General Description
Crete is a large island in the Eastern Mediterranean. Here we consider the phase of its history best known as the Old Palace or Protopalatial Era. This period began around 1900
[1]
, and ended around 1700, with a series of conflagration across the entire island, possibly caused by earthquake, possibly by inter-island wars
[2]
[3]
.
Population and Political Organization
The Old Palace period is marked by the appearance of regional states, and, in each of these, political, religious, ideological and/or economic authorities governed from “palaces”, that is, monumental court-centered building compounds such as the ones at Knossos, Malia, Phaistos and Petras
[4]
. However, evidence for administration is limited and consists mostly of clay archival documents.
[5]
.
According to Renfrew, each regional state had a population of 215,000
[6]
.
[1]: (Shelmerdine 2008, 4) Cynthia W. Shelmerdine. 2008. ‘Background, sources, and methods,’ in The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, edited by Cynthia W. Shelmerdine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (La Rosa 1999, 81-89) V. La Rosa. 1999. "Πολιτική εξουσία και σεισμικές καταστροφές στη Μινωική Κρήτη: η περίπτωση της Φαιστού" in Κρήτες Θαλασσοδρόμοι, edited by A. Karetou. Heraklion
[3]: (Cadogan 2014, 43-54) G. Cadogan. 2014. "War in the Cretan Bronze Age: the realism of Stylianos Alexiou". Kritika Chronika 34: 43-54.
[4]: (Manning 2008, 119) S.W. Manning. 2008. ‘: Protopalatial Crete. 5A: Formation of the palaces,’ in The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, edited by Cynthia W. Shelmerdine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Weingarten 2010, 317-318) J. Weingarten. 2010. ‘Minoan seals and sealings,’ in The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3000-1000 BC), edited by E.H. Cline. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6]: (Renfrew 1972, 249) Colin Renfrew. 1972. The Emergence of Civilisation. Oxford: Oxbow.
Cretan Broze Age Civilization |
Neopalatial Crete |
continuity |
Preceding: Prepalatial Crete (gr_crete_pre_palace) [continuity] |
quasi-polity |
Year Range | Old Palace Crete (gr_crete_old_palace) was in: |
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(1900 BCE 1701 BCE) | Crete |
Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Utm Zone | 35 S | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Original Name | The Old Palace Crete | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Capital | None (Absent Capital) | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Alternative Name | Protopalatial Crete | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Alternative Name | Crete of the First Palaces | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Supracultural Entity | Cretan Broze Age Civilization | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Succeeding Entity | Neopalatial Crete | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Relationship to Preceding Entity | continuity | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Preceding Entity
3000 BCE 1900 BCE
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Prepalatial Crete (gr_crete_pre_palace) [continuity] | Confident | |||||||||
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Degree of Centralization | quasi-polity | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More |
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More |
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Professional Priesthood | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Market | Present | Inferred | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Irrigation System | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Food Storage Site | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Drinking Water Supply System | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Mines or Quarry | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Written Record | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Script | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Phonetic Alphabetic Writing | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Scientific Literature | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Practical Literature | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Philosophy | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Lists Tables and Classification | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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History | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Fiction | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Token | Present | Inferred | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Precious Metal | Present | Inferred | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Paper Currency | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Indigenous Coin | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Foreign Coin | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Article | Present | Inferred | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Postal Station | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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General Postal Service | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Courier | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More |
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Stone Walls Non Mortared | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Stone Walls Mortared | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Settlements in a Defensive Position | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Modern Fortification | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Moat | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Complex Fortification | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Long Wall | absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Tension Siege Engine | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Sling Siege Engine | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Self Bow | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Javelin | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Handheld Firearm | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Gunpowder Siege Artillery | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Crossbow | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Composite Bow | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Sword | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Spear | Unknown | Suspected | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Polearm | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Dagger | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Battle Axe | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Horse | Unknown | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Elephant | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Donkey | Unknown | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Dog | Unknown | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Camel | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Scaled Armor | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Plate Armor | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Limb Protection | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Laminar Armor | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Chainmail | Absent | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More | |||||||
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Small Vessels Canoes Etc | Present | Confident | 1900 BCE 1700 BCE | ||||||||
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More |
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Variable | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | See More |
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