Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska, 1932. / Published also without thesis note under title: Pioneer days in Crete, Nebraska. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 224-236.

Στόχος της εργασίας ήταν η ιζηματολογική και γεωχημική ανάλυση των νεογενών ιζημάτων της νήσου Κρήτης στο νότιο τμήμα, της λεκάνης της Μεσσαράς , με απώτερο σκοπό να μελετηθούν τα αποθετικά τους περιβάλλοντα, οι συνθήκες σχηματισμού τους, η γεωδυναμική εξέλιξη της περιοχής καθώς και ο εντοπισμός και αξιολόγηση πιθανών μητρικών πετρωμάτων υδρογονανθράκων. / --

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska, 1932. / Published also without thesis note under title: Pioneer days in Crete, Nebraska. Bibliography: p. 224-236. Also issued in print.

Thesis (doctoral)--Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (1970- ), 1996.

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This thesis explores the role of fresh water in Bronze Age Crete. It presents a catalogue of Minoan water management systems, and investigates the ways in which these systems were incorporated into broader social, political, economic, religious and cultural processes and practices. While the primary focus of this thesis revolves around the data collected on water management systems, it also explores the place of fresh water in Minoan art, iconography, and ritual action. While water is a fundamental resource, and the provision of fresh water on Crete is affected by special geological, geographic, and climatological issues, this has been a largely neglected area in the literature on Minoan archaeology. The thesis seeks to redress this neglect, and argues that the evidence reveals a culture that was deeply concerned with fresh water, developing technologically sophisticated solutions, and devoting considerable economic resources, and political and religious attention to it. One of the key claims of this thesis is that fresh water was a meaningful and valued commodity in Bronze Age Crete, and certain sources of water were particularly revered. This status was exploited by elite groups, who invested in often monumental and highly visible systems for collecting and storing fresh water, in order to assert and reaffirm their special status. Fresh water was also incorporated into ritual practice, and – through its innate capacity to act as a conduit for complex meanings and metaphors – participated in the construction of Minoan religious and cultural beliefs. This thesis also draws out the ways in which water’s religious meaningfulness was incorporated into elite strategies of social control and the construction of an ideology of difference.

This dissertation looks at the iconography of the natural world as depicted on seals, seal rings, and sealings from Bronze Age Crete, specifically the period from Early Minoan II–Late Minoan IB. Although the landscape of Crete was incredibly diverse during the Bronze Age, the elements included in glyptic iconography, as well as iconography in other media, are exceptionally limited. The goal of this study is to provide a comprehensive and systematic reference for the terminology and iconography of landscape elements depicted in glyptic, and then to provide interpretation for individual elements as well as landscape scenes and settings within the broader scope of glyptic and Cretan iconography. It is concluded that landscapes, both real and imagined, and always heavily translated through the artist and viewer alike, acted as important indicators of status and control, particularly during the height of their depictions in the Middle Minoan II–Late Minoan IB period, a trend seen also in wall paintings and pottery which act as significant parallels for the present study.This study is generally organized into three parts. The first briefly presents the evidence and current understanding of how the landscape of Bronze Age Crete looked and assesses the use of “landscape” in an archaeological study. The second part discusses the identification of various flora, groundlines, and other abiotic elements found in landscape scenes and settings in glyptic with interpretation for their significance and consideration for parallel developments in other media. This section concludes with a catalog and discussion of the different types of landscape scenes/settings. Finally, the concluding chapters consider how landscapes were translated from the natural world to glyptic iconography, how the iconography was then viewed, and what the iconography signified relative to status and power. As a result, this dissertation is both a much-needed reference text and a deeper consideration of the symbiotic relationship between the various functions of seals and their iconography. / Art History

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