Synthesis

The three sites in consideration show marked differences in settlement patterns and spatial organization. All three show signs of organic or local development, evidenced by internally consistent growth patterns, with the exception of the palace at Zakros, which may indicate an instance of outside interference. Yes or no, it was certainly the most significant event at the site prior to the final LMIB destruction. This construction event happened no earlier than early LMIA and no later than early LMIB.

At Petras, although the palace is destroyed and rebuilt with modifications, there seem to be no changes of a scale comparable to the initial establishment of the palace and archive in MMII until, perhaps, its final destruction, also at the end of LMIB.

Though the LMIB period may have been one of vigorous activity and change at Palaikastro (Area/Building 6 was levelled, a wall put up around it and two new wells dug (MacGillivray et al. 1998:226); part of Building 5 was converted into a shrine (MacGillivray, Driessen and Sackett 2000: 42); cult practice may have changed and new local pottery styles were developed) it certainly shows nothing like the Knossian connections of Zakros. Quite the opposite, in fact - the events at Palaikastro seem more consistent with a greater degree of autonomy or some internal shift.

If the establishment of the LMI palace at Zakros was a result of some Knossian intervention there is no sign that such an intervention had any effect on Palaikastro or Petras. The only possible sign of Knossian (or, in this case possibly Malliot) influence on such a scale at Palaikastro would be the Minoan Hall uncovered in Building 6. However, this feature is no later than MMIIIB (Macgillivray et al 1998: 255) at the end of which period the building is destroyed in an earthquake.

Not only is there no sign of either Petras, Zakros or Palaikastro wielding any sort of economic or political authority over each other, there is no indication that in the hypothetical case of Knossian control of one of these sites (for which the best case is of course Zakros in LMI) such control could have extended beyond the limits of that site's own immediate territory.

The evidence for divergence and diversity is clear. The similarities, which can be summed up under the general heading of 'minoanness', are also clear. There is a coherent sense of cultural identity inclusive of representations or demonstrations of status and power which is island-wide. A member of the elite, living in Palaikastro, Zakros, or Petras is fully versed in the architectural vernacular of power and able to imitate, elaborate, or innovate within what can be considered a Central Cretan or more precisely Knossian repertoire. The range of variation suggests certain freedom of room to maneuver within a nonetheless coherent framework of elite status indicators, whose overall coherence, stability and ubiquity indicate at least an 'ideological' state that encompassed the whole island.

We must seek new ways to characterize the interrelationship of sites on Crete and abandon previous notions regarding the nature of the link between the cultural and the political, as suggested recently by Knappett (1999) and Knappett and Schoep (2000). If Knappett is right, and 'ideology was at least as important as (political) economy in the initial emergence of states on Crete' then might this not have remained the case?

The organizational patterns examined above which show such divergence are primarily concerned with social production - control and distribution of assets, exploitation of natural resources and social and political organization at the local level. What of social reproduction? If social production is about the survival, growth and maintenance of individuals within a society, social reproduction is about the perpetuation of the ideological basis for defining that society. As Hillier states, 'Social reproduction, we might say, requires symbolic forms of space, social production instrumental forms of space.' (1996: 222). While the 'tools' used in each of the three territories to establish and maintain social cohesion and economic function were used in different ways and with different results, these 'tools' themselves seem to have all come from the same genotype. Knappett, picking up from Southall, introduces the concept of 'imaginary means of production' as opposed to material means of production (Knappett 1999: 619). I would suggest that in this distinction might lie one of the keys to a better understanding of both the nature and extent of a larger 'state' as it may have existed during the palatial period on Crete.

Acknowledgments

This paper is part of the 'Topography of Power' project carried out at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (FSR 2000). It was delivered at the conference as part of a co-authored paper with Jan Driessen and I would like to thank Professor Keith Branigan for giving me the chance to expand it for the publication. I would also like to thank Professor Driessen for his advice and comments.

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