Minoan Pre-palatial Sealstones in their economic and social context. A study based on the new material from Archanes-Phourni Vol. 1: Text and Bibliography Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Alexios Karytinos Department of Archaeology and Prehistory Date of submission: 19th of December 1997 Date of acceptance: 1st of October 1994 BEST COpy . , .AVAILABLE TEXT BOUND CLOSE TO THE SPINE IN THE ORIGINAL THESIS To my parents for their courage To Charilena for being the reason of my strength and resilience Abstract Sealstones are one of the most important types of artifacts discovered in the Aegean Bronze Age. Their practical use for recording and administrating purposes, their association with identity, prestige and social status, their possible religious or ritual connotations speak clearly for their importance and value. The fact that they are deposited, among other artifacts in tombs, accompanying their owners, demonstrate this value not only in life but also in death. Especially in the pre-palatial period in Crete a large number of seals have come to light, coming mostly from mixed contexts in the Mesara and Asterousia, in south Crete. The Minoan pre-palatial sealstones from Archanes-Phourni comprise an important corpus of artifacts for many reasons. They come from a site in the North of the island, in contrast to the majority of pre-palatial seals. The excavation and recording techniques used offer the opportunity to study the seals in their context, which is dated with relative certainty. The study of these seals, in comparison with the published ones from the south of the island, may offer significant information about important aspects of life in this period. The examination of materials, shapes, motifs, style groups and consumption patterns of seals may present us with useful insights about craft specialization and technology, internal and external exchange, economic organization and administration, religion and ritual, social differentiation and organization in the pre-palatial period. The study of this multiple and complex role of sealstones can offer us valuable information about the period before the first palaces. Contents Volume 1: Abstract Contents ii-v Acknowledgments vi List of tables vii List of figures viii Abbreviations ix-x Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Background to the study 1 Material of study 3 Outline of study 5 Crete in the pre-palatial period 8 Chapter 2: Chronology 13 History of research until 1970 14 Absolute Chronology 17 Relative Chronology 20 The role of sealstones 28 Archanes-Phourni 35 Archanes-Phourni sealstones 40 Conclusions 44 Chapter 3: Materials 47 Bone-Boar's tusk-Ivory-White Pieces 48 Soft stones 53 Alternative materials 55 Hard stones 56 Materials and Manufacture 57 Materials and Chronology 57 Evidence from basic contexts 60 Materials and Sites 64 Materials in Archanes-Phourni 68 Materials, tholoi and burial buildings in the cemetery 76 Conclusions 77 Chapter 4: Shapes 84 ii Shapes and Chronology 86 Evidence from basic contexts 93 Shapes in Archanes-Phourni 98 Shapes and Manufacture 106 The zoomorphic seals 107 Conclusions 108 Chapter 5: Motifs-Decorative Syntax-Style groups 112 Motifs 112 Decorative Syntax 117 Style groups 119 Evidence from basic contexts 130 Style groups and Sites 134 Motifs and Style groups in Archanes-Phourni 138 Style groups, tholoi and burial buildings in the cemetery 150 Conclusions 151 Chapter 6: Manufacture and Craft Specialization-Internal Exchange 156 Manufacture 156 Craft Specialization 162 Other crafts in pre-palatial Crete 172 The craft of seal manufacture 179 Archanes-Phourni 186 Conclusions 190 Chapter 7: External Exchange 194 Pre-palatial Crete 195 The evidence of sealstones 200 Imported seals from Archanes 203 Conclusions 207 Chapter 8: Economic Organization and Administration 209 The use of sealings in the Aegean Bronze Age 211 Origin of the system-Evidence from the Early Bronze Age 216 Script 219 Discussion 222 Conclusions 226 Chapter 9: The Amuletic significance of seals 229 iii Amulets and Amuletic seals 229 Conclusions 234 Chapter 10: The social role of sealstones 236 Body Counts 236 A question of Style-Seals as Symbols 248 The meaning of sealstones 255 Social Organization in pre-palatial Crete 256 Chapter 11: Discussion and Conclusions 259 Seal Use 259 Economic and Social relationships and organization 263 Bibliography 270 Volume 2: Appendices Appendix A: Distribution of each material on various sites on the island (tables 1-10) Appendix B: Correspondence Analysis, materials and sites (graphs 1-3, table 1) Appendix C: Restricted number of materials and sites (graphs 1-3, table 1) Appendix D: Distribution of materials in the tholoi of Koumasa, Platanos, Lendas (tables 1-3) Appendix E: Correspondence Analysis, materials and tholoi in the above sites (tables 1-3, graph 1). Appendix F: Distribution of materials in the tholoi and burial buildings of Phourni-Archanes (tables 1-13). Appendix G: Correspondence Analysis, materials, tholoi and burial buildings in Archanes-Phourni (graphs 1-3, table 1) Appendix H: Shapes and materials, according to Yule and Krzyszkowska (table 1) Appendix I: Shape Typology according to Sbonias (table 1) Appendix J: Distribution of each style group on various sites of the island (tables 1-17) Appendix K: Correspondence Analysis, style groups and sites (graphs 1-3, table 1) iv Appendix L: Correspondence Analysis, restricted number of style groups and sites (graphs 1-3, table 1) Appendix M: Distribution of style groups in the tholoi of Koumasa, Platanos, Lendas (tables 1-3) Appendix N: Correspondence Analysis, style groups and tholoi in the above sites (tables 1-3, graph 1) Appendix 0: Distribution of style groups in the tholoi and burial buildings of Archanes-Phourni (tables 1-13) Appendix P: Correspondence Analysis, style groups, tholoi and burial buildings in Archanes-Phourni (graphs 1-3, table 1) Appendix Q: Funerary Rituals and Religious Activities in the Pre-Palatial Sealstones and Funerary Rituals Communal Religion Volume 3: Catalogues Catalogue of sealstones from Archanes-Phourni Catalogue of sealstones published in the eMS v Acknowledgments Many people have offered me advice, help and encouragement during the three years of this study. I would like to thank Drs. Yiannis and Efi Sakellaraki for allowing me to study such a fascinating material from their excavations at Archanes and for their constant support and valuable advice. My supervisors, Prof. Keith Branigan and Dr. Peter Day, have guided me all the way and offered me invaluable advice in the course of this study, helping m: deal with problems concerning my research, my funding and generally my life in Sheffield. I would also like to thank Dr. Don Evely for his advice with regard to seal manufacture, Prof. Nick Fieler for introducing me to the world of statistics and especially Correspondence Analysis, and Drs. Dominique Colbn and P. R. S. Moorey for their advice concerning the dating of an oriental seal from Archanes. My work has benefited a lot from discussions with Drs. Christofilis Maggidis, Diamantis Panayiotopoulos, Kostas Sbonias and Yiannis Hamilakis, Ms. Evangelia Kiriatzi and Frosso Kessopoulou, and Mr. Yiannis Papadatos. I thank them all for their input. People in the Herakleion Museum, the University Library and the Library of the British School in Athens must be thanked for putting up with me for long hours. Funding for this work was provided by the Onassis Foundation (1996-1997), the Leventis Foundation (1996-1997), The University of Sheffield (1994-1997) and during the first year by my parents. Nothing would have been achieved without the constant support of my parents and Ms. Charilena Kalkavoura and her family. They have always been there for me, in the good and bad times of this study. I would not have made it without them. vi List of Tables in Text 2.1 Absolute chronology for pre-palatial Crete. 1920-1970 2.2 Pre-palatial absolute chronology, according to Warren and Hankey 2.3 Closed dated contexts with seals dated to Phase I 3.1 Numbers of examples of materials from EMI-EMII closed contexts 3.2 Materials from Phase I, Phourni-Archanes 3.3 Materials from Phase I-II, Phourni-Archanes 3.4 Materials from Phase II, Phourni-Archanes 3.5 Materials from Phase III, Phourni-Archanes 3.6 Materials from Phase IV, Phourni-Archanes 4.1 EM and MM seal-shapes and their periods of use, according to Yule 4.2 Shapes and numbers of examples from Phase I (EMI?-EMII) closed contexts 4.3 Examples of seals from Phase I, from mixed contexts 4.4 Shapes from Phase I, Phourni-Archanes 4.5 Shapes and numbers of examples from Phase I-II, Phourni-Archanes 4.6 Shapes and numbers of examples from Phase II, Phourni-Archanes 4.7 Shapes and numbers of examples from Phase III, Phourni-Archanes 4.8 Shapes and numbers of examples from Phase IV, Phourni-Archanes 5.1 EM and MM designs and their periods of use, according to Yule 5.2 Designs from Phase I (EMI?-EMII) closed contexts 5.3 Designs from Phase I, Phourni-Archanes 5.4 Designs from Phase I-II, Phourni-Archanes 5.5 Designs from Phase II, Phourni-Archanes 5.6 Designs from Phase III, Phourni-Archanes 5.7 Designs from Phase IV, Phourni-Archanes 9.1 Zoomorphic seals in pre-palatial Crete 10.1 Number of burials and seals from various tholoi and burial buildings at Archanes-Phourni vii List of Figures in Text Figure 2.1 Seal dated to Phase I, from Archanes-Phourni Figure 2.2 Seal dated to Phase II, from Archanes-Phourni Figure 2.3 Seal dated to Phase III, from Archanes-Phourni Figure 2.4 The Archanes-Phourni cemetery viii Abbreviations AGD: Antiken Gemmen in deutschen Sammlungen. CM: Sakellariou A. X., 1958, Le cachets minoens de la collection Giamalakis, EtCret X, Paris.