Minoans and Mycenaeans

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In the Greek Bronze Age the Minoans and Mycenaeans created the intriguing archaeological sites of Knossos, Mycenae ‘Rich in Gold’, Pylos and Akrotiri. Superstar archaeologists like Schliemann, Evans and Marinatos excavated them, revealing stunning architecture, fortifications, sculpture, frescoes, weaponry, ceramics, jewellery and seal stones, highlighting the mythical enigmas of Agamemnon, Odysseus, the Minotaur, the Trojan War and Atlantis in the process.

This course will explore the relevant social, political and religious contexts of the Minoan and Mycenaean world: diet and disease, eating and drinking habits, social and economic structures, trade and overseas contacts, domestic arrangements, funerary customs, worship, and bureaucracy. But who were these people? Why did they succeed? Why (or) did they fail? This course will invite students to analyse and reflect on the controversies and dilemmas posed by the material evidence, and assess the influence of a culture that has been described as ‘the first European civilisation’.

Date created:

2018-01-19 12:31

Tutor:

Steve Kershaw

Subjects:

Archaeology, Greek art & archaeology

Keywords:

Archaeology, Greece

Course type:

Weekly class

Resources for this course

Displaying 1 - 40 of 56

Resource	Description	Full details
MINOAN BULL LEAPING	Was bull leaping as shown in Minoan art possible? This link might provide some interesting food for thought.	view
MINOAN BULL LEAPING	Was bull leaping as shown in Minoan art possible? This link might provide some interesting food for thought.	view
INTERACTIVE CULTURE MAP OF GREECE	You might like to explore this interactive culture map of Greece by the Greek Ministry of Culture.	view
CHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF THE GREEK BRONZE AGE	This link takes you to the Greek Ministry of Culture’s chronological chart of the Greek Bronze Age	view
AEGEAN PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY: CHRONOLOGY & TERMINOLOGY	There is a useful Guide to Chronology and Terminology on Dartmouth College’s Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology website.	view
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF MINOAN CRETE	This link takes you to a helpful chronological table of Minoan Crete by the Foundation of the Hellenic World.	view
ARTHUR EVANS: 'THE PALACE OF MINOS'	This link takes you to a digital version of SirArthur Evans' monumntal publication The Palace of Minos on the website of Heidelberg...	view
ARTHUR EVANS ARCHIVE	The Arthur Evans archive consists of the archaeological records and papers of Sir Arthur Evans (Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 1884–1908), which...	view
DEVELOPMENT OF KNOSSOS	The LiveScience website gives a clear overview of the development of Knossos.	view
THE RING OF MINOS	You can discover more about the 'Ring of Minos' on the Academia website.	view
THE PALACE OF MINOS AT KNOSSOS	You will find some useful information about the Palace of Minos at Knossos (the History of the Palace, Evans and the Excavations, and a 2-part...	view
THE PALACES OF MINOS AT KNOSSOS	For more information about the Palaces of Minos at Knossos you might also like to consult the Athena Review, Vol.3, no.3: Minoan Crete, ‘...	view
UNESCO AND THE MINOAN PALATIAL CENTRES	In this link UNESCO explains why the Minoan Palatial Centres are currently felt to be of major cultural significance.	view
UNDERSTANDING THE MINOAN PALACES	There is some good material in this article on ‘Understanding the Minoan Palaces’ by Louise A. Hitchcock (co-author of Hitchcock & Preziosi)...	view
WHO WERE THE MINOANS?	There is some interesting research by Dr Iosif Lazaridis and colleagues from Harvard Medical School, which focusses on burials from both the...	view
PHAISTOS	There is some useful information information about the site at Phaistos here.	view
THE PALACE AT PHAISTOS	There is some useful information, and some good images, from the site at Phaistos on the minoancrete.com website.	view
THE MINOAN PALACE AT PHAISTOS	There is some useful information about Phaistos on Ancient-Greece.org website.	view
KATO ZAKROS	You can make explorations of the site of Kato Zakros on the Ancient-Greece.org website.	view
KATO ZAKRO	You explore the site of Kato Zakro on the Greek Travel Pages website.	view
THE COUNTRY HOUSE AT MYRTOS-PYRGOS	One type of settlement that is found in Minoan contexts is the country house, of which there is a very good example at...	view
KOMMOS	This link takes you to some good information about the Minoan port at Kommos on Crete.	view
KOMMOS MINOAN PORT	The University of Toronto have an excellent online archive of all their documents from the dig at Kommos, including notes and published works,...	view
MINOAN SHIP SHEDS AT KOMMOS	This link takes you to the original proposal that Building P at Kommos was ship sheds	view
SHIP SHEDS AT NIROU KHANI, CRETE	This document addreses the question of possible shipsheds at Nirou Khani on Crete.	view
SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN CRETE	RELATIVE SEA-LEVEL CHANGES IN CRETE: REASSESSMENT OF RADIOCARBON DATES FROM SPHAKIA AND WEST CRETE (from Annual of the British School at Athens 97...	view
SEA LEVEL CHANGES AT KOMMOS	This link takes you to the section of the University of Toronto's Kommos documents that talks about the physcial geography and holocene sea level...	view
ULU BURUN SHIPWRECK	This link takes you to a decent overview of the Ulu Burun shipwreck	view
SEA LEVEL CHANGES IN CRETE DIAGRAM	This diagram illuyrates sea-level changes in Crete	view
THE MINOAN ERUPTION OF SANTORINI	An interesting article "Reconstructing A Catastrophe: The Minoan Eruption Of Santorini". The Late Bronze Age eruption is sometimes linked to (a)...	view
ATLANTIS AND THE NATIONS	"The Athens and Atlantis of ancient lore represent the two faces of Plato’s own Athens. The former, the old primordial Athens, is what Plato would...	view
INTERACTIVE CULTURE MAP OF GREECE	This link takes you to a very useful interactive culture map of Greece by the Greek Ministry of Culture.
CHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF THE GREEK BRONZE AGE	You might like to consult the Greek Ministry of Culture’s chronological chart of the Greek Bronze Age.
Chronology and Terminology of Aegean Prehistory	Dartmouth College has a useful Guide to the Chronology and Terminology of Aegean Prehistory on its Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology website.
Chronological Table of Minoan Crete	You can view a basic view the Chronological table of Minoan Crete by the Foundation of the Hellenic World here.
Overview of the Early Cycladic Period	There is a very useful overview of the Early Cycladic Period on the Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology website of Dartmouth College. You can access it...
Short Introduction to Early Cycladic Art and Culture	You can find a useful short introduction to Early Cycladic Art and Culture in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History on the Metropolitan Museum of...
GEOGRAPHY OF THE CYCLADES	The Cyclades are a group of small islands in the central-southern part of the Aegean Sea, forming a virtual land bridge between Mainland Greece...
CYCLADIC ART	The Museum of Cycladic Art houses one of the most complete private collections of Cycladic art worldwide, with...
CYCLADIC IDOLS	The Cycladic figurines exhibit quite distinct qualities and characteristics – for example, the shapes of the heads, shoulders and other anatomical...

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