Minoan ceramics are finely crafted and already from the EM period highly decorated, with certain styles exported from their production districts to other parts of Crete. These characteristics expand in the “palatial” eras to even more diverse products, of which the fine wares with their successive styles remain the basis for chronology, whilst the fast-wheel improves quality from MM1 onwards (Figure 5.11). It has been assumed that the great and lesser palaces were the main craft production centers of the island, as well as being the prime consumers of the highest-quality wares, such as the eggshell-thin Kamares style. However, scientific analysis (Day and Wilson 2002) suggests that much of the ceramics found in major palatial centers was imported from elsewhere, including regions believed to have their focus on other centers. Although craft production has been demonstrated within the towns surrounding the palaces (notably at Malia), and on a small scale even within the court-complexes themselves, there is evidence for much of the island’s artisans operating in a private capacity and located in adjacent or distant towns and villages (such as the LM1B industrial community on the coast opposite the islet of Mochlos). The discovery that the ceramic trade is no
Figure 5.11 Typical painted fine wares of First Palace date.
O. Dickinson, The Aegean Bronze Age. © Cambridge University Press 1994, Figure 5.8.
Longer essentially the output of“palace industry” is less surprising when we recall the widespread exchange of pottery not only in EM but also Neolithic Crete.
World History
