity of the spice recorded, larger individual contributions, potential supervisors in charge of collection, and pressure to reach targets. This increase in organization coincides with a dramatic decrease in crocus imagery in other media, and may indicate a deliberate Mycenaean rejection of the symbolic world of Minoan floral iconography, and an interest only in the commercial value of the precious spice. Possible antecedents of the saffron ideogram in Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic are also considered.     

瓷瓶最美玉壶春——中国古代文物审美思考

瓷器是我先民对人类文化的伟大贡献。自它发明的那一天起,就不仅具有实用价值,而且还具有越来越高的艺术价值、美学价值和商业价值。中国瓷器,是艺术的宝库,如果从商代原始瓷器算起,它已有四千多年的历史。如从汉晋青瓷算起,也有两千多年的历史。因古代的瓷器系手工生产,并非模制,故瓷器造型随工匠之心所欲,多种多样。它是伴随中国历史文化发展时间较长的一类器物,也是与人们日常生活关系最为密切的一类器物。     

秀雅温润 华美晶莹 雍正珊瑚红地珐琅彩花鸟纹瓶赏析

说起珐琅彩,给人的印象都是华美高贵．典雅雍容,数量稀少,珍如拱璧。的确,珐琅彩对于普通人甚至对于一般收藏家来说都是难得见到的瓷器品种。     

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE FALL OF KNOSSOS IN 1375 B.C.

Summary. During the first quarter of the fourteenth century B.C., a series of violent destructions seems to have occurred in the Aegean, affecting sites including Knossos, Khania, Mycenae, Pylos, Sparta, Nichoria, Thebes, Athens, Ayia Irini, Phylakopi, and a number of sites in Cyprus and Anatolia. This followed a period in which certain artifacts and burial practices were relatively uniform throughout these sites, and in which Knossos appears to have held a position of particular prominence.
It was during the period of these destructions that the Mainland Greeks began their most notable era of contact with the Eastern Aegean, possibly prompted by a desire to secure access to commodities such as copper from the Eastern Mediterranean. Competition to control such trade may have contributed to warfare between Mycenaean centres, which resulted in destruction at several locations, including Knossos.     

THE ‘TEMPLE HOUSE’ AT LATO RECONSIDERED

This paper reconsiders the ‘Temple House’, a building excavated in 1969–70 on the Temple terrace of the site of Lato in eastern Crete. While the building was dated to the Hellenistic (HL) period and identified as domestic space by the excavator, a restudy of the material from the excavation, combined with an examination of the excavation notebooks, and observations on site, reveal a more complex history of use, unusual architectural details, and a heterogeneous range of dates (from Late Minoan (LM) IIIC to HL) and functions, suggesting original funerary and post‐funerary cult contexts. It is possible to recognize the remains of a Subminoan (SM)/Protogeometric (PG) burial and evidence for an Early Iron Age (EIA) and HL tomb cult, allowing a reconsideration of the history of Lato and the process of city‐state formation in eastern Crete.     

Chemical and Mineralogical Alteration of Ceramics from A Late Bronze Age Kiln At Kommos,Crete: the Effect On the Formation of A Reference Group

The formation of reference groups comprises an important procedure in chemical provenance studies of archaeological pottery. Material from ancient kilns is thought to be especially suitable for reference groups, as it comprises a definite unit of past production. Pottery from the Late Minoan IA kiln excavated at Kommos, Crete was analysed in order to produce a reference group in this important area of Minoan ceramic production. The samples were characterized by a combination of techniques providing information on the chemistry, mineralogy and microstructure of the ceramic body. Initially, the study was unable to establish, in a straightforward manner, a chemical reference group. Different ceramic pastes and a range of selective alterations and contaminations, affected by variable firing temperatures and burial environment, were shown to be responsible for the compositional variability. Procedures are described to compensate for such alterations and the perturbations in the data that they produce.     

WEALTH AND STATUS IN IRON AGE KNOSSOS

Summary.   Knossos Tekke tomb 2 is one of the richest tombs in the Iron Age Aegean, renowned for its deposits of gold. The tomb is widely attributed to a family of goldsmiths, who migrated to Knossos from the Near East. This article, however, questions this attribution. An alternative interpretation is pursued through surveys of the distribution of some luxury materials, amply represented in the Tekke tomb, in all known Knossian tombs. By setting the Tekke find against the large corpus of Knossian burial material, I identify the Tekke occupants as members of a local élite. This group is shown to have had privileged access to the products of a goldsmith's workshop, as well as to the sources of some lavish, mostly imported, raw materials, and to have regulated their distribution within Knossian society during the eighth century. The means through which the Tekke élite claimed and defended their wealth and status are assessed and their possible Late Bronze Age pedigree is conjectured.     

A Bronze Age Quarry in Eastern Crete

Abstract

The sandstone quarry at Mochlos is one of four major quarries in eastern Crete that were worked during the New Palace Period of Minoan civilization (ca. 1700–1450 B.C.) to produce large ashlar blocks for nearby Minoan sites. At that time sandstone, or ammoudha, as it is known locally, was especially valued as a building material, partly because of its distinctive color and texture, but mainly because of the ease with which it could be cut, and the stone was used extensively for exterior façades, for walls around interior courts, and for other architectural features of the more important buildings on these sites. This article describes the quarry at Mochlos in some detail, including the quarrying techniques employed, and argues that the destination of the stone from the Mochlos quarry was the Minoan palace at Gournia. The article ends with a comparison of the four ammoudha quarries in eastern Crete.     

Evidence for Birch Bark Tar Use as an Adhesive and Decorative Element in Early Iron Age Central Italy: Technological and Socio‐Economic Implications

Archaeological excavations carried out in Early Iron Age Vetulonia (northern Tuscany, Italy) brought to light a funerary urn particularly noteworthy for the presence of an unusual decoration obtained by plastering the vase surface with an organic dark grey substance, on which metal strips were originally fixed. In order to reveal the origin of such coating, it was chemically studied by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Chemical analysis not only revealed that birch bark tar was used as coating/adhesive material for the manufacture of the urn, but also allowed us to discuss the significance of the vessel in terms of eco‐technological knowledge and possible cultural connections on a large geographical scale.     

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND PRESERVATION OF AN EGYPTIAN SILVER VASE (300–200 BC)*

An Egyptian metal vase from the Ptolemaic period was investigated metallurgically and fractographically. The metal is nearly pure silver. Despite its high purity (in archaeological terms) it is severely embrittled and cracked, mainly along grain boundaries. Factors contributing to this damage are work-hardening and residual microstructural deformation (slip and twinning), corrosion along slip lines and twin boundaries, corrosion in bauds that are the remains of coring, large equiaxed grains, externally applied forces and internal residual stresses. The metal is now friable. This must be taken into account during any further restoration of the vase: a procedure is suggested.     

THE 'PERSEUS DANCE' VASE REVISITED

Summary.   For 70 years the image of an apparent comic actor performing on a simple stage has been known primarily from the drawing by Gilliéron. This paper is founded on the first direct study of the Vlasto chous since 1935. The author compares the vase with the drawing, showing that while scholars ought to have been sceptical of Gilliéron, he was reasonably accurate. Interpretations of the imagery from Caputo, who first studied the vase (1935), to Schmidt (1995 ) explain it variously as a scene of comedy or a manslaughter trial on a ship. The paper evaluates these views in the light of comparable iconography and fresh study of the vase, and concludes that it is indeed theatrical. However, some aspects of the imagery remain difficult to explain.     

A new protocol for the chemical characterisation of steatite – two case studies in Europe: the Shetland Islands and Crete

Steatite has been one of the most difficult materials of archaeological interest to characterise by physico-chemical methods of analysis with a view to identifying its origin. This paper presents a new protocol for the chemical characterisation of steatite based on the analysis by ICP-MS in tandem with INAA of rare earth elements (REE) and some transition metals in geological steatite from several outcrops on the Shetland Islands and on Crete. The major advance over earlier work has been the secure determination of REE at low concentrations. The results have demonstrated the ability to discriminate chemically three of the known Viking Age sources on Shetland. On Crete, although the situation is complex, four sources in the centre of the island have been partially differentiated. This study has also shown that first mineralogical analysis (by XRD) of steatite provides valuable supplementary characterisation data, and second strontium isotope analysis has promising potential for the sourcing of steatite.