eBooks de Arqueología, página 7 de 26

A Spartan lifestyle proverbially describes austerity; ancient Greek luxury was associated with Ionia and the oriental world. The contributions to this book, first presented at a conference held by the University of Nottinghams Centre for Spartan and Peloponnesian Studies, reverse the stereotype and explore the role of luxury and wealth at Sparta and among its Peloponnesian neighbors from the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period. Using literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, an international team of specialists investigates the definition and changing meanings of the term luxury and its nearest ancient Greek equivalents, providing new insights into Spartas supposed abstention from luxury, and the way that this was portrayed by ancient writers. They analyse wealth production and private and public spending, emphasising features that were distinctive to Sparta and the Peloponnese compared with other parts of ancient Greece. Other chapters investigate issues still familiar in the contemporary world: economic crisis and debt, austerity measures, and relief provisions for the poor.

This volume celebrates the contributions and impact of our mentor, colleague, and friend, James C. Wright, on the field of Aegean Bronze archaeology in recognition of his retirement from Bryn Mawr College. The title and thematic orientation reflect his scholarly attention to power inequalities in the past, particularly as manifested through social access to architectural spaces and landscapes. The title acknowledges that Jims interests and contributions extend beyond the domain of Aegean Prehistory, not only in terms of chronology and geography, but also in terms of his methodological approaches that have wider application. In addition to Jims colleagues and collaborators, more than half of the contributions to the volume are by his students who collectively are but one of many signs of his profound and lasting impact not only on our scholarship, but on the discipline of archaeology itself.

This volume presents the results of the survey and excavation of a second peak sanctuary on Minoan Kythera at Leska. An introduction to the archaeological background of the island is provided, as well as a discussion on peak sanctuaries there and in Minoan Crete. The discovery of Leska and the research conducted there are described, and a discussion of the diachronic use of the summit is presented, following analyses of the material remains (including pottery, figurines, stone vessels, stone tools, and jewelry). Detailed discussions of the active role and significance of the landscape and the cultic practices allow an in-depth analysis of the links between society and cult, and also of the ways in which the landscape and immediate surroundings at Leska were sacralised in the Middle Minoan IB to Late Minoan IB phase. The broader analysis of the sacred landscape on Kythera provides a unique opportunity to asess Aegean religion during the Minoan period outside Crete.

This publication presents the archaeological evidence from two associated Minoan sites situated at Apesokari in the Mesara Plain of South-Central Crete, Tholos Tomb A and the neighboring free-standing domestic complex on Vigla Hill. It thoroughly reconstructs the natural and social landscape of this Cretan community from the late Prepalatial to the early Neopalatial periods through its interdisciplinary character; this includes photogrammetric two- and three-dimensional models of the architectural remains, viewshed analysis of both monuments and of the earlier Tholos Tomb B, as well as A-DNA and stable isotope analysis of the bones. The study of the burial dataset provides insights into the social construction of collective memory and identity by the burying social group, whereas the habitational deposits from the building on Vigla hill establish the longevity and function of the site as a node of the southern Mesara communication and exchange networks.

This volume is the second of two that represent the final publication of Sector I of the Prepalatial to Postpalatial Minoan urban settlement and palace of Petras, Siteia, located in eastern Crete. It presents in detail the Late Bronze Age pottery recovered during the excavations conducted there from 1985 to 2000. The Neopalatial and Late Minoan II to III pottery from Houses I.1 and I.2 is analyzed and discussed with a focus on the main Neopalatial period of the Petras settlement and its Postpalatial reoccupation. The petrographic analysis of a select group of pottery from House I.1 is also detailed, allowing for a discussion of patterns in production and consumption over time.

In 1962, after a period of secret looting, the location of a shrine for the Greek Goddess Eileithyia was discovered by the police in south-central Crete at the modern town of Tsoutsouros, ancient Inatos. The cave dedicated to this ancient goddess of childbirth and motherhood was excavated that year by Nikolaos Platon and Costis Davaras on behalf of the Archaeological Museum in Herakleion. It was filled with remarkable votive gifts including over 100 items of gold along with Egyptian figurines and seal stones, bronze objects, and hundreds of clay figurines. The dates of the shrines use extended from before 2000 B.C. to the Roman Imperial period. Many of the clay images are especially appropriate for this deity because they include pregnant women, embracing couples, figures in preparation for childbirth, mothers holding babies, and a young child in its crib. A Greek language book highlighting the shrine and its major discoveries is now translated into English. It provides images, catalog entries, and explanatory texts for the most important discoveries from this unique shrine.

The 27 papers in this volume harken to the themes that Jeffrey Soles has influenced during his illustrious career in Aegean Bronze Age archaeology: ancestry, burial customs, religion, trade, jewelry, the development of the Minoan settlement of Mochlos in eastern Crete, and the rise and fall of the Minoan civilization.

The Minoan site at Bramiana in southeastern Crete provides evidence for a Bronze Age economy based on trade, agriculture, and craftwork. This publication uses a new system of organizing the pottery by petrography-sorting it by materials and workshop practices-revealing a trade network of cooking pots and other clay vessels and their contents.

An Early Bronze Age cemetery with 37 tombs shows strong relations with the Cyclades during the time of the Kampos Cultural Group, as exemplified by distinctive pottery, obsidian, and metal items. A dense social network included the Cycladic islands and contacts with distant areas of Crete.

The excavation of a Minoan shipwreck dated to 1725/1700 BC is described. The cargo includes the largest known corpus of complete and almost complete clay vessels from a single Middle Minoan IIB deposit. The transport boat provides interesting information on a society that revolved around seafaring.

Excavation of an important site for the early history of dyeing in Minoan Crete revealed a Middle Bronze Age natural dye workshop with several basins carved into bedrock, pottery and stone vessels, stone tools, and animal and plant remains. The evidence contributes new information on the Minoan trade in textiles during the Old Palace period.

This is the first volume on the Late Minoan IIIC settlement at Chalasmenos, located near Ierapetra in eastern Crete. The site was excavated (1992-2014), initially as part of a Greek-American project under the direction of Metaxia Tsipopoulou and the late William Coulson. House A.2 is a two-room structure on the southwestern edge of the site. The excavation and stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, small finds, and faunal material from the building are presented. The house was used for domestic purposes, serving as the home of an elite (or prospective elite) family, but it also was a meeting and dining place on certain occasions.

This is the first volume on the Late Minoan III necropolis of Armenoi in western Crete. It sets the scene, introduces the site and its topography, and offers the results of site surveys and their finds. A chapter on the Linear B discovery from the necropolis is also included. The necropolis is the most important and extensive, and the only intact, cemetery that dates to Late Bronze Age III on Crete. This publication will augment our knowledge of Minoan burial practices, craft production, and religion. It will elucidate Minoans as a people: what they ate and drank, how they lived their lives, what diseases caused them suffering, and how they died.

This book traces the socioeconomic and political development of the Galatas area and its relations with other areas of Crete during the Neolithic-Ottoman periods. Two powerful rival centers in Crete, Knossos/Herakleion and Kastelli/Lyttos, brought the Galatas area under their control at various times in history. The changes in local socioeconomic and political conditions are documented as Galatas came under the direct control of states elsewhere in Crete and overseas.

This handsome volume describes and illustrates the excavation of an artificial rock shelter in Crete, Greece. Minoan pottery and small finds such as stone tools, loomweights, and ecofactual remains were recovered. The ceramics elucidate the style and chronology of East Cretan White-on-Dark Ware, which dates to the end of the Early Bronze Age.

The finds from the cave at Hagios Charalambos in the Lasithi Plain illustrates secondary burial practices in Early and Middle Bronze Age Crete. The cavern adds to our knowledge of Early and Middle Minoan Lasithi and illuminates the function of the cave at Trapeza, which has close parallels for most classes of objects found at Hagios Charalambos. Most of the pottery from the site is made locally, but a selection of imports from elsewhere in Crete ranges in date from EM I or earlier to MM IIB. The pottery shows a shift in the use of imports during the sites history, reflecting a change in economic and/or political dominance and influence in Lasithi. Typical of pottery associated with burials, the types of vessels were mostly used for pouring and drinking liquids. Other small vessels probably contained precious oils, liquids, and unguents. The local offering tables would have been carried by a short stem and could hold a liquid or solid offering. The pottery shows that the people who deposited their dead in the secondary burial cave at Hagios Charalambos were in contact with ceramic production centers in East Crete, the Mesara, Knossos, the Pediada, and Malia. This range of influences speaks not only of trade relations and political spheres of influence but also of tastes in pottery production and consumption. The finds from the cave at Hagios Charalambos in the Lasithi Plain illustrates secondary burial practices in Early and Middle Bronze Age Crete. The cavern adds to our knowledge of Early and Middle Minoan Lasithi and illuminates the function of the cave at Trapeza, which has close parallels for most classes of objects found at Hagios Charalambos. Most of the pottery from the site is made locally, but a selection of imports from elsewhere in Crete ranges in date from EM I or earlier to MM IIB. The pottery shows a shift in the use of imports during the sites history, reflecting a change in economic and/or political dominance and influence in Lasithi. Typical of pottery associated with burials, the types of vessels were mostly used for pouring and drinking liquids. Other small vessels probably contained precious oils, liquids, and unguents. The local offering tables would have been carried by a short stem and could hold a liquid or solid offering. The pottery shows that the people who deposited their dead in the secondary burial cave at Hagios Charalambos were in contact with ceramic production centers in East Crete, the Mesara, Knossos, the Pediada, and Malia. This range of influences speaks not only of trade relations and political spheres of influence but also of tastes in pottery production and consumption.

This book is the third volume in the final report of the cleaning and excavations at the Late Minoan IIIC settlement of Vronda-located near Kavousi in eastern Crete-that were conducted between 1983 and 1992. Detailed analyses of the architecture, pottery, other finds (including figurines and stone tools), and botanical and faunal remains are presented in this volume, along with a complete history of the site and an attempt to reconstruct the social, political, and religious organization of the settlement.

This volume is the first of two that represent the final publication of Sector I of the Prepalatial to Postpalatial Minoan urban settlement and palace of Petras, Siteia, located in eastern Crete, and it presents the results of the excavations conducted there from 1985 to 2000. Individual chapters focus on the architecture (Tsipopoulou), cooking wares (Alberti), Early Minoan (EM) and Middle Minoan (MM) I pottery (Relaki), a unique example of an EM-MM amphora stamped with a seal prior to firing (Krzyszkowska), numerous miniature vessels and figurines (Simandiraki-Grimshaw), and a study of vessels (primarily Neopalatial) with potters marks (Tsipopoulou). A subsequent volume will discuss in more detail the Neopalatial and Postpalatial pottery from Houses I.1 and I.2 and focus on the main Neopalatial period of the Petras settlement and its Postpalatial re-occupation.

This book is the first of a two-volume final report on the excavation of the Minoan cemetery and associated finds at Livari Skiadi in the southeastern end of Crete. This volume deals with the excavation of the site and its architecture, pottery, and other small finds, dating to the Prepalatial, Neopalatial, and Late Hellenistic/Early Roman periods.

This is the first of five planned volumes to present the primary archaeological report about the excavation of the cave of Hagios Charalambos in eastern Crete. The Minoans used this small cavern as an ossuary for the secondary burial of human remains and grave goods, primarily during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. The geography and geology surrounding the cave is discussed along with the methodology of the excavation. A portion of the pottery and all of the small finds are presented with many illustrations.