Economy & Society

The Stone Industry at Akrotiri: A Theoretical Approach

Though no workshop installations have so far been found at Akrotiri, there are indications of local stone-working industry, as has already been suggested by P. Warren.

The Pottery-Producing System at Akrotiri: An index of Exchange and Social Activity

The excavations at Akrotiri yielded an abundance of whole and restorable pieces of pottery. The large number of pottery vessels - several thousand more or less intact vases - allows us the opportunity to contact wider research, aimed at obtaining a better understanding of how potters commanded the available local materials and resolved production and distribution problems related to the exchange system in operation within the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri.

Evidence for Household Industries on Thera and Kea

At both Akrotiri and Ayia Irini almost every Late Cycladic building provides evidence of industrial and/or craft activities.

The Role of Thera in the Bronze Age Trade in Metals

The distribution and quantity of metal artefacts excavated in Late Bronze Age contexts in the Mediterranean, particularly when compared with the known metal deposits in this area, suggests that there was extensive trade in metals in the Bronze Age Aegean.

Rites de Passage at Thera: Some Oriental Comparanda

The religious significance of the fresco representations of Xeste 3 on Thera, as well as the importance of the building itself, have already been stressed by a number of scholars.

Some Observations Concerning Thera's Contacts Overseas During the Bronze Age

The island of Thera depended on traffjc by ship. Besides warships, the vessels depicted on Theran wall paintings were strong enough for long voyages.

The Thera Catastrophe - Consequences for European Civilization

The seismic forces of the Thera volcano which destroyed the Minoan civilization thereby checked the minoanization of the Aegean world and therefore its possible, eventual spread all over the Mediterranean and even to Europe.

The Elements at Akrotiri

From earliest times the Elements - Earth, Water, Air, Fire - have aroused the curiosity of the people of the Aegean, while at various times each was considered by the Ionian philosophers as the primeval element of matter.

Pithoi, Size and Symbols: Some Preliminary Considerations on the Akrotiri Evidence

The substance of this paper is to examine the apparent interrelationship between the capacity of the pithoi at Akrotiri, Thera, and a restricted range and type of signs used in their decoration. The paper has arisen essentially from an earlier study on the subject carried out by C. Doumas (1978), and this present study explores some of the possibilities indicated in that paper.

Some Changes in the BA Pottery Production at Akrotiri and their Possible Implications

An overall picture of the MC evidence at Akrotiri is presented, with particular emphasis on pottery shapes and decoration. Some general remarks on the characteristics of the pottery are made.

Thera's Eruption into our Understanding of the Minoans

I should like to examine the excavations and studies of Thera to see what we may learn from them about LM IA Crete.

Akrotiri and its Neighbours to the South: Conical Cups Again

'Contact' and 'transmission' are common words in archaeological contexts, used to cover a variety of situations and circumstances in which item X from area A appears at some later time in area B.

Craftsmen and Traders at Thera: A View from Crete

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some aspects of the relations between Crete and Thera concerning exchange patterns and specialized crafts.

The Cretan Element on Thera in Late Minoan IA

The architecture of Akrotiri is examined in the light of discoveries since the paper of J. Shaw at the last Thera Conference. There seem to be no significant features in it that need not be Minoan.

The Isles of Crete? The Minoan Thalassocracy Revisited

This paper examines the proposition that sites in the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and along the coast of Asia Minor constituted major, purposive, differing but complementary parts of a Minoan empire at the time of the Theran volcanic eruption during LM IA.

LB I Ceramic Connections between Thera and Kos

An LB I pottery group at Akrotiri on Thera has been defined which in terms of fabric and decorative style seems to have parallels in the south-east Aegean. Some of the vases in this group show strong similarities with the Light-on-Dark and Dark-on-Light wares known from contemporary sites in the Dodecanese, suggesting their origin may lie in that region.

Spacial and Temporal Uniformitarianism in Late Cycladic I: Perspectives from Kea and Milos on the Prehistory of Akrotiri

This paper draws on recent work by both authors on Kea and Milos to emphasize the dangers inherent in making uniformitarian assumptions about the histories of settlement at different sites or on different islands during the early part of the Late Bronze Age.

Comments by Dr. C. Doumas Prior to the Akrotiri Visit*

It was in 1939 that the theory of Professor Marinatos was published attributing the decline of the Minoan civilization to the volcanic activity of Thera. Since that time Professor Marinatos had made it a goal to investigate the island of Thera to prove this theory.

Minoans and Minoanization at Ayia Irini, Keos

At Ayia lrini, a small peninsula inside the bay of Ayios Nikolaos in the northwest part of Keos, excavations by the University of Cincinnati since 1960 have uncovered remains of occupation extending from Neolithic through Roman times (Caskey 1971; 1972).

Thera Paintings and the Ancient Near East: The Private and Public Domains of Wall Decoration

Fundamental to any informed assessment of the possible linkages between the wall paintings of Thera and those of the contemporary Near East is the establishment of appropriate grounds for comparison.

Aegean Frescoes in Syria-Palestine: Alalakh and Tel Kabri

Fifty years ago Sir Leonard Woolley found in his excavations at Alalakh, within Level VII, fresco fragments showing technical and iconographical connections with the wall paintings of the Palace of Minos at Knossos.

Some Notes on Mediterranean Seafaring During the Second Millenium BC

Three aspects of Bronze Age seafaring are considered: 1) Aegean ship construction techniques, 2) sailing routes and capabilities, and 3) the seemingly enigmatic lack of stone anchors in the Aegean region.

Thera and Warfare

During the last decade A.J. Evans's vision of the peace-loving Minoans has been replaced by the concept of a Minoan thalassocracy based on political, economic and military power.

Aegean Bronze Age Wall Painting: The Theran Workshop

This paper presents an overview of Theran wall painting, as known to us from Santorini, which provides us with an impressive quantity of unprecedentedly well preserved material.

Travelling Fresco Painters in the Aegean Late Bronze Age: The Diffusion Patterns of a Prestigious Art

This paper presents some general observations on the role of travelling painters in the transmission and diffusion of figurative murals in the Late Bronze Age Aegean.

The Organisation of the Theran Artists

By identifying individual artists through attribution studies it is possible to gain insight into the ways in which the Theran wall painters organised their work in 'schools' or teams, collaborating flexibly to achieve an overall programme without suppressing elements of individual artistry.

The Attraction of the Pictorial: Observations on the Relationship of Theran Pottery and Theran Fresco Iconography

Thera is unusual in having a large body of pictorial pottery decorated with a wide variety of motifs. These motifs fall into two iconographic cycles: one consisting of cultivated plants and painted representations of vessels; the other of subjects drawn from the natural marine and terrestrial worlds, which recall the themes of Theran frescoes.

Dress, Hairstyle and Jewellery in the Thera Wall Paintings

The excellent state of preservation of the Thera wall paintings, together with the large scale of many of the human figures portrayed on them, present us with some extraordinarily detailed representations of dress, hairstyles and jewellery.

Nature as Ideology: Landscapes on the Theran Ships

The miniature wall paintings from the West House at Akrotiri have been interpreted in different ways by different scholars. However, what is clear is that they include an unmistakable military element with its implications of aggression and dominance.