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80-710: Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea . There are three distinct but communicating and interacting geographic regions covered by this term: Crete , the Cyclades and the Greek mainland. Crete is associated with the Minoan civilization from the Early Bronze Age. The Cycladic civilization converges with the mainland during

160-546: A siliceous volcanic ash , for the Suez Canal works. When this discovery was followed up in 1870, on the neighbouring Santorini (Thera) , by representatives of the French School at Athens , much pottery of a class now known immediately to precede the typical late Aegean ware, and many stone and metal objects, were found. These were dated by the geologist Ferdinand A. Fouqué, somewhat arbitrarily, to 2000 BC, by consideration of

240-522: A context of extreme aridification in the area in the wake of the 4.2-kiloyear climatic event , which roughly coincided with the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age. Increased precipitation and recovery of the water table from about 1800 BC onward should have led to the forsaking of the motillas (which may have flooded) and the redefinition of the relation of the inhabitants of the territory with

320-605: A few hill-forts. The Catacomb culture , covering several related archaeological cultures, was first to introduce corded pottery decorations into the steppes and showed a profuse use of the polished battle ax, providing a link to the West. Parallels with the Afanasevo culture , including provoked cranial deformations, provide a link to the East. It was preceded by the Yamnaya culture and succeeded by

400-550: A good deal of other evidence available before 1876, which, had it been collated and seriously studied, might have discounted the sensation that the discovery of the citadel graves eventually made. For instance, scholars had noted that tributaries appearing in Egyptian art resembled modern Greeks, but were unable to definitely recognize them as such. Nor did the Aegean objects which were lying obscurely in museums in 1870, or thereabouts, provide

480-490: A large earthquake. Phaistos was interconnected to various other residences, most notably Hagia Triada and Gortyn . Hagia Triada has a smaller palace which may have been connected to the rulers of Phaistos as a vacation residence. Hagia Triada's port and relative closeness to Phaistos may have allowed for long distance trade and shared economic and political activity. Phaistos was one of the 3 largest cities of Minoan Crete along with Knossos and Malia . A road system connects

560-482: A municipality in south central Crete . It is notable for the remains of a Minoan palace and the surrounding town. Ancient Phaistos was located about 5.6 km (3.5 mi) east of the Mediterranean Sea and 62 km (39 mi) south of Heraklion . Phaistos was one of the largest cities of Minoan Crete . The name Phaistos survives from ancient Greek references to a city on Crete of that name at or near

640-646: A sufficient test of the real basis underlying the Hellenic myths of the Argolid , the Troad and Crete , to cause these to be taken seriously. Aegean vases have been exhibited both at Sèvres and Neuchatel since about 1840, the provenance (i.e. source or origin) being in the one case Phylakope in Melos , in the other Cephalonia . Ludwig Ross, the German archaeologist appointed Curator of

720-435: A theater. The Minoan Palace at Phaistos was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. The earliest iteration of the palace was used as a foundation for the newer reconstructions. The new reconstructions of the palace shifted around slightly eastward of the original palace. The reconstructions of the palace expanded on the first build and were made on multiple vertical levels that were interconnected by halls and stairs. The palace

800-481: Is also known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age Burials . Phaestus Phaistos ( Greek : Φαιστός , pronounced [feˈstos] ; Ancient Greek : Φαιστός , pronounced [pʰai̯stós] , Linear B : 𐀞𐀂𐀵 Pa-i-to ; Linear A : 𐘂𐘚𐘄 Pa-i-to ), also transliterated as Phaestos , Festos and Latin Phaestus , is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos ,

880-489: Is divided into the periods I–VI, according to Oscar Montelius . Period Montelius V, already belongs to the Iron Age in other regions. In Great Britain , the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 700 BC. Immigration brought new people to the islands from the continent. Recent tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicate that at least some of

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960-510: Is followed by the middle Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) Tumulus culture , which is characterized by inhumation burials in tumuli (barrows). In the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Makó culture , followed by the Otomani and Gyulavarsánd cultures. The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture (1300–750 BC) is characterized by cremation burials. It includes

1040-730: The Archipelago with Crete and Cyprus , the Hellenic peninsula with the Ionian islands , and Western Anatolia . Evidence is still wanting for the Macedonian and Thracian coasts. Offshoots are found in the western Mediterranean area, in Sicily, Italy, Sardinia and Spain, and in the eastern Mediterranean area in Syria and Egypt. Regarding the Cyrenaica , we are still insufficiently informed. The final collapse of

1120-773: The Argive Heraeum and Nauplia in the Argolid, near Thebes and Delphi , and not far from the Thessalian Larissa . During the Acropolis excavations in Athens, which terminated in 1888, many potsherds of the Mycenaean style were found; but Olympia had yielded either none, or such as had not been recognized before being thrown away, and the temple site at Delphi produced nothing distinctively Aegean (in dating). The American explorations of

1200-654: The Chalcolithic era, with examples from Pločnik in Serbia dated to c.  4650 BC , as well as 14 other artefacts from Bulgaria and Serbia dated to before 4000 BC, showing that early tin bronze developed independently in Europe 1500 years before the first tin bronze alloys in the Near East . This bronze production lasted for c. 500 years in the Balkans but disappeared at the end of

1280-515: The Cheddar Man . The Chalcolithic (Copper Age) began in Europe around 5500 BC. Chalcolithic Europeans began to erect megaliths in this period. Commerce was practiced to some extent in very early times, as is shown by the distribution of Melian obsidian over all the Aegean area. Cretan vessels appeared to be exported to Melos , Egypt, and the Greek mainland. In particular, Melian vases, eventually, found their way to Crete. After 1600 BC, there

1360-584: The Cypriots , the lost waxing technique was introduced to create several hundred bronze statuettes and other tools. The Nuragic civilization survived throughout the early Iron Age when the sanctuaries were still in use, stone statues were crafted and some Nuraghi were reused as temples. In northern Germany , Denmark , Sweden and Norway , Bronze Age cultures manufactured many distinctive and artistic artifacts. This includes lur horns, horned ceremonial helmets, sun discs, gold jewelry and some unexplained finds like

1440-608: The Early Helladic (" Minyan ") period and with Crete in the Middle Minoan period. From c.  1450 BC (Late Helladic, Late Minoan), the Greek Mycenaean civilization spreads to Crete, probably by military conquest. The earlier Aegean farming populations of Neolithic Greece brought agriculture westward into Europe before 5000 BC . Around 5,000 BC, peoples descending from migrant Greek Neolithic populations reached

1520-720: The Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300–500 BC) that continues into the Iron Age . The Central European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (800–450 BC). The Italian Bronze Age is conditionally divided into four periods: The Early Bronze Age (2300–1700 BC), the Middle Bronze Age (1700–1350 BC), the Recent Bronze Age (1350–1150 BC), the Final Bronze Age (1150–950 BC). During

1600-576: The bronze "gong" from Balkåkra in Sweden. Some linguists believe that an early Indo-European language was introduced to the area probably around 2000 BC, which eventually became Proto-Germanic , the last common ancestor of the Germanic languages . This would fit with the apparently unbroken evolution of the Nordic Bronze Age into the most probably ethnolinguistically Germanic Pre-Roman Iron Age . The age

1680-586: The ekdysia , which is a ritual practiced in Phaistos. The temple was built after the Geometric age.   Phaistos was located in 1853 by Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt , a ship captain who surveyed sites around the Mediterranean. Spratt triangulated the location of Phaistos to a hill then known as Kastri ("fort", "small castle") using the locations or Gortyn , Matala , and the coast. A village of 16 houses remained on

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1760-559: The eruption of Thera destroyed the site of Akrotiri and damaged Minoan sites in eastern Crete . The further impact of this event is poorly understood. Starting in the 15th century BC, the Mycenaeans began to spread their influence throughout the Aegean and Western Anatolia. By c.  1450 BC , the palace of Knossos was ruled by a Mycenaean elite who formed a hybrid Minoan-Mycenaean culture. Mycenaeans also colonized several other Aegean islands, reaching as far as Rhodes . Thus

1840-527: The 400 BCE, the use of small group and family tombs became common practice. A clay model found at one of the larger tombs depicts couples at altars with offerings. The details of this model have been likened to the Hagia Triada sarcophagus . Pottery including polychrome items and embossing in imitation of metal work has been found at Phaistos. This imitation came in the form of making pottery extremely thin, being likened to eggshell. This pottery also mimicked

1920-439: The 5th millennium, coinciding with the " collapse of large cultural complexes in north-eastern Bulgaria and Thrace in the late fifth millennium BC". Tin bronzes using cassiterite tin were subsequently reintroduced to the area some 1500 years later. The Aegean Bronze Age begins around 3200 BC when civilizations first established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus , where copper

2000-411: The Aegean by the wealth of its remains of all the prehistoric ages— Crete; and so much so that, for the present, we must regard it as the fountainhead of Aegean civilization, and probably for long its political and social centre. The island first attracted the notice of archaeologists by the remarkable archaic Greek bronzes found in a cave on Mount Ida in 1885, as well as by epigraphic monuments such as

2080-536: The Antiquities of Athens at the time of the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece , by his explorations in the Greek islands from 1835 onwards, called attention to certain early intaglios , since known as Inselsteine; but it was not until 1878 that C. T. Newton demonstrated these to be no strayed Phoenician products. In 1866 primitive structures were discovered on the island of Therasia by quarrymen extracting pozzolana,

2160-519: The Argive Heraeum, concluded in 1895, also failed to prove that site to have been important in the prehistoric time, though, as was to be expected from its neighbourhood to Mycenae itself, there were traces of occupation in the later Aegean periods. Prehistoric research had now begun to extend beyond the Greek mainland. Certain central Aegean islands, Antiparos , Ios , Amorgos , Syros and Siphnos , were all found to be singularly rich in evidence of

2240-487: The East and an acropolis was built on a hill in the West. The first palace was built in the Middle Minoan IB period, around 2000 BCE. The initial palace was destroyed and rebuilt three times in a period of about three centuries. The palace history is divided into three construction phases because of its reconstructions. The palace was destroyed around 1400 BCE and not rebuilt. This destruction may have been caused by

2320-655: The English archaeological expeditions, sent subsequently into north-western Anatolia , have never failed to bring back ceramic specimens of Aegean appearance from the valleys of the Rhyndncus, Sangarius and Halys. In Egypt in 1887, Flinders Petrie found painted sherds of Cretan style at Kahun in the Fayum , and farther up the Nile , at Tell el-Amarna , chanced on bits of no fewer than 800 Aegean vases in 1889. There have now been recognized in

2400-542: The Middle and Late Minoan periods. Bronze Age works from Phaistos include bridge spouted bowls , eggshell cups, tall jars and large pithoi . Grape pips have been found in storage vessels at Phaistos, indicating the production of wine. The site was reinhabited during the Geometric Age (8th century BCE). Phaistos had its own currency, the stater . The city also created an alliance with other autonomous Cretan cities, and with

2480-564: The Middle-Aegean period. The series of Syran-built graves, containing crouching corpses, is the best and most representative that is known in the Aegean. Melos, long marked as a source of early objects but not systematically excavated until taken in hand by the British School at Athens in 1896, yielded at Phylakope remains of all the Aegean periods, except the Neolithic . A map of Cyprus in

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2560-568: The Minoan site of Hagia Triada , located about 3 kilometers away. Between 1909 and 1922 Antonio Minto excavated on the hill of Christos Effendi, especially the fortification walls there. Between 1950 and 1966 an Italian School of Archaeology at Athens team led by Doro Levi worked at Phaistos. From 2000 to 2004 the effort was led by Vincenzo La Rosa. Beginning in 2007 the Phaistos Project (also Progetto festos), led by Fausto Longo, under

2640-406: The Mycenaean civilisation appears to have occurred about 1200 BC. Iron took the place of bronze, cremation took the place of burial of the dead, and writing was lost. Bronze Age Europe Arsenical bronze was produced in some areas from the 4th millennium BC onwards, prior to the introduction of tin bronze. Tin bronze foil had already been produced in southeastern Europe on a small scale in

2720-553: The Mycenaean economy. Their syllabic script, the Linear B , offers the first written records of the Greek language and their religion already included several deities that can be also found in the Olympic Pantheon . Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At

2800-513: The Mycenaeans became the dominant power of the region, marking the beginning of the Mycenaean 'Koine' era (from Greek : Κοινή , common), a highly uniform culture that spread in mainland Greece and the Aegean. The Mycenaean Greeks introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for

2880-463: The Sicel cemetery near Lentini in 1877, has proved a mine of early remains, among which appear in regular succession Aegean fabrics and motives of decoration from the period of the second stratum at Hissarlik. Sardinia has Aegean sites, for example, at Abini near Teti; and Spain has yielded objects recognized as Aegean from tombs near Cádiz and from Saragossa . One land, however, has eclipsed all others in

2960-531: The aegis of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens has worked at the site, mainly conducting surveys, restorations, and targeted excavations. To date 61 Linear A inscribed items have been found at Phaistos (26 tablets, 35 sealed documents). Also found were 12 sealed roundels (9 inscribed with Linear A characters) and thousands of sealings (including nodules). In 1908, the Phaistos Disc

3040-484: The area again some 1,500 years later. The Maykop culture was the major early Bronze Age culture in the North Caucasus . Some scholars date arsenical bronze artifacts in the region as far back as the mid-4th millennium BC. The Yamnaya culture was a late copper age /early Bronze Age culture dating to the 36th–23rd centuries BC. The culture was predominantly nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers and

3120-460: The articles on Crete , Mycenae , Tiryns , Troad , Cyprus , etc., must be consulted. The most representative site explored up to now is Knossos (see Crete ) which has yielded not only the most various but the most continuous evidence from the Neolithic age to the twilight of classical civilization. Next in importance come Hissarlik , Mycenae, Phaestus , Hagia Triada , Tiryns, Phylakope, Palaikastro and Gournia . Mycenae and Tiryns are

3200-504: The centuries around 2000 BC when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the Copper Age and is characterised by the production of flat axes , daggers , halberds and awls in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age 2000–1500 BC; Middle Bronze Age 1500–1200 BC and Late Bronze Age 1200– c.  500 BC . Ireland

3280-583: The cities and the road from Phaistos to Knossos seems to the most prominent. This indicates that trade and transportation between the two cities was important, and that Phaistos was a valuable trade partner. Several artifacts with Linear A inscriptions were excavated at this site. The name of the site also appears in partially deciphered Linear A texts and may be similar to Mycenaean 'PA-I-TO' as written on 62 Linear B tablets found at Knossos. Several kouloura structures (subsurface pits) have been found at Phaistos. Pottery has been recovered at Phaistos from in

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3360-556: The collections at Cairo , Florence , London, Paris and Bologna several Egyptian imitations of the Aegean style which can be set off against the many debts which the centres of Aegean culture owed to Egypt. Two Aegean vases were found at Sidon in 1885, and many fragments of Aegean and especially Cypriot pottery have been found during recent excavations of sites in Philistia by the Palestine Fund. Sicily , ever since P. Orsi excavated

3440-457: The current ruins. Phaistos was first inhabited around 3600 BCE, slightly later than other early sites such as Knossos . During the Early Minoan period, the site's hills were terraced and monumental buildings were constructed on them. Like other large Minoan cities, there was a palace that was built in an area that had been used earlier for communal feasting. The palace was built on a hill in

3520-491: The earlier Theraean and Hissarlik discoveries. Many scholars were struck by potential resemblances between objects described by Homer and Mycenaean artifacts. Schliemann resumed excavations at Hissarlik in 1878, and greatly increased our knowledge of the lower strata, but did not recognize the Aegean remains in his "Lydian" city now known as Late Bronze Age Troy . These were not to be fully revealed until Dr. Wilhelm Dorpfeld, who had become Schliemann's assistant in 1879, resumed

3600-544: The early Bronze Age Unetice culture (2300–1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like the Straubingen , Adlerberg and Hatvan cultures. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen (today part of Sömmerda ) with grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social stratification already present in the Unetice culture. All in all, cemeteries of this period are rare and of small size. The Unetice culture

3680-536: The environment, with the development of the Iberian oppida mode of settlement. The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Portugal , Andalusia , Galicia , France , Britain , and Ireland and is marked by economic and cultural exchange that led to the high degree of cultural similarity exhibited by coastal communities, including

3760-494: The famous law of Gortyna (also called Gortyn ). But the first undoubted Aegean remains reported from it were a few objects extracted from Cnossus by Minos Kalokhairinos of Candia in 1878. These were followed by certain discoveries made in the S. plain Messara by F. Halbherr. Unsuccessful attempts at Cnossus were made by both W. J. Stillman and H. Schliemann, and A. J. Evans, coming on the scene in 1893, travelled in succeeding years about

3840-437: The first tin bronze alloys in the Near East . The production of complex tin bronzes lasted for c. 500 years in the Balkans. The authors reported that evidence for the production of such complex bronzes disappears at the end of the 5th millennium coinciding with the "collapse of large cultural complexes in north-eastern Bulgaria and Thrace in the late fifth millennium BC". Tin bronzes using cassiterite tin would be reintroduced to

3920-579: The frequent use of stones as chevaux-de-frise , the establishment of cliff castles , or the domestic architecture sometimes characterized by the round houses. Commercial contacts extended from Sweden and Denmark to the Mediterranean . The period was defined by a number of distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of some of their products. The major centres were southern England and Ireland, north-western France, and western Iberia. The Bronze Age in Ireland commenced in

4000-507: The general public. With Schliemann's excavations at Mycenae, interest in prehistoric Greece exploded. It was recognized that the character of both the fabric and the decoration of the Mycenaean objects was not that of any previously known style. A wide range in space was proved by the identification of the Inselsteine and the Ialysus vases with the new style, and a wide range in time by collation of

4080-479: The head of this society was the king, known as wanax . A study in the journal Antiquity from 2013 reported the discovery of a tin bronze foil from the Pločnik archaeological site dated to c.  4650 BC , as well as 14 other artefacts from Serbia and Bulgaria dated to before 4000 BC, showed that early tin bronze was more common than previously thought and developed independently in Europe 1,500 years before

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4160-415: The hills and into the fertile valleys . Large livestock ranches developed in the lowlands which appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The Deverel–Rimbury culture began to emerge in the second half of the 'Middle Bronze Age' ( c.  1400 –1100 BC) to exploit these conditions. Cornwall was a major source of tin for much of western Europe and copper

4240-445: The immigrants came from the area of modern Switzerland . The Beaker people displayed different behaviors from the earlier Neolithic people and cultural change was significant. The rich Wessex culture developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in

4320-428: The island picking up trifles of unconsidered evidence, which gradually convinced him that greater things would eventually be found. He obtained enough to enable him to forecast the discovery of written characters, till then not suspected in Aegean civilization. The revolution of 1897–1898 opened the door to wider knowledge, and much exploration has ensued, for which see Crete . Thus the "Aegean Area" has now come to mean

4400-561: The king of Pergamon Eumenes II . Around the end of the 3rd century BCE, Phaistos was destroyed by the Gortynians and since then has not been present in the history of Crete. Scotia Aphrodite and goddess Leto , who was also called Phytia, were worshiped there. Epimenides , the wise man invited by the Athenians to clean the city after the Cylonian affair (Cyloneio agos) in the 6th century BCE,

4480-470: The larger hilltop settlements, and the elite using violence in practical and ideological terms to clamp down on the population. Ecological degradation, landscape opening, fires, pastoralism, and maybe tree cutting for mining have been suggested as reasons for the collapse. The culture of the motillas , developed an early system of groundwater supply plants (the so-called motillas ) in the upper Guadiana basin (in Iberian Peninsula's southern meseta ) in

4560-416: The late second millennium BC to host these religious structures along with other structures such ritual pools, fountains and tanks, large stone roundhouses with circular benches used for the meeting of the leaders of the chiefdoms and large public areas. Bronze tools and weapons were widespread and their quality increased thanks to the contacts between the Nuragic people and Eastern Mediterranean peoples such as

4640-432: The later Bronze Age (such as is given by J. L. Myres and M. O. Richter in Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum) shows more than 25 settlements in and about the Mesaorea district alone, of which one, that at Enkomi , near the site of Salamis , has yielded the richest Aegean treasure in precious metal found outside Mycenae. E. Chantre in 1894 picked up lustreless ware, like that of Hissariik, in central Phtygia and at Pteria, and

4720-417: The later iterations. This left few archaeological remains to be found in the palace. The tombs of the rulers of Phaistos were found in a cemetery near the palace remains. To the southwest of Phaistos, tholos tombs have been found and cemeteries were found to the northwest. Some items found in tombs at Phaistos have been declared as bronze armor scraps. Originally, tombs were built for communal use but after

4800-535: The most important finds were done in Isleham (more than 6500 pieces). Preceded by the Chalcolithic sites of Los Millares , the Argaric culture flourished in southeastern Iberia in from 2200 BC to 1550 BC, when depopulation of the area ensued along with disappearing of copper–bronze–arsenic metallurgy. The most accepted model for El Argar has been that of an early state society, most particularly in terms of class division, exploitation, and coercion, with agricultural production, maybe also human labour, controlled by

4880-540: The northern European plain in modern-day France and Germany ; they reached Britain some 1000 years later . Once in the Balkans , the Aegean EEFs appear to have divided into two wings: one which expanded further north into Europe along the Danube ( Linear Pottery culture ), and another which headed west along the Mediterranean ( Cardial Ware ) into the Iberian Peninsula . Descendants of this latter group eventually migrated into Britain. Previously, these areas were populated by Western Hunter-Gatherer represented by

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4960-458: The objects found four years later in a tomb at Menidi in Attica and a rock-cut "bee-hive" grave near the Argive Heraeum. Even Schliemann's initial excavations at Hissarlik in the Troad did not excite surprise. However, the "Burnt City" now known as Troy II, revealed in 1873, with its fortifications and vases, and a hoard of gold, silver, and bronze objects, which the discoverer connected with it, began to arouse curiosity both among scholars and

5040-519: The one he had exposed. From 1886 dates the finding of Mycenaean sepulchres outside the Argolid, from which, and from the continuation of Tsountas's exploration of the buildings and lesser graves at Mycenae, a large treasure, independent of Schliemann's princely gift, has been gathered into the National Museum at Athens. In that year tholos-tombs, most already pillaged but retaining some of their furniture, were excavated at Arkina and Eleusis in Attica, at Dimini near Volos in Thessaly , at Kampos on

5120-425: The ridge, but the vestiges of fortification walls indicated that a city had existed there. In 1894, Antonio Taramelli excavated pottery at Phaistos at the behest of Federico Halbherr . Seal stones and cylinder seals were also found. From 1900 to 1904 Federico Halbherr and his student Luigi Pernier excavated at Phaistos. Occasional work continued at Phaistos until 1908 while Halbherr and Pernier excavated at

5200-411: The royal apartments in the northern section of the palace, with a view of the tops of Psiloritis (Mount Ida). The rooms were constructed from alabaster and other materials. The rooms for princes were smaller and less luxurious than the rooms of the royal departments. A temple to Rhea was found in the palace. The temple is located in the Southern section of the palace. This temple was connected with

5280-529: The sea is proved by the free use of marine motifs in decoration. The most detailed illustrations are to be found on the 'ship fresco' at Akrotiri on the island of Thera (Santorini) preserved by the ash fall from the volcanic eruption which destroyed the town there. Discoveries, later in the 20th century, of sunken trading vessels such as those at Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya off the south coast of Turkey have brought forth an enormous amount of new information about that culture. For details of monumental evidence

5360-433: The second millennium BC, the Nuragic civilization flourished in the island of Sardinia . It was a rather homogeneous culture, more than 7000 imposing stone tower-buildings known as Nuraghe were built by this culture all over the island, along with other types of monuments such as the megaron temples, the monumental Giants' graves and the holy well temples . Sanctuaries and larger settlements were also built starting from

5440-428: The shapes that metal items were made in. Many of the pottery items had fluting or embossments. This metallurgy replication was mostly found in small vases and cups. Minoan pottery quality changed around 1800 BCE, and shiny vibrant colors were replaced by multiple dull colors. References to Phaistos in ancient Greek literature are quite infrequent. Phaistos is referenced by Homer , in the Iliad, as "well populated", and

5520-447: The superincumbent eruptive stratum. Meanwhile, in 1868, tombs at Ialysus in Rhodes had yielded to Alfred Biliotti many painted vases of styles which were called later the third and fourth "Mycenaean"; but these, bought by John Ruskin , and presented to the British Museum , excited less attention than they deserved, being supposed to be of some local fabric of uncertain date. Nor was a connection immediately detected between them and

5600-413: The theater area, in conjunction with two staircases, gave access to the main hall of the propylaea through large doors. A twin gate led directly to the central courtyard through a wide street. The floors and walls of the interior rooms were decorated with plates of sand and white gypsum stone. The upper floors of the west sector had spacious ceremonial rooms. The entrance from the central courtyard led to

5680-520: The two principal sites on which evidence of a prehistoric civilization was remarked long ago by the ancient Greeks . The curtain-wall and towers of the Mycenaean citadel , its gate with heraldic lions , and the great " Treasury of Atreus " had borne silent witness for ages before Heinrich Schliemann 's time. However, they were regarded as a crude precursor of later Greek culture. It was not until Schliemann's excavations that Mycenaean culture attracted serious scholarly attention. There had been, however,

5760-845: The west of Mount Taygetus , and at Maskarata in Cephalonia . The richest grave of all was explored at Vaphio in Laconia in 1889, and yielded, besides many gems and miscellaneous goldsmiths' work, two golden goblets chased with scenes of bull-hunting, and certain broken vases painted in a large bold style which remained an enigma until the excavation of Knossos . In 1890 and 1893, Staes cleared out certain less rich tholos-tombs at Thoricus in Attica ; and other graves, either rock-cut "bee-hives" or chambers, were found at Spata and Aphidna in Attica, in Aegina and Salamis , at

5840-748: The western Corded Ware culture . The eastern Corded Ware culture ( Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture ) gave rise to the Abashevo culture , followed by the Sintashta culture , where the earliest known spoked-wheel chariots have been found, dating from c.  2000 BC . The Catacomb culture in the Pontic steppe was succeeded by the Multi-cordoned Ware culture , and the Srubnaya culture from c.  the 17th century BC . Important sites include: In Central Europe ,

5920-444: The work at Hissarlik in 1892 after Schliemann's death. But by laying bare in 1884 the upper stratum of remains on the rock of Tiryns , Schliemann made a contribution to our knowledge of prehistoric domestic life which was amplified two years later by Christos Tsountas's discovery of the palace at Mycenae. Schliemann's work at Tiryns was not resumed till 1905, when it was proved, as had long been suspected, that an earlier palace underlies

6000-456: Was a Cretan who may have descended from the people of Phaistos. Phaistos is home to one of the structures commonly known as a Minoan Palace . The structure of Minoan palaces differs from actual palaces and have been proven to serve more purposes, but the name has stuck. These structures are complex buildings that have multiple uses. The palace at Phaistos seemed to have religious and political purposes as well as sections for storage, housing, and

6080-530: Was around 2/3 as large as the palace at Knossos. The first level contained the theater area and some shrines. The theater was larger than the one at Knossos. The second level consisted of servant and guest rooms as well as the commissariat quarter. Above this was the primary royal apartments. The fourth and final level was made up of the Hall of the State and balconies that overlooked the palace and its exterior. The levels of

6160-654: Was commerce with Egypt, and Aegean goods found their way to all coasts of the Mediterranean. No traces of currency have come to light, excluding certain axeheads. These axeheads were too small for practical use. Standard weights have been found, as well as representations of ingots. The Aegean written documents have not yet been proven (by being found outside the area) to be epistolary (letter writing) correspondence with other countries. Representations of ships are not common, but several have been observed on Aegean gems, gem-sealings, frying pans, and vases. These vases feature ships of low free-board, with masts and oars. Familiarity with

6240-915: Was extracted from sites such as the Great Orme mine in northern Wales . Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent. Also, the burial of dead (which until this period had usually been communal) became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn or long barrow was used to house the dead, the 'Early Bronze Age' saw people buried in individual barrows (also commonly known and marked on modern British Ordnance Survey maps as Tumuli), or sometimes in cists covered with cairns . The greatest quantities of bronze objects found in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire , where

6320-459: Was found in a basement room (Room 101), along with a Linear A tablet, on the northern side of the palace in a Middle Minoan IIIb level. The disc was found with assorted pottery that dates to approximately 1800 BCE, which was around when the palace could have been reconstructed. Finding artifacts in Phaistos is difficult because the Minoans thoroughly cleaned the original palace ruins before beginning

6400-469: Was mined and alloyed with the tin to produce bronze . Bronze objects were then exported far and wide and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of the tin in some Mediterranean bronze objects indicates it came from as far away as Great Britain . Knowledge of navigation was well developed at this time and reached a peak of skill not exceeded until a method was discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) to determine longitude around AD 1750. Around 1600 BC,

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