Crete has been inhabited since at least the seventh millennium b. c.e., with the earliest settlements, probably of farmers, appearing at Knossos. Already at this early date, sea trade is evident from the presence of obsidian on Crete, indicating contacts with either Melos in the Cyclades or western Anatolia (Turkey), the two Aegean sources for this material. The household evidence from this Neolithic period (seventh-fourth millennia b. c.e.) suggests small, nuclear families living together in clan-like villages (Dickinson 1994, 31-34).
The Bronze Age in Crete began around 2800 b. c.e. (Metal technology does not necessarily follow the same dates as pottery, hence the seeming discrepancy with the preceding chart.) As in all areas, the designation "Bronze Age" means that the Minoans began working with metals, specifically copper. Copper is an easily malleable metal with a low melting point. As time went on, the Minoans realized that adding certain other elements, especially tin, to copper made it stronger when cooled and easier to pour when molten. A combination of 90 percent copper plus 10 percent tin yields bronze, a strong metal with a low enough melting point to allow the ancients to make mould-cast objects with it.
The Early Minoan period is subdivided into three periods—Early Minoan I, Early Minoan II, and Early Minoan III—as originally designated by Sir Arthur Evans (see chapter 3). The first two periods are called Prepalatial, as there is no evidence of large-scale communal buildings in Crete at this time. Instead, in the Early Minoan I and Early Minoan II periods, we see the rise of villages, notably at Haghia Triadha (Holy Trinity), Gournia, Knossos, Mallia, Mochlos, Myrtos, Palaikastro (Old Castle), Phaistos, and Vasiliki. The evidence from these sites suggests an undifferentiated society where most people were probably farmers who also took part in other crafts, such as pottery and weaving, during rests from fieldwork. Society seems to have been based on individual family units, with larger family units living together in village-like communities.
Myrtos is an excellent example of such a community. The excavation of this site has revealed an extensive structure built up over several years, beginning with a "core" unit and extending outward. The entire complex was burnt to the ground and never reoccupied, so the objects found in the various rooms were still where such items were generally used. There are at least four or five separate areas of the Myrtos complex where food preparation took place, as well as agricultural storage, vessel storage, specialized work areas (weaving, for example), and what appear to be general living areas (Whitelaw 1990, 328-331). If the entire complex were unified into one large domestic unit, one would not expect to find five separate kitchens. It seems more likely that Myrtos was an early type of townhouse residence, with five, maybe six, families inhabiting a structure with contiguous walls. Considering that the entire structure grew over a period of time, radiating out from an original core "house," archaeologists suggest that the inhabitants were one large, extended family. The core would have been the original home of "great-grandmother and greatgrandfather," with rooms being added as the family grew throughout the generations. Roughly similar communal structures have also appeared at Haghia Triadha, Knossos, Mallia, and Phaistos, suggesting that this communal society was island-wide (Branigan 1995, 34).
The burials from this period show a similar picture, although with some interesting differences. There are no known single burials from Early Minoan Crete (although, admittedly, these would be difficult to find). Communal burials were the rule of the day. To the south, in the region known as the Mesara (see chapter 2), people were buried in tholos tombs—round structures built of stone, somewhat beehive-shaped, with perishable ceilings (see chapter 9). Each tholos was used over several generations, the older bones being swept aside to make room for the more recently dead. Furthermore, several tholos tombs were in use at once, even in very close proximity to one another, suggesting that individual families made use of specific tholoi (plural of tholos) over the course of several generations.
A different picture emerges to the north at sites such as Mochlos, Gournia, and Palaikastro (Cherry 1990, 41; Branigan 1995, 37). Here, especially at Moch-los, we find house-like tombs, with great differences in both structure and grave goods. Some tombs were very elaborate, indicating a considerable expenditure of wealth, but others were far more humble. The funerary data from these Early Minoan II-III cemeteries show that social differentiation was already on the rise in Early Bronze Age Crete, with the first blossoming of an elite class.
Further changes occurred in the Early Minoan period that changed the simple, somewhat egalitarian farmer community into a political and social hierarchy. A hierarchy of settlements developed as some Early Bronze Age communities grew much larger than others. Knossos was always the largest, achieving a size of five hectares already in the Early Bronze Age (Dickinson 1994, 52). Phaistos, Mallia, and Mochlos, however, grew enough to absorb their neighbors. The growth of populations at these centers not only indicates a possible migration into "urban" areas, but, combined with data from the tombs, indicates an overall population growth during the Early Bronze Age (Branigan 1995, 34).
At these large sites, orchard horticulture emerged, in which the Minoans cultivated such luxury items as grapes, figs, and the ever-famous olive (Dickinson 1994, 45). These plants, in contrast to, say, wheat, require several years to yield their fruits, indicating that long-term planning went into their cultivation. The spread of specialized drinking vessels suggests that the grapes were being used for wine, an industry requiring both long-term management and agricultural surplus. (It is worth noting that wine, beyond its "cheering" effects, also has hygienic applications. As with beer and other alcoholic beverages, toxins cannot grow in wine as they can in water, thus making wine safer to drink during periods of questionable water cleanliness.)
Finally, as early as the Early Minoan II at Palaikastro and Early Minoan III at Knossos, monumental architecture appeared in Crete (Branigan 1995, 34). These new buildings were much larger than the simple homes of the Early Bronze Age Minoans, and it would appear that one of their original purposes was the storage of agricultural surplus. Another early use of these grand structures was craft production, indicating that the homogenous, agricultural society of Early Minoan I and II was now giving way to a more specialized society (Dabney 1995, 44). Both early functions indicate a communal use for these early protopalaces, suggesting that they were erected not for some political elite, but as a collective project (Dabney 1995, 45). Nevertheless, the ability to organize the workers and supplies necessary in such undertakings shows that, as with the horticulture, at least some manner of "managerial" class was coming into being.
World History
