Knossos & Khania

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Minoans and Mycenaeans:

Sociopolitical & Economic Evidence for LM III Crete at Knossos and Khania

Aegean prehistory is one of archeaology's more puzzling mysteries. Often, it seems as if geologists have a better understanding about the extinction of dinosaurs than classical archaeologists do about what happened to Minoan and Mycenean civilizations. Of the myriad questions modern scholars pose about Cretan prehistory, dating the palace centers and cultures controlling them, along with explanations for the fall of Minoan and Mycenaean Crete remain a few of the more hotly contested issues of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Compared to its Near Eastern and Mainland contemporaries, Cretan chronology is particularly uncertain. Unfortunately, the murky nature of Cretan chronology directly affects the Minoan and Mycenaean question. Therefore, any attempt to address the questions of what happened to the Minoans and Mycenaeans, and how they influenced each other, will eventually have to deal with issues of dating and chronology.

This paper analyzes the debate between Minoan and Mycenaean sociopolitical dominance of Late Minoan Crete, primarily using evidence unearthed at the palace center of Knossos in Central Crete and the apparent town center of Khania in West Crete. Both sites exhibit clear evidence for a sociocultural shift in the LM III phase, and there is also evidence at Khania which challenges a long held belief that the destruction of the final palace at Knossos heralded the end of a highly organized Bronze Age civilization on Crete. I will begin by forwarding Erik Hallager's argument for a Mycenaean final palace at Knossos in the LM III B period and then move from Knossos to Khania where important evidence has been unearthed by Hallager et al which both qualifies and corroborates Hallager's argument at Knossos.

The Mycenaean Palace at Knossos

A plethora of evidence exists for multiple restorations and rebuilding of the Palace of Minos at Knossos in the LM III period(s). My focus here, as was Hallager's in 1977, is limited primarily to the large scale renovations of the West Wing, including the West Magazines, Long Corridor, and the various cult rooms along the western façade of the Central Court. According to Hallager, the West Magazines are the most stratigraphically reliable area of the post-Evans era because pottery still exists in sealed deposits below the "latest floors and floor cists" (1977. 17). Massive remodeling is also discernable in the West Magazine area. Cists were completely covered by new flooring. Others, such as in the thirteenth magazine, were rebuilt, made smaller or closed completely. Buttress walls were built in the seventh and ninth magazines, and the west façade was remodeled as well.

The cists and the context in which they were found are invaluable to the dating of the LM III palace. A gypsum paved corridor was laid over the sealed remains of many cists. Thus, no "new" or "later" debris could enter into these cists once they were sealed over by the "new gypsum flooring" (Hallager, 1977. 17). Finds in the sealed cists included plaster, stucco, a few charred sherds of LM I dating, many charred sherds of LM III A dating, and fragments of wall paintings. Five centimeters of clay separated the level of the "old floor" and cists from the "new floor" laid with gypsum above (see fig. 2 on p. 18).

Evans realized when he first excavated the West Wing in 1901 that the crosswall in the Long Corridor at Magazine 17 was a new addition because of "the uninterrupted continuance of the pavement slabs beneath it which marked the prolonged course of the long gallery" (Evans, 1901. 41). The gypsum flooring slabs to which Evans referred were at the same level as the "new floor" in the magazines containing the sealed cists. This same evidence corroborates the assertion that the magazines were narrowed after the "new floor" was laid because the floor existed intact beneath the thickened walls to the width of pre-renovation plans. The buttress walls in magazines 7 and 9 were also constructed ov er the extant "new floor" slabs (see fig. 3). This evidence suggests that the walls were built during or after the LM III A period when the walls were buttressed, cists resized and filled in, and the second floor was laid, sealing off the cists from further deposit. Dating these renovations is contingent upon the stratification of debris found in the sealed cists beneath the "new floor" in the magazines. Since the cists were sealed, whatever material was found in them had to have been produced and used either before or during the renovation, not after. The fact that a large majority of the material contained within the sealed cists was of a LM III A date is telling.

The flooring and cist deposits in the West Magazine area provided a fairly reliable stratigraphical date for this phase of the palace, but they provide little information in regard to who used the palace at this time. For that information, we must look to the cult rooms which make up the west façade of the Central Court. The clearest evidence, according to Hallager, for a Mycenaean occupation during the neopalatial/final palace period is tied into the use of "cult rooms" and the linear B tablets recovered therein. The areas generally designated as "cult rooms," consisting of the area of the West Wing between the Long Corridor and the Central Court, with the conspicuous exception of the throne room, seem to have been converted into store rooms after the last renovation of the palace (probably around the time that the cists were sealed and new gypsum flooring, etc. was added). Why would this be evidence of Mycenaean control of the palace at this time? If, indeed, these were Minoan cult areas - and there is overwhelming agreement among scholars that they were - then it is unlikely that these rooms would, no matter for how brief a time, be used as storage areas for the linear B tablets cataloguing olive oil and wool collection and other mundane, largely secular economic data. If, on the other hand, the palace center was under Mycenaean control, then this seeming disregard for the formerly Minoan cult areas of the West Wing becomes more understandable. After all, these rooms would have held no particular significance to a Mycenaean governance.

As I alluded to earlier, there exists evidence outside of the West Wing for a Mycenaean final palace at Knossos. Linear B tablets were discovered baked and embedded into the wall near the "Queen's Megaron" and "bathroom" at the basement level of the East Wing. If a reliable date can be assigned to the use of Linear B tablets, then we should have a reliable date for the destruction of the final palace at Knossos to go along with the post quem date of its establishment/renovation which is provided by the sealed cists in the West Wing (Hallager, 1977). Hallager also mentions that Evans ignored the predominately LM III B pottery at the upper levels of the dig, attributing it (incorrectly) to squatters or some sort of reoccupation period. In 1878, before Evans began excavating at Knossos, Kalokairinos excavated portions of the West Wing. In this area of the palace, he found a large number of intact (or mostly so) pottery of LM III B date, thus supporting the theory of a penultimate destruction/renovation in LM III A and an occupation (Mycenaean if the cult room evidence has been interpreted correctly) in the LM III B period. Rehak and Younger seem to be in agreement with Hallager as to the renovation date of the West Wing (and the palace in general): "At Knossos, a destruction is documented at the transition from LM IIIA1 to 2 that is not mirrored at most other sites, where recovery continues relatively smoothly into LM IIIB early" (2000. 442). They go on to say, "Linear B was probably being written at Knossos in IIIA1 but the final administrative activity probably belongs to IIIA2-B early. Whatever its causes, however, the IIIA1-2 transition is significant because it ends Knossos's longstanding role as premier administrative and artistic center in the Aegean, and marks the dissolution and scattering of its workshops and workshop personnel&ldots;. The following period, LM IIIA2-B early, is marked by the Linear B tablets at Chania and the inscribed stirrup jars (ISJs) at many sites. The Final Palatial period ends with another destruction at Knossos and perhaps at Chania" (Rehak & Younger, 2000. 442).

Late Minoan Khania Overview

Dating for the destruction of the Final Palace at Knossos remains a hotly contested debate, but it seems clear that a LM III A2-B date is emerging as the most popular analysis. In either case, many modern scholars see a clear shift throughout Crete in the LM III periods. Birgitta Hallager, Erik's wife, cites evidence from the Khania excavation as well as excavations and surveys in Italy at Scoglio del Tonno and Sardinia to argue, "The results of this work cast doubt on two basic assumptions: 1) Crete was in decline after the period of the palaces and so Mycenaeans controlled trade 2) hence only Mycenaeans were involved with Italy" (B. Hallager, 1985. 293).[1] The majority of her Cretan evidence is derived from LM III finds (primarily B & C) at Khania. During this time (LM III), she points out the clear presence of Italian wares and metals on Crete, some "Minoan" finds in Italy and references from Sardinia that "products of the local Kydonian workshop of West Crete are identified on Sardinia" (B. Hallager, 1985. 293). This evidence supports the hypothesis that, at least as concerns Khania in West Crete, trade routes to and from Italy were in use during and after the destruction of the final palace at Knossos - no one, who I'm aware of, dates the final destruction at Knossos later than LM III B2.

Oliver Dickinson concurs, stating, "Whatever the cause of the final destruction of the Knossos palace, its consequences were less dire for Crete than used to be thought. In particular, it is becoming clear that Khania survived as a major palatial centre, continuing to use Linear B. Its influence is detectable in the wide distribution of its distinctive pottery, in the association of the widely distributed storage stirrup jars, apparently olive oil containers, with western Crete (although some might come from other centres in the west), and in the evidence for a pattern of substantial settlements with small satellites around Khania, suggesting a thriving rural economy" (1994. 76). And Robert Drews writes, "In western Crete there appears to have been an important thirteenth-century center at Khania (classical Kydonia), now being excavated by a Greek-Swedish team. A great deal of LM IIIB pottery was evidently shipped from this site. A number of vases found at Khania bear inscriptions referring to a wanax, and perhaps we may assume that the wanax in question resided somewhere on the island. Whether there was a palace in Kydonia itself is unclear, although Linear B tablets of LM IIIB date have recently been found there. At any rate, Kydonia was destroyed c. 1200 B.C., presumably sharing the same fate that overtook cities and palaces all over the eastern Mediterranean" (1993. 27-8).

There is strong evidence at Khania for a Mycenaean dominance by the LM IIIA:2 period, architectural, linguistic, and artistic. The LM I plan (left) shows clear traces of typical Minoan design. The most obvious architectural attribute is the existence of a Minoan Hall located, in this case, in a central location of House I (they're labeled in order of discovery, not location). There is a paved outer room (C) separated from an inner room (A) by a polytheron (pier and door partition). As is typical in such a hall, Room A is bordered by a lightwell which is separated from the roofed area of the room by a column. The function of this complex of rooms is no more clearly defined at Khania than any other Minoan site, but it does seem to conform to the idea in Bill's presentation wherein the polythera bordering room C on three sides can be manipulated in such a way that any one configuration would drastically impact the character and flow of traffic within the entire complex. Other items of note are the U-shaped stairs to the northeast of Room C beneath which a storage area appears to have existed, the paved flooring, the raised threshold (east of Room C bordering the street), and the irregular patterning of predominately rectangular rooms. The LM I houses, as indicated by the stairs and the scattering of finds at lower levels, contained multiple stories and appear to overlap each other in a fashion similar to other Minoan settlements such as the town plan at Palaikastro.

The LM II and IIIA:1 periods have, "for lack of a better word, been described as 'squatter-habitation'. This is still true for the area excavated by the Greek-Swedish Excavation, in that people did resettle in parts of the LM I ruins&ldots;. [W]e have now discovered clear indirect evidence of building activities during the whole period, and of means of communication in the ruined settlement, together with pottery of such a good quality that we would not be surprised if Khania proved to be a centre of industrial and cultural activities also during the LM II and LM IIIA:1 periods" (E. Hallager, 1985. 19). Despite this relative wealth of pottery, however, the LM II & IIIA:1 settlement constitutes a marked change in the architectural habitation of the area. The LM II & IIIA:1 plan (right) illustrates just how little we know about the architecture of this period and also suggests a shift from the LM I patterns. For example, House IV on the extreme southwest of the LM I plan is completely destroyed, covered, and not rebuilt in the LM II settlement. Even less is known about the LM IIIA:1 period. Hallager assumes that it used the LM II architecture, but, in fact, little or no LM IIIA:1 pottery has been identified in pits where LM II pottery was abundant. Architecturally speaking, however, it is impossible to discern a shift from Minoan to Mycenaean influence in the LM II/IIIA:1 periods. "[N]o new buildings were actually discovered at the Ag. Aikaterini Square" (E. Hallager, 1985. 22). On the other hand, "it is quite obvious that the local Kydonian workshop so characteristic of the later LM III period had been firmly established from the very beginning of the LM IIIA:1, as proved by several excellent finds of this product in these early pits. Among the pottery in these pits several Mycenaean imports were also discovered" (E. Hallager, 1985. 21). Clearly, then, a Mycenaean presence existed, whether it was dominant by this time or not remains unclear. Such is not the case for the subsequent periods.

"[S]ince the new buildings on the site [in LM IIIA] as a general rule did not use the existing walls of the LM I period as foundations&ldots;. It seems clear that the LM I walls (or rather their remains) had been covered before the new buildings were constructed in LM IIIA:2" (E. Hallager, 1985. 22). A plan of the LM IIIA:2/IIIB:1 settlement (below) shows some telltale signs of Mycenaean influence. For example, the phenomenon of a circular hearth in the center of Room E as well as evidence for possible hearths in other rooms, a typically Mycenaean practice, suggests an actual Mycenaean presence at this time. Also at this time, the evidence for the Minoan Hall complex is distinctly absent (it was unclear if one existed in the LM II/IIIA:1 settlement because so much if it hasn't survived, though it is unlikely). The paved stone floors seem to disappear, as do any staircases to a possible second story: "[A]t the beginning LM IIIA:2&ldots;. The old ruins were definitely given up and new and different houses were erectedon the site. These houses were chiefly with larger rooms, without a second story and with a more notable use of open courts connected to the houses" (Hallager, 1985. 27). This period also shows extensive contacts with "the outside world," as Hallager put it: "This is clearly indicated by finds of Mycenaean, Cycladic, Cypriot, Syrian (Canaanite jars) and black burnished pottery while products of the local Kydonian workshop of this period have been identified all over the Mediterranean from Sardinia to Cyprus" (1985. 27-8). Despite all that is lacking from the LM I settlement, the LM IIIA:2 and IIIB:1 settlement constitutes a resurgence in population as indicated by the above and the addition of what appear to be two new, relatively large pits containing stone tools and "an almost complete 'rella', indicating that some kind of pottery production was actually carried out at the site" (E. Hallager, 1985. 22) - perhaps the reason we can positively identify so much of the architecture, as compared to the previous periods, is because of this resurgence. LM IIIB is also the time in which Linear B inscribed stirrup jars appear at Khania. However, these pits also revealed terracotta horns of consecration and a bull rhyton, suggesting that the settlement was not entirely of Mycenaean character.[2] In either case, there is strong evidence to suggest a destruction by fire of the LM IIIB:1 settlement; most rooms exhibited signs of charred architecture and pottery.

Although the site seems to have recovered from this destruction at the end of LM IIIB:1, "The LM IIIB settlement continued into LM IIIC with a few constructions but without the same intensive evidence of foreign contacts as previously, and the bronze-age settlement appears to have been given up before the end of LM IIIC" (Hallager, 1985. 28). J. Moody conducted a survey of Khania and the surrounding area in 1982-3. Her survey came to the conclusion that the "region so far examined has revealed an abundance of small and several large prehistoric sites dating from Late Neolithic to LM III" (1983. 302). The MM I sites appeared small and isolated. In MM III and LM I, the number of sites and population increases "dramatically." And lastly, the LM III "sites occur in clusters; usually a settlement surrounded by smaller sites, possibly farms" (Moody, 1983. 302). In the final report for the LM IIIC settlement (see plan below), Hallager reports that no burial sites have yet been found (2000). However, the Khania excavation has been disturbed and hindered to such a degree by Venetian, Turkish, and modern constructions that this lack of evidence is not surprising and far from conclusive. One interesting observation about the LM IIIC site is the abundance of clearly defined circular hearths in many of the rooms, whereas evidence for their existence in previous periods was only conjectural: "Some kind of permanent fire installation was apparently presenting most rooms" (Hallager, 2000. 128), most are identified as hearths. In regards to the shrinking population and lack of a burial site, "The preserved, excavated evidence would thus seem to indicate tha the LM IIIC settlement in Khania was smaller and less extensive than in the previous periods&ldots;. No LM IIIC tombs have yet been discovered in Khania (Hallager, 2000. 133).

ISJs & Linear B Finds in LM Crete

Inscribed stirrup jars were rare in Crete but not exclusive to Knossos, as the Linear B tablets had been previous to the 1989 season at Khania. The graph below provides the number of Linear B inscriptions on pottery uncovered at Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, and Khania according to E. Hallager as of the 1980 excavations at Khania (1983. 73). At all four sites, the inscriptions primarily appear on the shoulders of stirrup jars. Of the 16 ISJs discovered at Khania by 1987, 12 can be positively identified as originating in Local Kydonian Workshop(s).[3] These wares are of predominately white clay, but other clays have been identified as originating from Kydonia, and they may not necessarily have originated from the same workshop. "A degree of organization is implied and the few workshops known at present are geographically scattered across the island. One (or two?) workshops can be located in or near Khania, and two others in central Crete, one of which is at Knossos (below). Two additional workshops may be tentatively isolated: one may be Knossian; the other, represented by KH Z 13, has not yet been identified" (Hallager, 1987. 187).

Pottery workshops producing ISJs are known to have existed at Khania, Knossos, and Palaikastro, as well as are believed to have existed at Kommos and possibly Phaistos. It is my opinion that Gournia and Zakros may very well have maintained large scale pottery workshops and would also be ideal locations in that their geographic location predisposes them to certain trade routes (i.e. Cyprus, Asia Minor, etc.) - that is not to say that all of these sites would have been in operation in LM III, simply that they are either identified or speculated to be sources of original Cretan wares. In fact, of the 10 Minoan sherds identified at Antigori on Sardinia, "the local workshop of Kydonia has been identified in [only] four &ldots; Minoan sherds" (Hallager, 1987. 185). This suggests that, while Kydonian wares did find their way to Cyprus, Italy, Mainland Greece, the Cyclades, Syria, and Egypt, they were neither the exclusive nor necessarily the most common Cretan pottery exports. Hallager states, and I am in agreement with him on this point, that "There is no reason a priori to exclude Khania as a possible administrative center, and the settlement is, if not Mycenaean, strongly influenced by the Mycenaeans during the LM IIIA:2 and IIIB periods. In architecture, for example, the fixed circular hearth is introduced. The only idols found in situ were discovered very close to the hearth, an association also seen at Tiryns&ldots;. Also, according to Kanta, the local 'Kydonian Workshop' bears strong witness to Mycenaean influence " (Hallager, 1987. 183).[4]

Some of the most compelling ISJ evidence for a Mycenaean hegemony of LM IIIA:2/B Khania are the inscriptions themselves.[5] Wanax, for example, is a decidedly Mycenaean term which is specifically used on the ISJs. To whom this "wanax" refers is uncertain, whether he be a priest/king or simply a tribal/town leader. However, Hallager argues, it would be uncharacteristic of what we know about human civilization to assume that Minaons adopted Mycenaean terminology and offices after freeing themselves from a (brief) Mycenaean hegemony in the LM IIIA early period, as some scholars have suggested. Hallager draws the analogy that modern Greeks did not adopt the office of sultan after centuries of Ottoman Turk rule came to an end. Why should Minoans do it after a span of only 50-100 years of Mycenaean rule? As compelling as the "wanax question" is, there remains an even more compelling reason to argue for a Mycenaean hegemony In the LM IIIB periods: Linear B itself. Linear B was the script of mainland Mycenaeans. In fact, it is a close ancestor to Ancient Greek. Why would the Minoans simply give up their Linear A script, which was widely used throughout the neopalatial period, and adopt the script of their neighbors, the Mycenaeans, for all their administrative, economic, and religious recordings? Between the architectural and linguistic evidence, one hardly needs point out that the paintings on the restored walls of the throne room at Knossos are, in fact, examples of Mycenaean not Minoan art.

Lastly, if the ISJs were not enough, Linear B tablets began to be discovered at Khania in 1989. From what we are able to decipher from the Linear B tablets at Knossos, they were a sort of central archive and "Most of the products listed in the central archives at Knossos probably never came to the palace itself&ldots;. It is reasonable to suggest that pottery workshops producing containers for export of perfume or oil were controlled at least in part by the palace and were located in different places on the island, in most cases near the production centers of the jar contents" (Hallager, 1987. 189). Thus, the tablets of Knossos kept a running inventory of items from as far away as Mallia and Phaistos, but that does not necessarily imply that either palace center went completely by the wayside in terms of handling and distribution of goods in their area. In fact, it would seem rather absurd for them to take no part in the administrative chores of their immediate region, regardless of Knossian hegemony or not. Perhaps these puzzling incongruities can be reconciled with the aide of the tablets & fragments unearthed at Khania serving as a control group?

"The simple find of Linear B tablet(s), however, is clearly important. Until now such tablets have only been discovered in the Mycenaean palaces at Knossos, Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns and Thebes&ldots;. [I]t is most likely that this palatial administrative center was in Khania itself although the finding of tablets in a particular place does not necessarily prove the presence there of a palace" (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). The first tablet reads "10 + pairs of wheels" and would seem to imply chariots, if parallel evidence from Pylos is any indication (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). Chariots at Khania are mentioned in the Knossos tablets, and terracotta fragments of chariot models have been uncovered at Khania, leaving little doubt that the site had something to do with chariot production or stationing (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). Interpretation of the other two tablet fragments is undecipherable; because the inscriptions are so fragmentary, it unclear even whether they are Linear A or B (they were not found in situ, so it is possible that one or both fragments date as far back as LM I).

The 1990 rescue excavations were of the utmost importance concerning Linear B: "the find of three Linear B tablets in situ&ldots;has now given the proof that the Myenaean palatial administrative system functioned in Crete during the LM IIIB:1 period and strongly indicated the presence of a 'Mycenaean palace' in Khania during this time" (Hallager, 1988. 55).[6] The tablets "were found in the destruction debris of the LM IIIA:2/IIIB:1 setttlement" (Hallager et al, 1992. 61). "The characteristic of these tablets is an enumeration of men employed in the textile industry" (Hallager et al, 1992. 73). Place names of Wato and Knossos are given, and personal names appear in the nominative case. "Shrine of Zeus" is identifiable on one of the tablets, thus associating it with many other Linear B finds of cultic significance. This also reaffirms the belief that a shrine sacred to Zeus existed in the vicinity of Khania. Dionysus also appears on the same tablet, but his identification is less positive than that of "shrine of Zeus" (Hallager et al, 1992. 76). Little else from the three tablets is translated other than what appear to be proper names. Whether this is because the translation is unsure or incomplete, I do not know. The form and apparent usage of these tablets (proper names, place name, catalogue of goods) is consistent both with Linear B finds at Knossos and those found at Pylos. The LM IIIB:1 date is, with the discovery of these three, nearly complete and in situ tablets, certain. At present time, however, no clear palatial architecture has been discovered at Khania. Dickinson and Rehak & Younger seem to suggest that town centers continued to function on a substantial level after the destruction of the palace centers. After studying the excavation plans of Khania, however, I hesitate to agree. The excavation is, necessarily, haphazard. The only substantial architectural remains exist in the Agia Aikaterini Square. This square is nothing more than a block between modern streets that has been fully excavated. With each new rescue excavation, new structures are being discovered outside the Square. It seems likely that the entire Kastelli area (and beyond) is littered with prepolatial through postpalatial activity. As is evident by the most recent plan of the excavations (left), there is more space begging to be explored than the Agia Aikaterini Square itself. The haphazard periphery rescue trenches surrounding the Square tantalize us with incomplete structures. I should not be surprised at all if a palace complex is lying beneath the existing roads, houses, and Venetian & Turkish walls.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

The map below shows the ideal harbor site at Khania as well as the complex myriad of building activity that has occurred at the site over the centuries:

Notes

Here, B. Hallager's terminology may require qualification. As far as I am able to discern from her article, her use of the term "Mycenaean" refers to mainland Mycenaeans, and she considers all Cretan settlements of the LM III period to be a hybrid of Minoan and Mycenaean culture with varying degrees of influence as the period progressed. She does, however, refer to finds in Italy as Mycenaean and Minoan separately; presumably because trade appears to have existed between Crete and Italy long before Mycenaeans dominated Crete. So those references are not necessarily conflicting. [return]

Hallager identifies these items as similar to those found in LM I deposits, but the pits in which they were found were new as of LM IIIA, so they must be viewed either as holdovers from a time since past (meaning Minoan culture still survived, to some extent, in LM IIIA) or that there was some sort of contamination of the pits and these two distinctly Minoan items found their way into it. I favor the former hypothesis. [return]

Local Kydonian Workshop wares are called "LM White ware" by Jones, 1986 (Hallager, 2000. 135). A description of these wares: "This Workshop used a non-calcareous, white clay, but another two basic clays were used simultaneously" (Hallager, 2000. 135). [return]

Here, Hallager footnotes Y. Tzedakis, "Céramique postpalatiale à Kydônia," BCH 93 (1969) 369-418, which presumably includes Kanta's analysis of the Mycenaean character of the workshop(s). [return]

In the first part of "The Iscribed Stirrup Jars: Implications for Late Minoan IIIB Crete," AJA 91, 1987, E. Hallager poignantly argues that the script on the ISJs is indicative of a literate (Mycenaean) culture. The main question he addresses is the irregularity of a handful of Linear B signs between the ISJs and their corresponding tablature signs. For the most part, this can be explained simply by the curvature of the writing surface and the different instruments with which they were drawn (e.g. a brush vs. a stylus). The counter argument was that the signs were copies and their actual meanings were unknown to either the painter(s) or the person(s) responsible for commissioning the jars. [return]

Your eyes do not deceive you. I am discussing the 1990 rescue excavation using the 1988 volume of AAA. I blinked more than once at this miracle of modern mathematics myself. However, the dates are repeated without contradiction many times in the article. I can only guess that the 1988 volume of AAA went to press alarmingly later than scheduled. [return]

Bibliography

Dickinson, O. 1994. The Aegean bronze age. New York: Cambridge University.

Drews, R. 1993. The end of the bronze age: Changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 b.c. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.

Evans, A. 1901. The palace of Knossos. In The British school at Athens: 1900-1901. (pp. 37-48).

Georgiou, H., & Tzedakis, Y. 1976. Excavations at Kastelli Chania, Greece 1976: Occasional paper number 2 of the UCLA Institute of Archaeology.

Hallager, B. P. 1985, April. Crete and Italy in the late bronze age III period. American Journal of Archaeology 89 (2). 293-305.

Hallager, E. 1987. The inscribed stirrup jars: Implications for late Minoan IIIB Crete. American Journal of Archaeology 91 (3). 171-190.

---- 1977. The Mycenaean palace at Knossos: Evidence for final destruction in the IIIB period. Stockholm.

---- 1973 Minoan Kydonia, excavations 1973. Athens annuls of archaeology 6. 439-448.

Hallager, E., & Hallager B. P. 2000. (Eds). The Greek-Swedish excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square Kastelli, Khania 1970-1987. (Vol. 2). Stockholm.

Hallager, E., Vlasakis, M., & Hallager, B. P. 1992. New linear b tablets from Khania. Kadmos 31. 61-87.

---- (1990). The first linear b tablet(s) from Khania. Kadmos 29. 24-34.

Hallager, E., & Tzedakis, Y. 1988. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania. Athens annuls of archaeology 21. 15-55.

---- 1986. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1987. Athens annuls of archaeology 19. 11-26.

---- 1985. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1984. Athens annuls of archaeology 18. 9-28.

---- 1984. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1982-1983. Athens annuls of archaeology 17. 3-19.

---- 1983. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1980: The linear B inscriptions. Athens annuls of archaeology 16. 58-73.

---- 1982. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania (1978 and 1979). Athens annuls of archaeology 15 (21-30).

Moody, J. 1983. Khania archaeological site survey. In Keller & Rupp (Eds.). Archaeological survey in the Mediterranean area. (pp 301-2). Oxford: BAR international series 155.

Rehak, P. & Younger, G. 2001. Review of Agean prehistory vii: Neopalatial, final palatial, and postpalatial Crete. In T. Cullen (Ed.), Aegean prehistory: A review (pp 383-474). Boston: AIA.

Warren, P. & Hankey, V. 1989. Aegean bronze age chronology. Bristol Classical Press.

© Copyright notice: This site was created and is maintained by Daniel Gremmler -- i.e. me. I'm not your mother or your teacher or your professor or your conscience, but just the same: don't plagarize material on this site. It is without honor. I encourage anyone to cite anything from this web site that you can use.

	Pottery workshops producing ISJs are known to have existed at Khania, Knossos, and Palaikastro, as well as are believed to have existed at Kommos and possibly Phaistos. It is my opinion that Gournia and Zakros may very well have maintained large scale pottery workshops and would also be ideal locations in that their geographic location predisposes them to certain trade routes (i.e. Cyprus, Asia Minor, etc.) - that is not to say that all of these sites would have been in operation in LM III, simply that they are either identified or speculated to be sources of original Cretan wares. In fact, of the 10 Minoan sherds identified at Antigori on Sardinia, "the local workshop of Kydonia has been identified in [only] four &ldots; Minoan sherds" (Hallager, 1987. 185). This suggests that, while Kydonian wares did find their way to Cyprus, Italy, Mainland Greece, the Cyclades, Syria, and Egypt, they were neither the exclusive nor necessarily the most common Cretan pottery exports. Hallager states, and I am in agreement with him on this point, that "There is no reason a priori to exclude Khania as a possible administrative center, and the settlement is, if not Mycenaean, strongly influenced by the Mycenaeans during the LM IIIA:2 and IIIB periods. In architecture, for example, the fixed circular hearth is introduced. The only idols found in situ were discovered very close to the hearth, an association also seen at Tiryns&ldots;. Also, according to Kanta, the local 'Kydonian Workshop' bears strong witness to Mycenaean influence " (Hallager, 1987. 183).[4] Some of the most compelling ISJ evidence for a Mycenaean hegemony of LM IIIA:2/B Khania are the inscriptions themselves.[5] Wanax, for example, is a decidedly Mycenaean term which is specifically used on the ISJs. To whom this "wanax" refers is uncertain, whether he be a priest/king or simply a tribal/town leader. However, Hallager argues, it would be uncharacteristic of what we know about human civilization to assume that Minaons adopted Mycenaean terminology and offices after freeing themselves from a (brief) Mycenaean hegemony in the LM IIIA early period, as some scholars have suggested. Hallager draws the analogy that modern Greeks did not adopt the office of sultan after centuries of Ottoman Turk rule came to an end. Why should Minoans do it after a span of only 50-100 years of Mycenaean rule? As compelling as the "wanax question" is, there remains an even more compelling reason to argue for a Mycenaean hegemony In the LM IIIB periods: Linear B itself. Linear B was the script of mainland Mycenaeans. In fact, it is a close ancestor to Ancient Greek. Why would the Minoans simply give up their Linear A script, which was widely used throughout the neopalatial period, and adopt the script of their neighbors, the Mycenaeans, for all their administrative, economic, and religious recordings? Between the architectural and linguistic evidence, one hardly needs point out that the paintings on the restored walls of the throne room at Knossos are, in fact, examples of Mycenaean not Minoan art. Lastly, if the ISJs were not enough, Linear B tablets began to be discovered at Khania in 1989. From what we are able to decipher from the Linear B tablets at Knossos, they were a sort of central archive and "Most of the products listed in the central archives at Knossos probably never came to the palace itself&ldots;. It is reasonable to suggest that pottery workshops producing containers for export of perfume or oil were controlled at least in part by the palace and were located in different places on the island, in most cases near the production centers of the jar contents" (Hallager, 1987. 189). Thus, the tablets of Knossos kept a running inventory of items from as far away as Mallia and Phaistos, but that does not necessarily imply that either palace center went completely by the wayside in terms of handling and distribution of goods in their area. In fact, it would seem rather absurd for them to take no part in the administrative chores of their immediate region, regardless of Knossian hegemony or not. Perhaps these puzzling incongruities can be reconciled with the aide of the tablets & fragments unearthed at Khania serving as a control group? "The simple find of Linear B tablet(s), however, is clearly important. Until now such tablets have only been discovered in the Mycenaean palaces at Knossos, Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns and Thebes&ldots;. [I]t is most likely that this palatial administrative center was in Khania itself although the finding of tablets in a particular place does not necessarily prove the presence there of a palace" (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). The first tablet reads "10 + pairs of wheels" and would seem to imply chariots, if parallel evidence from Pylos is any indication (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). Chariots at Khania are mentioned in the Knossos tablets, and terracotta fragments of chariot models have been uncovered at Khania, leaving little doubt that the site had something to do with chariot production or stationing (Hallager et al, 1990. 28). Interpretation of the other two tablet fragments is undecipherable; because the inscriptions are so fragmentary, it unclear even whether they are Linear A or B (they were not found in situ, so it is possible that one or both fragments date as far back as LM I). The 1990 rescue excavations were of the utmost importance concerning Linear B: "the find of three Linear B tablets in situ&ldots;has now given the proof that the Myenaean palatial administrative system functioned in Crete during the LM IIIB:1 period and strongly indicated the presence of a 'Mycenaean palace' in Khania during this time" (Hallager, 1988. 55).[6] The tablets "were found in the destruction debris of the LM IIIA:2/IIIB:1 setttlement" (Hallager et al, 1992. 61). "The characteristic of these tablets is an enumeration of men employed in the textile industry" (Hallager et al, 1992. 73). Place names of Wato and Knossos are given, and personal names appear in the nominative case. "Shrine of Zeus" is identifiable on one of the tablets, thus associating it with many other Linear B finds of cultic significance. This also reaffirms the belief that a shrine sacred to Zeus existed in the vicinity of Khania. Dionysus also appears on the same tablet, but his identification is less positive than that of "shrine of Zeus" (Hallager et al, 1992. 76). Little else from the three tablets is translated other than what appear to be proper names. Whether this is because the translation is unsure or incomplete, I do not know. The form and apparent usage of these tablets (proper names, place name, catalogue of goods) is consistent both with Linear B finds at Knossos and those found at Pylos. The LM IIIB:1 date is, with the discovery of these three, nearly complete and in situ tablets, certain. At present time, however, no clear palatial architecture has been discovered at Khania. Dickinson and Rehak & Younger seem to suggest that town centers continued to function on a substantial level after the destruction of the palace centers. After studying the excavation plans of Khania, however, I hesitate to agree. The excavation is, necessarily, haphazard. The only substantial architectural remains exist in the Agia Aikaterini Square. This square is nothing more than a block between modern streets that has been fully excavated. With each new rescue excavation, new structures are being discovered outside the Square. It seems likely that the entire Kastelli area (and beyond) is littered with prepolatial through postpalatial activity. As is evident by the most recent plan of the excavations (left), there is more space begging to be explored than the Agia Aikaterini Square itself. The haphazard periphery rescue trenches surrounding the Square tantalize us with incomplete structures. I should not be surprised at all if a palace complex is lying beneath the existing roads, houses, and Venetian & Turkish walls.
	Figure 1:
	Figure 2:
	The map below shows the ideal harbor site at Khania as well as the complex myriad of building activity that has occurred at the site over the centuries:



	Notes Here, B. Hallager's terminology may require qualification. As far as I am able to discern from her article, her use of the term "Mycenaean" refers to mainland Mycenaeans, and she considers all Cretan settlements of the LM III period to be a hybrid of Minoan and Mycenaean culture with varying degrees of influence as the period progressed. She does, however, refer to finds in Italy as Mycenaean and Minoan separately; presumably because trade appears to have existed between Crete and Italy long before Mycenaeans dominated Crete. So those references are not necessarily conflicting. [return] Hallager identifies these items as similar to those found in LM I deposits, but the pits in which they were found were new as of LM IIIA, so they must be viewed either as holdovers from a time since past (meaning Minoan culture still survived, to some extent, in LM IIIA) or that there was some sort of contamination of the pits and these two distinctly Minoan items found their way into it. I favor the former hypothesis. [return] Local Kydonian Workshop wares are called "LM White ware" by Jones, 1986 (Hallager, 2000. 135). A description of these wares: "This Workshop used a non-calcareous, white clay, but another two basic clays were used simultaneously" (Hallager, 2000. 135). [return] Here, Hallager footnotes Y. Tzedakis, "Céramique postpalatiale à Kydônia," BCH 93 (1969) 369-418, which presumably includes Kanta's analysis of the Mycenaean character of the workshop(s). [return] In the first part of "The Iscribed Stirrup Jars: Implications for Late Minoan IIIB Crete," AJA 91, 1987, E. Hallager poignantly argues that the script on the ISJs is indicative of a literate (Mycenaean) culture. The main question he addresses is the irregularity of a handful of Linear B signs between the ISJs and their corresponding tablature signs. For the most part, this can be explained simply by the curvature of the writing surface and the different instruments with which they were drawn (e.g. a brush vs. a stylus). The counter argument was that the signs were copies and their actual meanings were unknown to either the painter(s) or the person(s) responsible for commissioning the jars. [return] Your eyes do not deceive you. I am discussing the 1990 rescue excavation using the 1988 volume of AAA. I blinked more than once at this miracle of modern mathematics myself. However, the dates are repeated without contradiction many times in the article. I can only guess that the 1988 volume of AAA went to press alarmingly later than scheduled. [return]
	Bibliography Dickinson, O. 1994. The Aegean bronze age. New York: Cambridge University. Drews, R. 1993. The end of the bronze age: Changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 b.c. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. Evans, A. 1901. The palace of Knossos. In The British school at Athens: 1900-1901. (pp. 37-48). Georgiou, H., & Tzedakis, Y. 1976. Excavations at Kastelli Chania, Greece 1976: Occasional paper number 2 of the UCLA Institute of Archaeology. Hallager, B. P. 1985, April. Crete and Italy in the late bronze age III period. American Journal of Archaeology 89 (2). 293-305. Hallager, E. 1987. The inscribed stirrup jars: Implications for late Minoan IIIB Crete. American Journal of Archaeology 91 (3). 171-190. ---- 1977. The Mycenaean palace at Knossos: Evidence for final destruction in the IIIB period. Stockholm. ---- 1973 Minoan Kydonia, excavations 1973. Athens annuls of archaeology 6. 439-448. Hallager, E., & Hallager B. P. 2000. (Eds). The Greek-Swedish excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square Kastelli, Khania 1970-1987. (Vol. 2). Stockholm. Hallager, E., Vlasakis, M., & Hallager, B. P. 1992. New linear b tablets from Khania. Kadmos 31. 61-87. ---- (1990). The first linear b tablet(s) from Khania. Kadmos 29. 24-34. Hallager, E., & Tzedakis, Y. 1988. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania. Athens annuls of archaeology 21. 15-55. ---- 1986. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1987. Athens annuls of archaeology 19. 11-26. ---- 1985. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1984. Athens annuls of archaeology 18. 9-28. ---- 1984. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1982-1983. Athens annuls of archaeology 17. 3-19. ---- 1983. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania 1980: The linear B inscriptions. Athens annuls of archaeology 16. 58-73. ---- 1982. The Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Khania (1978 and 1979). Athens annuls of archaeology 15 (21-30). Moody, J. 1983. Khania archaeological site survey. In Keller & Rupp (Eds.). Archaeological survey in the Mediterranean area. (pp 301-2). Oxford: BAR international series 155. Rehak, P. & Younger, G. 2001. Review of Agean prehistory vii: Neopalatial, final palatial, and postpalatial Crete. In T. Cullen (Ed.), Aegean prehistory: A review (pp 383-474). Boston: AIA. Warren, P. & Hankey, V. 1989. Aegean bronze age chronology. Bristol Classical Press.
	© Copyright notice: This site was created and is maintained by Daniel Gremmler -- i.e. me. I'm not your mother or your teacher or your professor or your conscience, but just the same: don't plagarize material on this site. It is without honor. I encourage anyone to cite anything from this web site that you can use.