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Domestic Architecture Changes • Neolithic Revolution • Urban Revolution

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Domestic Architecture Changes • Neolithic Revolution • Urban Revolution Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture Changes • Neolithic Revolution • Urban revolution Origins and Spread of Farming • Farming circa 11,000 years ago in Near East • 10,000 years ago in Anatolia • Catal Hoyuk, early Neolithic agricultural site • Asikli Hoyuk • Mersin • Spreading to Greece circa 9,000 years ago • Europe 5,700 years ago • Spread of farmers or farming? • Intermarriage between incoming farmers and indigenous hunter-gatherers? Mesolithic to Neolithic • Franchthi Cave • Continuous occupation • From Upper Paleolithic (20,000 years ago) through Mesolithic to Neolithic • Transition from hunter gatherers to farmers • Emphasis from deer to tuna to sheep/goats and what and barley/lentils • Domestication and agriculture • Appearance of pottery for display purposes • Obsidian from Melos • Nearby volcanic island 50km away • No occupation on Melos at this time, so not evidence of a trade • Elsewhere it is difficult to see transition • Often shift to different area therefore transitional phases not seen • Probably an influx of farming from Anatolia, new populations • One might assume an overland diffusion from Anatolia • Thessaly colonized through island-hopping (though islands not occupied) Neolithic Communities • Not self-sufficient • Widespread exchange in stone tools and raw materials and exotic goods (shell ornaments, copper) • Why exchange? • To balance different resources • Or to ensure flow of marriage partners? • Exogamy crucial in small hamlets • Early Neolithic • Small villages/hamlets located on most fertile soils • Simple houses of mudbrick, therefore only find foundations, Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture • Year round occupation based on agropastoral subsistence • 7 domesticates • Wheat, barley, lentils, sheep/goat, pig and cattle • Simple ‘tool kit’ of pottery and stone tools • Pottery conainers • Chipstone • Groundstone • Not metal • Organic materials do not preserve, but important to take into consideration when putting a picture together • Production and consumption organized at level of community and household Sesklo • Central greece, Middle Neolithic (6000 BC) • Acropolis surrounded by a lower town • Houses on acropolis rectangular with few rooms • At centre a possible megaron • Chieftans house? Shrine? • Not exactly monumental • Subsistence - 7 domesticates Dimini • 5/4000 BC • Central greece • Similar acropolis/town structure with series of concentric walls terracing • Megaron at centre • Competitive emergence of powerful household? • Much larger than Sesklo Late/Final Neolithic • Great range of habitats exploited • Small islands in use for first time • Kea • Saliagos • Upland areas first inhabited • Crete • Lesithi plain, spahkia plain • Population increases • In Mesara, Kavousi, coastal plain, Akrotiri Marginality: Inland Networks in Final Neolithic • Infilling of landscapes • Hill occupation is new feature • More than 100 FN sites Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture • New conception of household? • Separate households ‘being own bases’ but still connected with other settlements? • Household becoming most important unit? • Ex, Cha Gorge • Ledge occupation • East Cretan marginal FN occupation • Out of the way island Dispersed Networks • At end of Neolithic and into EBA • Both up into hills and on coasts • This pattern not just on Crete, also seen in Cyclades • Not porto-urban (i.e. Not yet urban revolution, though archaeologists keen to find its origins) • Marginal infilling of landscape through Fn to EBI • Nucleation and fortifications in EBII • Exploitation of metal resources • Longboat technology • Sites well placed for connecting Chalandriani -Kastri on Syros • Assumed central authority • Fortified settlement • Interesting development about dispersed networks but falls apart after a few centuries Troy • Nucleated EBII centre • Probably once located on sea • Trading with a lot of different places Greek Mainland • Nucleation: monumental building on Greek mainland in early Helladic • So called ‘corridor houses phenomenon’ • Public or private? • Ere these buildings acting as regional centers? • Trade networks? Village Life in EBA Crete • Myrtos (Fourni Korifi) • Small site on Cretes south coast • One of only excavated settlements of this period • First interpreted as a single integrated unit • More than family level clan? Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture • Early precursor to palaces in microcosm • Reinterpreted by Whitelaw who separate site into 5-6 separate units based on architecture, activities • Each unit is a household • Site grew organically from single household in first phase • Small egalitarian community of 25-30 people • Just because there are houses does not mean they are occupied Middle Bronze Age • We know surprisingly little of MBA • We have good evidence of houses • Partly because thieve been built lower • Malia • MBA settlement/town • Close to palace • Quartier Mu, Malia • Palatial architectural features • lustral basins, west facade • Spatial organization • Central ‘ceremonial’ areas, upper stories, magazines, workshops • Domestic • Household worships • Growth through time • Roughly 100 years • Palatial features separate it from being wholly domestic • Semi public? • Activities include: • Administration - not domestic, but palatial • Archival documents in Cretan Hieroglyphic • Administrative functions performed outside palace • Craft production and artisan status in relation to occupations of main buildings • Religion • Sanctuary with offering table • cultic equipment in V5 suggestive of shrine on upper storey • Figurines, stone vases, jewelry • Wealth • Storage • Specialized - beyond household scale? • Interregional exchange (import/export) • Foreign contacts • Eyptianized sphinx terracotta but locally made • Centre for religious administration? Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture • Urban dependency on palace? • Functional challenge to palatial authority? Neapolitan houses • 1700-1450 BC • Start to get planned architecture • Kommos • U of T excavation! • Civic buildings • Start to get planned houses • Gournia • See shift from MBA to LBA • Organized town which may go back to MBA but we can’t tell • Rapid excavation 100 years ago • Palaikastro • Large town block (1500 sq. m) • Neopalatial phenomenon • Planned units around streets • No palace uncovered as of yet • Start to see house models • Faience house plaques called ‘town mosaic’ • Representing standardized architecture • Blue prints? • Flexible use of space • Pier and door partitions • Minoan hall • Light well with paved court • Standard minoan hall Rural Villages • Central Crete • Villas as central buildings in 2nd or 3rd order sites • A central cretan pattern • Rich agricultural land • Strong focus on agriculture • Large scale specialized agriculture production • Wine press • Tripartite shrine? • Agricultural function, storage and shrine • East Crete • Villas as isolated farmsteads • Much greater emphasis on storage Wednesday February 8/12 Prehistoric Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology C. Knappett Domestic Architecture Akrotiri • Remarkable preservation due to volcanic eruption • Different kinds of architectural planning • Mainland architectural import from Crete? • Up to 3 floors • Xeste 3 • Frescos showing cult scenes • Lady with griffin, blue monkey, girl with saffron • Masons marks • Imported gypsum • More emphasis on interconnectivity between rooms • Polythyra (pier and door partitions) and lustral basins show Cretan influence Conclusion • Neolithic witness small communities with communal focus and small houses • FN/EBA witnessed dispersed networks upland and through the coast • EBII saw some agglomeration into larger settlements, larger buildings • MBA saw the first palaces, first towns • MMIIB with Quartier Mu saw the beginning of more complex town complexes • Neopalatial witnessed planned architecture • Subsistence patterns throughout • 7 domesticates • Daily life surprisingly unchanging .
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