South by South-east. The history and archaeology of Southeast Crete., 2022
The Mirabello region surveys provide the most detailed published documentation of settlement patt... more The Mirabello region surveys provide the most detailed published documentation of settlement patterns for Prehistoric Crete. Analysis of these surveys defines in terms of environmental characteristics settlement preferences in the northern isthmus and their changes through the Bronze Age. Models produced from the analysis help formalise our understanding of how settlement systems were organised and how they relate to the wider environment. Building on these characteristics, this paper explores potential demographic implications through the extrapolation of these patterns to the neighbouring south isthmus region. This allows an exploration of potential patterns of settlement integration, connectivity, and centrality in sub-regions of different scale within the variable topography of Southeast Crete, and how they relate to wider economic and political processes across the island.
One of the most common tendencies of human settlements is for larger settlements to display highe... more One of the most common tendencies of human settlements is for larger settlements to display higher population densities. Work in urban science and archaeology suggests that this densification pattern reflects an emergent spatial equilibrium where individuals balance movement costs with social interaction benefits, leading to increases in aggregate productivity and social interdependence. The temporary camps created by hunters and gatherers exhibit a tendency to become less dense with their population size. The different manner in which hunter-gatherer groups express their sociality in residential space suggests that they typically lack the social structures and material technologies necessary for humans to live at greater spatial densities in permanent settlements. Here we examine why this difference occurs and consider conditions under which hunter-gatherer groups may transition to sedentism and densification. We investigate the relationship between population and area in hunter-gatherer camps using a data set representing a large cross-cultural sample derived from the ethnographic literature. We present a model based on the interplay between social interactions and scalar stress that describes the observed patterns among mobile hunter-gatherers. We find that the transition to a densification scheme does not necessary involve domestic food production, only surpluses and storable resources.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
While occupied as a major centre for almost eight millennia, the phase most thoroughly investigat... more While occupied as a major centre for almost eight millennia, the phase most thoroughly investigated, and for which Knossos is best known, both academically and popularly, is the Late Bronze Age. The earlier phase, the Neopalatial period, includes also the final phase of the Middle Bronze Age, beginning to receive more attention but still not as well known as its LM I successor. For this period, the survey data now documents that the site extended over approximately a square km. expanding considerably on recent estimates. This is twice the extent of any other Aegean Bronze Age centre, and on a par with very large contemporary urban centres in the East Mediterranean and Middle East. At documented LM I occupation densities, this should represent a population of around 25,000 individuals, representing a unique and challenging social environment within the prehistoric and early historic Aegean region. The later Bronze Age phases at the site are not documented in the same detail, and the study of the survey data is still at an early stage. But our preliminary analysis suggests a considerable reduction in the extent of the site in the LM II-IIIA Final Palatial period, contemporary with the development of the mainland Mycenaean centres, and probably a further significant reduction in the LM IIIB-IIIC Postpalatial period. Yet even in this late phase, with some evidence of occupation over a minimum of 20 ha., the site would still have been a major centre, roughly comparable to contemporary mainland palatial centres. This is the least well understood prehistoric phase in terms of our survey data, as well as existing excavation data, but our preliminary work is beginning to point toward a significantly different perspective on Postpalatial Crete and the transition to the Early Iron Age.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
In this concluding paper of this series devoted to reporting on the Knossos Urban Landscape Proje... more In this concluding paper of this series devoted to reporting on the Knossos Urban Landscape Project (KULP), we emphasise what we are learning from the project about specific transformations in the history of the site, and highlight various challenges to previous understandings that are emerging from our data, considered in conjunction with information from previous explorations at the site, which we are still exploring as study and analysis continues. Building on and complementing over a century of intensive excavation at the site, the Knossos Urban Landscape Project is enabling us to fill in and refine our understanding of the developmental history of a major Aegean centre. Because the ceramics of Knossos across all periods of its occupation have been analysed and documented in detail, this provides an opportunity to develop a fine-grained analysis of long-term urban history, spanning nearly eight millennia and two cycles of urbanisation and state formation and collapse. We have linked the analysis of our new survey data with restudy of the retained material from the rescue excavations conducted by the British School in the valley, and the published results of major excavations, for an integrated synthesis of the history of the site. This project has produced surprising and indeed challenging information affecting every period of occupation of what has been considered to be a very well-understood site. These challenges are touched on here, and are considered in more detail in the specialist papers presented in this conference session and also published in this volume.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
The Knossos Urban Landscape Project is an intensive surface survey, organised as a collaboration ... more The Knossos Urban Landscape Project is an intensive surface survey, organised as a collaboration between the British School at Athens and the Herakleion Ephoreia. It is documenting the archaeology of the site of Knossos and its environs, including the ancient city and all of its surrounding mortuary landscape accessible for investigation. It was initiated in recognition of a century of intensive investigation of the Knossos valley by both institutions. Its specific objectives are to record the archaeological resources of the valley to aid their protection and manage future development in the valley; to document systematically the archaeological record to contextualise a century of research and rescue investigations; to integrate new systematically collected surface data with existing excavation data to reconstruct long-term urban dynamics at Knossos; and to establish a comprehensive base-line for future research in the valley.
This paper serves as an introduction to the six papers which follow, together presented as a session at the 12th Cretological Congress. This introduction briefly presents the background to the project, its aims and methodology, and summarises its progress to date, in the field and in follow-up studies of the collected material. Interim results are presented in the following five papers, authored by the period specialists studying the ceramics for major cultural periods. These summarise the work to date on the project collections, within the context of previous investigations in the valley, to provide an overview of the long-term development of Knossos, from the establishment of the initial Neolithic community c. 7000 BCE, until the final decline of the site as a major centre in the early 8th century CE.
A final concluding paper highlights the insights, but also the challenges presented by the project to date, which will continue to be addressed as the project moves toward publication.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
M. Relaki and Y. Papadatos (eds) From the foundations to the legacy of Minoan archaeology. Studies in honour of Professor Keith Branigan. Oxbow:201-55., 2018
South by South-east. The history and archaeology of Southeast Crete., 2022
The Mirabello region surveys provide the most detailed published documentation of settlement patt... more The Mirabello region surveys provide the most detailed published documentation of settlement patterns for Prehistoric Crete. Analysis of these surveys defines in terms of environmental characteristics settlement preferences in the northern isthmus and their changes through the Bronze Age. Models produced from the analysis help formalise our understanding of how settlement systems were organised and how they relate to the wider environment. Building on these characteristics, this paper explores potential demographic implications through the extrapolation of these patterns to the neighbouring south isthmus region. This allows an exploration of potential patterns of settlement integration, connectivity, and centrality in sub-regions of different scale within the variable topography of Southeast Crete, and how they relate to wider economic and political processes across the island.
One of the most common tendencies of human settlements is for larger settlements to display highe... more One of the most common tendencies of human settlements is for larger settlements to display higher population densities. Work in urban science and archaeology suggests that this densification pattern reflects an emergent spatial equilibrium where individuals balance movement costs with social interaction benefits, leading to increases in aggregate productivity and social interdependence. The temporary camps created by hunters and gatherers exhibit a tendency to become less dense with their population size. The different manner in which hunter-gatherer groups express their sociality in residential space suggests that they typically lack the social structures and material technologies necessary for humans to live at greater spatial densities in permanent settlements. Here we examine why this difference occurs and consider conditions under which hunter-gatherer groups may transition to sedentism and densification. We investigate the relationship between population and area in hunter-gatherer camps using a data set representing a large cross-cultural sample derived from the ethnographic literature. We present a model based on the interplay between social interactions and scalar stress that describes the observed patterns among mobile hunter-gatherers. We find that the transition to a densification scheme does not necessary involve domestic food production, only surpluses and storable resources.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
While occupied as a major centre for almost eight millennia, the phase most thoroughly investigat... more While occupied as a major centre for almost eight millennia, the phase most thoroughly investigated, and for which Knossos is best known, both academically and popularly, is the Late Bronze Age. The earlier phase, the Neopalatial period, includes also the final phase of the Middle Bronze Age, beginning to receive more attention but still not as well known as its LM I successor. For this period, the survey data now documents that the site extended over approximately a square km. expanding considerably on recent estimates. This is twice the extent of any other Aegean Bronze Age centre, and on a par with very large contemporary urban centres in the East Mediterranean and Middle East. At documented LM I occupation densities, this should represent a population of around 25,000 individuals, representing a unique and challenging social environment within the prehistoric and early historic Aegean region. The later Bronze Age phases at the site are not documented in the same detail, and the study of the survey data is still at an early stage. But our preliminary analysis suggests a considerable reduction in the extent of the site in the LM II-IIIA Final Palatial period, contemporary with the development of the mainland Mycenaean centres, and probably a further significant reduction in the LM IIIB-IIIC Postpalatial period. Yet even in this late phase, with some evidence of occupation over a minimum of 20 ha., the site would still have been a major centre, roughly comparable to contemporary mainland palatial centres. This is the least well understood prehistoric phase in terms of our survey data, as well as existing excavation data, but our preliminary work is beginning to point toward a significantly different perspective on Postpalatial Crete and the transition to the Early Iron Age.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
In this concluding paper of this series devoted to reporting on the Knossos Urban Landscape Proje... more In this concluding paper of this series devoted to reporting on the Knossos Urban Landscape Project (KULP), we emphasise what we are learning from the project about specific transformations in the history of the site, and highlight various challenges to previous understandings that are emerging from our data, considered in conjunction with information from previous explorations at the site, which we are still exploring as study and analysis continues. Building on and complementing over a century of intensive excavation at the site, the Knossos Urban Landscape Project is enabling us to fill in and refine our understanding of the developmental history of a major Aegean centre. Because the ceramics of Knossos across all periods of its occupation have been analysed and documented in detail, this provides an opportunity to develop a fine-grained analysis of long-term urban history, spanning nearly eight millennia and two cycles of urbanisation and state formation and collapse. We have linked the analysis of our new survey data with restudy of the retained material from the rescue excavations conducted by the British School in the valley, and the published results of major excavations, for an integrated synthesis of the history of the site. This project has produced surprising and indeed challenging information affecting every period of occupation of what has been considered to be a very well-understood site. These challenges are touched on here, and are considered in more detail in the specialist papers presented in this conference session and also published in this volume.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
The Knossos Urban Landscape Project is an intensive surface survey, organised as a collaboration ... more The Knossos Urban Landscape Project is an intensive surface survey, organised as a collaboration between the British School at Athens and the Herakleion Ephoreia. It is documenting the archaeology of the site of Knossos and its environs, including the ancient city and all of its surrounding mortuary landscape accessible for investigation. It was initiated in recognition of a century of intensive investigation of the Knossos valley by both institutions. Its specific objectives are to record the archaeological resources of the valley to aid their protection and manage future development in the valley; to document systematically the archaeological record to contextualise a century of research and rescue investigations; to integrate new systematically collected surface data with existing excavation data to reconstruct long-term urban dynamics at Knossos; and to establish a comprehensive base-line for future research in the valley.
This paper serves as an introduction to the six papers which follow, together presented as a session at the 12th Cretological Congress. This introduction briefly presents the background to the project, its aims and methodology, and summarises its progress to date, in the field and in follow-up studies of the collected material. Interim results are presented in the following five papers, authored by the period specialists studying the ceramics for major cultural periods. These summarise the work to date on the project collections, within the context of previous investigations in the valley, to provide an overview of the long-term development of Knossos, from the establishment of the initial Neolithic community c. 7000 BCE, until the final decline of the site as a major centre in the early 8th century CE.
A final concluding paper highlights the insights, but also the challenges presented by the project to date, which will continue to be addressed as the project moves toward publication.
Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. C. Mitsotaki, L. Tzedaki-Apostolaki and S. Giannadaki (eds). Herakleion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies., 2019
M. Relaki and Y. Papadatos (eds) From the foundations to the legacy of Minoan archaeology. Studies in honour of Professor Keith Branigan. Oxbow:201-55., 2018
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Papers by Todd Whitelaw
This paper serves as an introduction to the six papers which follow, together presented as a session at the 12th Cretological Congress. This introduction briefly presents the background to the project, its aims and methodology, and summarises its progress to date, in the field and in follow-up studies of the collected material. Interim results are presented in the following five papers, authored by the period specialists studying the ceramics for major cultural periods. These summarise the work to date on the project collections, within the context of previous investigations in the valley, to provide an overview of the long-term development of Knossos, from the establishment of the initial Neolithic community c. 7000 BCE, until the final decline of the site as a major centre in the early 8th century CE.
A final concluding paper highlights the insights, but also the challenges presented by the project to date, which will continue to be addressed as the project moves toward publication.
This paper serves as an introduction to the six papers which follow, together presented as a session at the 12th Cretological Congress. This introduction briefly presents the background to the project, its aims and methodology, and summarises its progress to date, in the field and in follow-up studies of the collected material. Interim results are presented in the following five papers, authored by the period specialists studying the ceramics for major cultural periods. These summarise the work to date on the project collections, within the context of previous investigations in the valley, to provide an overview of the long-term development of Knossos, from the establishment of the initial Neolithic community c. 7000 BCE, until the final decline of the site as a major centre in the early 8th century CE.
A final concluding paper highlights the insights, but also the challenges presented by the project to date, which will continue to be addressed as the project moves toward publication.