The author's Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references.

Though distant in space and time, there are certain similarities between the processes of Warification and Minoanisation, the latter describing the uptake of Cretan (Minoan) materials and technologies across the Bronze Age southern Aegean. In both cases, recent scholarship challenges the assumption of an active core and passive periphery. Crucial to this challenge in the Minoan case is the recognition of the considerable variability concealed within the single term ‘Minoanisation’, with many regional and temporal differences in the degree of influence. In the Wari case, it appears that more work is needed to establish exactly if and how Warification was a complex, multi-stranded set of processes rather than a single, monolithic radiating influence. I argue that in both cases, regardless of the state of the evidence, we badly need new ways of tackling regional interaction and cultural transmission, and suggest that networks, learning, and communities of practice represent promising ways forward. / A pesar de estar distante en tiempo y espacio, existen ciertas similitudes entre los procesos de warificación y de minoanización, el último describe el consumo de material y tecnología cretense a través de la Edad de Bronce del sur del Egeo. En ambos casos, recientes investigaciones desafían la suposición de un núcleo activo y una periferia pasiva. Crucial para este desafío en el caso de Minoa, es el reconocimiento de una considerable variabilidad oculta dentro del único término «minoanización», con muchas diferencias regionales y temporales en el grado de influencia. En el caso de los wari, parece que es necesario más exploración para establecer exactamente, si y como, la warificación fue un conjunto de procesos complicados y aislados en vez de una única influencia monolítica irradiada. Sostengo que en ambos casos, independiente del estado de la evidencia, es necesario nuevas maneras deabordar la interacción regional y la transmisión cultural. Sugiero también que redes de trabajo, aprendizaje y comunidades de prácticas representan auspiciosas maneras de seguir avanzando.

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This essay contains a comparative study between the works of the two archeologists Arthur Evans and Nanno Marinatos. The comparison focuses on academic publishments concerning minoan religion in bronze age Crete, Greece. The theoretical framework of this study is historical awareness, and whether or not the works of these two archeologists is compatible with the different principles which has been established for a historian to work correctly within the academic sphere. The study shows that there are both differences and similarities between the works written by Evans and Marinatos concerning minoan religion. The similarities is mainly explained by the archeological artifacts and remains found from bronze age Crete that undeniably exists, but the differences appears when the archeologists analyze said artifacts. This study shows that Evans archeological and analytical works was not in line with the theoretical framework of historical awareness. Marinatos on the other hand provides writings that are in line with historical awareness and her analysis is compatible with the different principles which has been established within the theory.

This thesis examines Late Minoan Settlements in Crete that were destroyed or abandoned due to the consequences of the Santorini volcano eruption. A summary of geological history of Crete, Thera and the surrounding area is given in the first part. The next chapter sums up the research in the fields of relative and mainly absolute chronology, of which scientists have not yet been able to provide a convincing calendar date for the eruption of the volcano nor a possible fixed absolute chronology of the general Later Bronze Age not only in the Aegean. The development of the Santorini Volcano eruption in the Late Minoan IA period (LM IA) is described. According to the research, this eruption must have caused earthquakes and tsunamis. The possible impact on the near island of Crete, its inhabitants and settlements, mainly in the coastal area of north-northeast part of the island, is also discussed.

This thesis sheds first light on the complex narrative behind the earliest appearance of writing in Europe. A radical new framework of interpretation, recognising art and writing as different ends of a single mode of graphic expression, is applied to the material culture of Early to Middle Bronze Age Crete as a context-conscious alternative to the strict and anachronistic divisions imposed by traditional models. This allows for a novel way of viewing and identifying structures of meaning embedded in otherwise familiar evidence. A comprehensive synthesis of the archaeological evidence for the undeciphered Bronze Age Cretan writing systems is offered, contextualising the thesis and its arguments within a new narrative of mostly autonomous script formation on Crete. Detailed analysis of the material record is started in the Early Bronze Age, where a previously unrecognised system of Prepalatial glyptic iconography is demonstrated to have maintained uniform distribution and presentation for roughly eight centuries, appearing in the exact contexts, and ostensibly fulfilling similar functions, as later writing. This newly identified system is argued to have provided the conceptual background against which later writing emerged. The thesis subsequently discusses the Archanes Script, the first accepted ‘true’ writing to appear west of Egypt, which has been severely understudied and highly ill-understood. Redefining the Archanes Script completely, a first signary is constructed, and new documents discovered. A further chapter argues for the possible existence of other, as of yet unidentified, linear writing systems on Crete. This is followed by a study of the Cretan Hieroglyphic writing system; the unjustified omission of supposedly ‘decorative’ signs in many of its documents is identified, the script’s corpus nearly doubled, and ‘a complete turnaround in the way in which we approach and define Cretan Hieroglyphic’ proposed.

Cette recherche doctorale présente une étude synthétique des rues et des places minoennes durant les périodes proto- et néopalatiales. Dix sites sont considérés : Cnossos, Gournia, Malia, Mochlos, Myrtos-Pyrgos, Palaikastro, Petras, Pseira, Sissi et Zakros. Dans le premier volume, nous proposons une définition des éléments de voirie minoens, puis nous présentons un catalogue exhaustif de l'ensemble des vestiges publiés à ce jour. Le second volume, la synthèse, est une étude thématique de l'ensemble des aspects liés à la voirie minoenne. Les matériaux et les techniques de construction sont d'abord envisagés. Une typologie des éléments de voirie (rues, places et jonctions) est ensuite proposée. Nous étudions dans les chapitres suivants les différents équipements présents dans le réseau viaire, puis les dimensions et la morphologie des rues et des places urbaines. Les principes de circulation dans les villes minoennes sont ensuite considérés. Le point suivant résume les différentes fonctions de la voirie. Nous discutons de l'apparition de la voirie construite dans le cadre plus large de celle des villes, puis nous évoquons le problème de la survivance des rues et des places à la suite des destructions marquant la fin de la période néopalatiale. Le dernier chapitre est consacré à la place de la voirie dans la société minoenne et plus précisément aux différents indices offerts par les rues et les places pour la compréhension de l'organisation sociale des périodes proto- et néopalatiales. / This doctoral dissertation presents a synthesis of research on streets and public courts in Crete during the Proto- and Neopalatial periods. Ten sites are considered: Knossos, Gournia, Malia, Mochlos, Myrtos-Pyrgos, Palaikastro, Petras, Pseira, Sissi and Zakros. In the first volume, we propose a definition of the different elements related to Minoan streets and courts, and present an exhaustive catalogue of the currently published remains. The second volume, the synthesis, is a thematic study of all aspects of Minoan street and court systems. Here materials and building techniques are first considered. Then a typology of the streets, courts and junctions is proposed. The next chapters consist of a study of the different equipments found in the streets and courts and an examination of the morphology and dimensions of these urban spaces. Next, traffic principles are analyzed, followed by a summary of the different functions of streets and courts. The appearance of these built public spaces is discussed in the larger context of the emergence of Minoan towns, before considering their continuation following the destructions at the end of the Neopalatial period. The last chapter contextualizes the role of streets and courts in Minoan society. More specifically, it considers the different clues revealed by these spaces for a more comprehensive understanding of social organization during the Proto- and Neopalatial periods.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The present thesis examines Homer's description of the Shield of Achilleus and Minoan miniature frescoes, particularly the Sacred Grove and Dance Fresco and Grandstand Fresco. It uses them as examples to explore the transmission of ideas between cultures - the intensely visual Minoan civilisation of the Bronze Age centred on Crete and the earliest cultural strata of ancient Greece - that preferred different means of representation, painting, and poetry. Because Minoan fresco painting was essentially non-narrative and not accompanied by readable written records, so that "deciphering" its iconography is not an option, the thesis argues that we can learn about general cultural perceptions from interpreting and analysing how techniques of representation in painting and poetry treat the representation of time and space. From the relationship that these techniques establish with the beholders of the representation, we can infer their self-understanding. If the world appears to us as an intricate complex of cultural representations, the way we interact with them reflects our sense of our human place in the world. The non-narrative techniques of Minoan frescoes - particularly the use of vertical perspective, the absence of a fixed point of view, suppressed focalisation, and map-like composition - are shown...

Saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) is a male-sterile, triploid flower crop, and source of the spice and colorant saffron. For over three millennia, it was cultivated across the Mediterranean, including ancient Greece, Persia, and other cultures, later spreading all over the world. Despite saffron crocus’ early omnipresence, its origin has been the matter of a century-old debate, in terms of area and time as well as parental species contribution. While remnants of the ancient arts, crafts, and texts still provide hints on its origin, modern genetics has the potential to efficiently follow these leads, thus shedding light on new possible lines of descent. In this review, we follow ancient arts and recent genetics to trace the evolutionary origin of saffron crocus. We focus on the place and time of saffron domestication and cultivation, and address its presumed autopolyploid origin involving cytotypes of wild Crocus cartwrightianus. Both ancient arts from Greece, Iran, and Mesopotamia as well as recent cytogenetic and comparative next-generation sequencing approaches point to saffron’s emergence and domestication in ancient Greece, showing how both disciplines converge in tracing its origin.