Oliver Dickinson has written a scholarly, accessible and up-to-d,te introduction to the prehistoric civilisations of Greece. The Aegean Bronze Age, the long period from roughly 3300 to 1000 Be, saw the rise and fall of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations. The cultural history of the region emerges through a series of thematic chapters that treat settlement, economy, crafts, exchange and for eign contact (particularly with the civilisations of the Near East), and religion and burial customs. Students and teachers will welcome this book, but it will also provide the ideal companion for serious amateurs and visitors to the Aegean. CAMBRIDGE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE CAMBRIDGE WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY BRIDGET AND RAYMOND ALLCHIN The Rise of Civilisation in India and Pakistan CLl VE G AMB LE The Palaeolithic Settlement of Europe ALASDAIR WHITTLE Neolithic Europe: a Survey CHARLES HIGHAM The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia DAVID W. PHILLIPSON African Archaeology: Second Edition SARAH MILLEDGE NELSON The Archaeology of Korea CAMBRIDGE UNiVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CBl 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York vrww.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/978oj21456647 © Cambridge University Press 1994 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1994 Fourteenth printing 2008 Printed in me United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library J.ibrary of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Dickinson, O.T.P.K. (Oliver Thomas Pilkington Kirwan) The Aegean Bronze Age / Oliver Dickinson. p. em. - (Cambridge world archaeology) Includes bibliographical references and index. TSTIN 0 521 24280 0 I. Civilization, Aegean. 2. Bronze Age-Aegean Sea Region. 3. Aegean Sea Region-Antiquities. I. Title. II. Series. DF220.D49 1994 939'.r-dC20 93-2666 ClP Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for me persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in the work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter. To Tania and Edmund, who have been living with this book for a very long time. CONTENTS List of illustrations page x Preface and acknowledgements XVII List of abbreviations XXI Introduction Terminology and chronology 9 2. The natural environment and resources 23 3 The first human populations 30 4 Settlement and economy 45 Arts and crafts 95 Introduction 95 Pottery ror Non-ceramic vessels and furniture 130 Architecture (a) buildings (b) other structures 144 Frescoes 164 Figures r68 Jewellery and ornaments 179 Seals 188 Writing 193 Weapons and armour 197 6 Burial customs 208 7 Trade, exchange and overseas contact 234 8 Religion 257 9 Conclusions 295 Bibliography 310 index 333