Early Minoan settlement landscapes. A preliminary study of Cretan Early Bronze Age settlements and their relative spatial distribution

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary examination of the settlement landscape in the Early Minoan period, analysing individual changes within each phase of the Early Bronze Age on Crete island, as well as changes occurring from one phase to another. Furthermore, it seeks to tackle the chronological limitations and possibilities, in an attempt to contribute to our understanding of Early Minoan social and demographic dynamics and relations at an island-wide level. The main goal is to provide a useful tool for the further research of Minoan habitation patterns and a better understanding of the background from which the later palatial systems emerged and developed.

Banatian DeathMetals: Radiocarbon Dating of Cremation Burials of the Setting Bronze Age and Dawning Iron Age

“…Secondly, it is the only BA burial with a sword documented in the ECB. Thirdly, given that heart shaped pendants are only seen in burials of women in the BA Carpathian Basin (Schumacher-Matthäus 1985, 105), this grave represents the first documented case dated to the LBA, which follows a long tradition in the ECB of warrior women armed with light or foreign weapons (Daróczi 2017). The radiocarbon dating of Grave 49 from the same burial ground, places the discoveries in the LBA IIb–III period, which is all the more surprising as it is an early example of a pendant with double spirals of a unique shape (Fig.…”

“…3B) make a strong case for a travelling warrior returned home and buried with a sword that she learnt to use during her eastern voyages. As it pointed out above, such pendants are only documented in burials of women, which would make the present burial an extremely important and interesting one, especially since it would continue local, ECB traditions of warrior women armed with either light or foreign weapons (Daróczi 2017). The sword of Peciu Nou is slightly longer than its eastern Mediterranean counterparts but also shorter than its western analogies which are, at the same time, younger examples.…”