Neolithic Crete

  General Description   The Cretan Neolithic period spans the four millennia between around 7000 and 3000 BCE. ^{[1] [2]} Until archaeological work in 2008‒2009 unearthed evidence for hominin occupation on the island as early as 130,000 years ago (in the Lower Palaeolithic), it was believed that the Neolithic farmers whose settlements appear from c. 7000 BCE were the first people to colonize Crete. ^[3] Nevertheless, one recent genetic study suggests that the Neolithic Cretan population was composed chiefly of newcomers rather than descendants of the island’s Mesolithic inhabitants. ^[4] They likely sailed from southwestern Asia, ^[4] bringing a characteristic agricultural package of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, bread wheat and other domesticated food plants. ^[5]

[1]: (Tomkins 2007) Tomkins, P. 2007. "Neolithic: Strata IX-VIII, VII-VIB, VIA-V, IV, IIIB, IIIA, IIA and IC Groups." In Knossos Pottery Handbook: Neolithic and Bronze Age (Minoan), edited by N. Momigliano, 9-39. British School at Athens Studies 14. London: British School at Athens. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SRWVHUTT.

[2]: (Tomkins 2008) Tomkins, Peter D. 2008. "Time, Space and the Reinvention of the Cretan Neolithic." In Escaping the Labyrinth: The Cretan Neolithic in Context, edited by Valasia Isaakidou and Peter D. Tomkins, 21-49. Oxford: Oxbow Books. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/P6XBRAKC.

[3]: (Strasser et al. 2010, 145-46) Strasser, Thomas F., Eleni Panagopoulou, Curtis N. Runnels, Priscilla M. Murray, Nicholas Thompson, Panayiotis Karkanas, Floyd W. McCoy, and Karl W. Wegmann. 2010. "Stone Age Seafaring in the Mediterranean: Evidence from the Plakias Region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Habitation of Crete." Hesperia 79 (2): 145-90. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VR7DEQG3.

[4]: (Fernández et al. 2014) Fernández, Eva, Alejandro Pérez-Pérez, Cristina Gamba, Eva Prats, Pedro Cuesta, Josep Anfruns, Miquel Molist, Eduardo Arroyo-Pardo, and Daniel Turbón. 2014. "Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands." PLoS Genetics 10 (6): e1004401. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9TJ7CEP6.

[5]: (Broodbank and Strasser 1991, 236) Broodbank, Cyprian, and Thomas F. Strasser. 1991. "Migrant Farmers and the Neolithic Colonization of Crete." Antiquity 65 (247): 233-45. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RVNBC48R.