Access to Electronic Thesis Author: Rebekah Maarschalk Thesis title: Continuity and Change: Identity in LM IIIC to Hellenistic East Crete Qualification: PhD This electronic thesis is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No reproduction is permitted without consent of the author. It is also protected by the Creative Commons Licence allowing Attributions-Non-commercial-No derivatives. If this electronic thesis has been edited by the author it will be indicated as such on the title page and in the text. Continuity and Change: Identity in LM IIIC to Hellenistic East Crete Rebekah Louise Maarschalk Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield September 2011 Abstract Archaeology is in the privileged position of being able to examine identities through the long time periods often called upon by advocates of essentialist identities, such as those working in the modern political sphere, using theory, methodology and evidence developed by scholars. The influence of the contemporary context within which archaeology is practised is clear in the types of identities, particularly ethnic and cultural identities, which have dominated research on this topic, including on Crete where much attention has focused on identities such as the ‘Eteocretans’. I suggest that the archaeological and textual evidence from Crete offers considerable scope for exploring other types of group identity, both in themselves and in intersection with each other, and the ways in which these may have changed and/or continued to be salient through long periods of time. The theoretical and methodological basis of my study posits that one significant way in which group identities are negotiated and communicated is through social practices, and it is therefore possible to access at least some of the group identities that were salient in the past by examining the material and textual residues of past social practices. On this basis, evidence for social practices and the identities established and signified through these practices is examined for East Crete from Late Minoan IIIC to the Hellenistic period (c. 1200 – 67 BC). The results of my study highlight patterns of both continuity and change in group identities, including a move from relatively small community identities to large, formalised polis identities. Cutting across these were a number of other identities, including those associated with religious practices, and informal identities, many not easily visible in the available evidence, such as identities linked to social status, family, kin and lineage groups, gender, age, occupation and cultural/ethnic groupings such as the ‘Eteocretans’. i ii Acknowledgements My first thanks are for my supervisor, John Bennet, who has been an unfailing source of advice, support and intellectual challenge (as well as hard-to-find books and articles) for me throughout my doctoral research. I left every supervision meeting with him feeling enthusiastic about my research, regardless of my feelings towards it going into these meetings. I greatly appreciate his input into the formation and development of the ideas that I present in this thesis, and hope that my writing does justice to his urgings to be more explicit in my reasoning and arguments. I would also like to thank John for giving me permission to reproduce the image in Figure 1.3. My advisor, Jane Rempel, has also provided helpful advice and encouragement, and I am grateful for the perspectives and ways of thinking about different pieces of evidence that she brought to our discussions. The Archaeology Department at the University of Sheffield has been a fantastic place to do this research, and conversations with various members of staff, in particular Peter Day, Paul Halstead and Sue Sherratt, and postgraduate students, particularly Heather Greybehl and Rob Woodward, at different points during the three years I have been here have vastly improved the arguments presented in this thesis. I would not have been able to undertake this doctoral research without the financial support provided by the University of Sheffield Studentship which I have held for the last three years. My thanks also go to the 24th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities for permission to visit, study and photograph sites in East Crete, and to use the photographs in this thesis. I am grateful to staff at the British School at Athens, particularly Tania Gerousi, for facilitating my applications for this permission. Donald Haggis, Saro Wallace and James Whitley kindly gave me permission to visit and photograph the sites they are currently excavating (Kavousi Azoria, Karfi and Praisos respectively). Following an enjoyable, though brief, period of fieldwork with Saro Wallace at Karfi in 2010, I was sorry that space constraints meant that I had to leave it, the only site I planned to discuss from the Lasithi area, out of this thesis. My research has been aided and improved by discussions with, and/or provision of clarification of published evidence by, Donald Haggis, iii Saro Wallace and James Whitley, as well as Carl Knappett and Krzysztof Nowicki. Donald Haggis also provided me with unpublished work on Kavousi Azoria, which greatly aided my understanding of this site. The images in Figures 4.13, 5.6 and 6.6 are reproduced in this thesis courtesy of the Trustees of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and with the kind permission of Donald Haggis (for Figures 4.13 and 6.6) and Barbara Hayden (for Figure 5.6). My family has been a wonderful support to me in so many ways throughout my doctoral research, and I particularly enjoyed the company of my mother and sister whilst visiting a number of sites in Crete. Describing the evidence and explaining why I’ve interpreted in the way I have to my family has been a good challenge, and helped me to better express myself in this thesis. One thing I can’t fully express is my appreciation of the support I’ve received over the last three years from my husband, Jeremy. He has visited sites with me, listened with patience to me talking about East Crete and identity on a weekly, if not daily, basis, challenged my thinking in countless ways and provided a non-archaeological counterpoint to my archaeological focus. I could not have got to this point without him, and dedicate this thesis to him with love. God has been my constant help and strength throughout this research and my life. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” (Psalm 28: 7, RSV). iv Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures page ix Abbreviations xiii Chapter 1 Setting the Scene 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Cultural Landscape of Crete 5 1.3 Separating Out East Crete 14 Chapter 2 The Scholarly Context: Identity in Archaeology 2.1 Scope and Structure of this Chapter 21 2.2 Cultural and Ethnic Identities 22 2.3 Sex and Gender Identities 32 2.4 Life-Cycle Identities 36 2.5 Other Identities 38 2.6 Looking Forward 40 Chapter 3 Theory and Methodology 3.1 A General Theory of Identity 42 3.2 Methodological Approach to Finding Identities in the Past 52 3.3 Theoretical Perspectives on Specific Identity Types 54 3.3.1 Ethnic and Cultural Identities 55 3.3.2 Sex and Gender Identities 56 3.3.3 Life-Course Identities 59 3.3.4 Identities of Place 60 3.3.5 (In)equality Identities 61 3.3.6 Other Types of Identities 62 3.4 Moving Beyond Ethnic Identities to Group Identities in Ancient East Crete 63 v Chapter 4 Late Minoan IIIC 4.1 Introduction 64 4.2 The Historical Background: LM II – LM IIIB 64 4.3 Evidence 69 4.3.1 The Palaikastro Region 70 4.3.2 The Praisos Region 76 4.3.3 The Pefki Region 80 4.3.4 The Oreino Area 83 4.3.5 The Kavousi Region 85 4.3.6 The Area near Monastiraki 96 4.3.7 Vasiliki Kefala 98 4.3.8 Vrokastro and Its Hinterland 99 4.3.9 Kritsa Kastello and Northern Lasithi 100 4.4 Discussion 102 4.4.1 Topography, Site Clusters and Burials 102 4.4.2 Religious Practices and Identities 106 4.4.3 Group Commensality and Status Identities 109 4.5 Summary 111 Chapter 5 The Early Iron Age 5.1 Introduction and Background 113 5.2 Evidence 116 5.2.1 Itanos 118 5.2.2 Palaikastro 119 5.2.3 The Praisos Region 120 5.2.4 Sitia 123 5.2.5 The Kavousi Region 123 5.2.6 The Area near Monastiraki 131 5.2.7 The Vrokastro Region 131 5.2.8 Olous and Sta Lenika 136 vi 5.2.9 Lato and North-Eastern Lasithi 137 5.2.10 Dreros 137 5.3 Discussion 139 5.3.1 Territory and Community 140 5.3.2 Religious Practices and Identities 143 5.3.3 Burial Practices 145 5.4 Summary 147 Chapter 6 The Archaic and Classical Periods 6.1 Introduction 149 6.2 Evidence 151 6.2.1 Itanos 152 6.2.2 Palaikastro 156 6.2.3 Praisos 158 6.2.4 The Kavousi Region 166 6.2.5 The Isthmus of Ierapetra 172 6.2.6 Olous and Sta Lenika 174 6.2.7 Lato 175 6.2.8 Dreros 177 6.3 Discussion 180 6.3.1 Place, Buildings and Political Practices 180 6.3.2 Religion and Religious Practices 184 6.3.3 Group Commensality 188 6.3.4 The Eteocretan Identity 189 6.4 Summary 190 Chapter 7 The Hellenistic Period 7.1 Introduction 193 7.2 Evidence 194 7.2.1 Itanos 197 7.2.2 Palaikastro 202 7.2.3 Praisos 204 7.2.4 The Kavousi Region 209 vii 7.2.5 The Isthmus of Ierapetra 210 7.2.6 Hierapytna 211 7.2.7 Olous 215 7.2.8 Sta Lenika 217 7.2.9 Lato 220 7.2.10 Dreros 227 7.3 Discussion 228 7.3.1 Place and Politics 228 7.3.2 Religious Practices and Identities 234 7.3.3 Commensality and Elite Identities 237 7.3.4 The Widening Context and its Influence Over Identities 239