Aegean Diffusions – Diffusions of Power
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AEGEAN DIFFUSIONS – DIFFUSIONS OF POWER CULTURAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN MINOAN CRETE AND PHARAONIC EGYPT By VINKO THOMAS TE PAIHERE KERR-HARRIS A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Classical Studies 2019 This content is unavailable. Please consult the print version for access. Frontispiece: Bull and Side-Leaper, Fresco Fragment (A 42 [F5]). 22.5 x 19 x 1.2 cm. c. 1530 BCE. Beige Frieze of the Taureador, Tell El-Dab’a/Avaris Palace F (Area H/I). As appears in M. Bietak, N. Marinatos & C. Palivou (Eds.) Taureador Scenes: In Tell El-Dab’a (Avaris) and Knossos. First. Vienna, AT: Vienna, AT: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, GmbH. (2007) p. 107 Aegean Diffusions – Diffusions of Power Cultural Connections between Minoan Crete and Pharaonic Egypt Vinko Thomas Te Paihere Kerr-Harris Supervised by Dr Diana Burton. For J. K. Deuling, D. Burton, and F. L. M. Welch ‘Gnosia Minoae genuit vindemia Cretae hoc tibi, quod mulsum pauperis esse solet.’ Martial, Epigrams 106: ‘Passum’. CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... I Abstract .................................................................................................................................... III Maps, Tables & Charts ............................................................................................................ IV Images, Figures & Image Credits ............................................................................................. V Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... IX 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 2. Current Scholarship, Methodology & Chronology ................................................................ 8 3. Importing Death: Aegyptiaca, Ritual Landscapes & Status In Prepalatial Minoan Burial Culture...................................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Burial Structures And Mortuary Practices. .................................................................... 21 3.2 Grave Goods And Assemblages: Imported And Imitation. ........................................... 33 3.3 Cemeteries, Status, And Ritual Landscapes As Extensions Of Social Landscapes....... 42 4. Building Hierarchy, Consuming Status: Architecture, Consumption & The Cultivation Of Social Elites In Palatial Crete .................................................................................................. 45 4.1 Defining The Minoan Palatial Complex: A Brief Analysis ........................................... 45 4.2 The Economic And Ritual Functions Of Palatial Complexes ....................................... 49 4.3 Exploiting Palatial Forms: Palatial Elites And The Consolidation Of Power ............... 51 5. Keftiu Abroad: The Presence Of Minoans In New Kingdom Egypt ................................... 55 5.1 Knossos, Avaris & ‘Minonaization’ .............................................................................. 58 5.2 Keftiu On Tour? The Theban Tombs Tribute Bearing Aegeans ................................... 61 6. Conclusion: Mutually Assured Construction – Forming Social Hierarchies Through Foreign Precedents ................................................................................................................... 64 Afterword ................................................................................................................................. 68 Tables ....................................................................................................................................... 70 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 72 Image Plates ............................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the input and support of many people, of whom only a handful I can acknowledge here. I am incredibly grateful to my supervisors, Dr Diana Burton and the recently retired Dr Judy K. Deuling, without whose guidance, patience, and good humour this project would never have gotten off the ground – let alone completed. It was under Judy’s tutelage almost a decade ago that I first encountered the Bronze Age, and her enthusiasm and encouragement is chiefly responsible for leading me down the rabbit-hole of pre-history. Without Diana’s input (and Buddha-like patience), the following pages would be little better than the works of Angus McDiarmid.1 Thanks also to Emeritus Professor Arthur J. Pomeroy, whose wit and advice about the interiors of Turkish prisons kept me entertained and curious in equal measure. Special thanks are due to Nikki Carter, the last in a long and distinguished line of Classics Administrators at Victoria University of Wellington, whose advice, encouragement, and laughter were a tonic to during the quotidian frustrations of writer’s block. Outside of Wellington, Emily Chambers (University of Adelaide) and Katherine Torres (University of Auckland/Victoria University of Wellington) were immensely supportive while themselves enduring ‘death by a thousand cuts’ via thesis. Immeasurable thanks are also due to several people outside of academia whose support has been instrumental over the last twenty-four months. Drs Joelon Hays, Mark Sherwood, and Ms Jolene McLaughlin are chiefly responsible for my being able to (physiologically) complete this project. To my parents (Penny and Simon) and siblings (Ellis, William, and Henry), whose staunch support and politely feigned interest in my ramblings, I am grateful beyond measure. My daughter, Athena, is owed more than the words of an oft-absent father could ever hope to articulate, so I will keep it simple: there is no glass ceiling, no limit to what a goddess can achieve – you can make the earth tremble, so προελθετε! Thanks also to Rebecca Harpur and Jordan Pearson for their encouragement at the death. Finally, I owe fathomless thanks to my long-suffering partner, Caitlin, who has endured the tsunami of books, poorly catered conferences, and endless tirades on the intricacies of Minoan ritual practices. I owe you my sanity and my heart. Any errors that appear in the following pages, however, are mine alone. Vinko Kerr-Harris Wellington, 2019 1 McDiarmid’s infamous publication of 1815, Striking and Picturesque Delineations of the Grand, Beautiful, Wonderful, and Interesting Scenery around Loch-Earn: A Description of the Beauties of Edinample and Lochearnhead, is an apt exemplar of what this thesis would have resembled otherwise. i ii Abstract The development of Minoan society has traditionally been considered by scholars to have been an insular phenomenon unique to the southern Aegean. Such assumptions, however, fail to acknowledge the wider context of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean. Contact between the people of Crete and their contemporaries in Egypt and the Levant is well attested in the archaeological record, with a plethora of artefacts – imported and imitation – appearing on both sides of the Libyan Sea. Whilst investigations into the economic nature of these exchanges have been undertaken, little thought has been given to the cultural consequences of inter-regional contacts. This thesis examines the evolution of palatial society upon Crete and considers the extent to which interactions with comparatively more mature civilisations may have influenced the increasingly hierarchal trajectory of Minoan society, by re-evaluating the corpus of material culture and interconnectivity. iii Maps, Tables & Charts Maps Map 1. Crete and the Southern Aegean. Source: Shaw (2015) 2 Map 2. Eastern Mediterranean showing the locations of principal geographical areas. Annotations by author. Map data ©2019 GeoBasis-DE/BKG (©2009), Google, Inst. Geogr. Nacional, Mapa GISrael, ORION-ME https://www.google.com/maps/@36.6623442,24.557079,1899142m/data=!3m1!1e3?h l=en accessed 01/04/2019 Map 3. Crete, showing key sites of the Minoan Bronze Age. Source: (Purchased) https://www.themaparchive.com/minoan-crete-c-1500-1250-bce.html accessed 03/04/2019 Tables Table 2.1 Early Sequencing of Neopalatial Aegean Chronology Table 2.2 Relative Chronologies of the Aegean Bronze Age, including Minoan Sub-Phases Table 2.3 Chronological chart from Phillips (2003a) 23. Table 3.1 Distribution of Imported and Imitation Aegyptiaca across Select Prepalatial Burial Sites. Table 3.2 Chronological Distribution of Selected Imported and Imitation Aegyptiaca in Prepalatial Burial and Ritual Sites. Table 3.3 Table 3.3 Catalogue Details of Minoan Produced Imitations of Egyptian Miniature Vases Identified within Tombs of the West Terrace and South Slope, Mochlos. Charts Chart 1 Schematic of methodological approach to the analysis of an object’s ritual or cultural significance. Chart 2 Chart outlining the process followed in this thesis of comparative analysis of Aegyptiaca within Minoan Prepalatial and Protopalatial burial contexts iv Images, Figures & Image Credits Frontispiece: Bull and Side-Leaper, Fresco Fragment (A 42 [F5]). 22.5 x 19 x 1.2 cm. c. 1530 BCE. Beige Frieze of the Taureador,