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The Minoan Past in the Past: Bronze Age Objects in Early Iron Age Burials at Knossos, Crete

Crowe, Alice M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479809467543763

Abstract Details

2016, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Classics.
Knossos is one of the few Aegean Bronze Age (BA) palatial centers at which occupation continued uninterrupted into the Early Iron Age (EIA); as a result, the site, and especially its burial record, provides a unique setting for a study of the use of the Minoan past in general, and of BA objects in particular, in EIA society. About thirty Knossian EIA tombs have produced BA objects, which would have been between 100 and 1,400 years old at the time of their redeposition. Through an analysis of the morphologies and EIA contexts of these reused BA objects, this thesis examines how and for what purposes the BA past was employed during the EIA. The study also explores how and from where the BA objects were acquired, in what periods of the EIA they were redeposited, and in what kinds of tombs and with what kinds of objects they were placed. This analysis suggests that BA objects are unlikely to have been “heirlooms”—objects passed down within a kin group—but rather functioned as “antiques.” It also shows that most were probably robbed from Final Palatial - Postpalatial—rather than from earlier Minoan—tombs. Additionally, the analysis reveals a stark difference in the morphologies and functions of BA objects redeposited during periods in which the BA was the “recent past” and in periods during which it was the “deep past.” In the Subminoan period (11th century)—only circa 100 years removed from the end of the BA—the materials and shapes of the antique BA objects were ones that were no longer able to be produced in the EIA, and the restricted distribution of these objects indicates that one elite group monopolized this seemingly exotic past. In the Protogeometric “B” - Orientalizing periods (late 9th to 7th centuries)—circa 400 years removed from the end of the BA—the materials and motifs of the BA objects resembled those of EIA burial goods and thereby fit within the constructs of EIA ideologies. The objects were also dispersed within several tombs of moderate wealth, which suggests that the use of past objects was not only more inclusive but also one of several competing means of expressing status.
Eleni Hatzaki, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Antonios Kotsonas, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
165 p.
Archaeology
Knossos; Early Iron Age; Bronze Age; Antiques

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Crowe, A. M. (2016). The Minoan Past in the Past: Bronze Age Objects in Early Iron Age Burials at Knossos, Crete [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479809467543763

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crowe, Alice. The Minoan Past in the Past: Bronze Age Objects in Early Iron Age Burials at Knossos, Crete. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479809467543763.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crowe, Alice. "The Minoan Past in the Past: Bronze Age Objects in Early Iron Age Burials at Knossos, Crete." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479809467543763

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.