Abstract
In the Aegean a wave of collapse and change in the later third millennium BC has long been recognised in the archaeological record (Forsén 1992). In general terms, a date for these events c.2200BC is feasible given conventional interpretations and chronologies (Manning 1995a; Warren and Hankey 1989). This offers the potential hypothesis of contemporaneity with the c.2200BC climate change event in the Near East (Weiss et al. 1993). The question is whether, on a detailed and independent analysis, the precise date of c.2200BC is correct for episodes of change in the Aegean? The problem is the lack of high-resolution data. Modern, high-quality, radiocarbon series are rare (dendrochronology does not yet apply), and connections with the historical Near East and Egypt are problematic, or non-existent, at this time. Further, we must consider the major anomaly: Crete. There is no similar collapse on Crete, and, indeed, significant developments appear from around this same time on the island, and the state-level Old Palace civilisation emerges c.2000BC. An explanation couched in terms of prestige goods economies, control of resources (monopolisation, exclusivity), and geographic location on the periphery of multiple world-systems is offered (following Manning 1995b).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexiou S (1979) Teikhe kai akropoleis ste minoike Krete. Kretologia8: 41 – 56.
Allen J (1984) Pots and poor princes: a multidimensional approach to the role of pottery trading in coastal Papua. In van der Leeuw SE & Pritchard AC (eds) The many dimensions of pottery: ceramics in archaeology and anthropology: 407 – 463. Cingula VII. Universiteit van Amsterdam, Albert Egges van Giffen Instituut voor Prae- en Protohistorie Amsterdam.
Andreou S (1978) Pottery groups of the Old Palace period in Crete. Ph.D. diss. University of Cincinnati.
Bell B (1971) The dark ages in ancient history I. The first dark age in Egypt. American Journal of Archaeology75: 1 – 26.
Bossert EM (1967) Kastri auf Syros: Vorbericht über eine Untersuchung der prähistorischen Siedlung. Arkhaiologikon Deltion22: 53 – 76.
Broodbank C (1989) The longboat and society in the Cyclades in the Keros-Syros culture. American Journal of Archaeology93: 319 – 337.
Broodbank C (1993) Ulysses without sails: trade, distance, knowledge and power in the early Cyclades. World Archaeology25: 315 – 331.
Cadogan G (ed) (1986a) The end of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean. E.J. Brill Leiden.
Cadogan G (1986b) Why was Crete different? In Cadogan G (ed) The end of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean: 153–171. E.J. Brill Leiden.
Cadogan G, Day PM, MacDonald, CF, MacGillivray, JA, Momigliano, N, Whitelaw, TM, Wilson, DE (1993) Early Minoan and Middle Minoan pottery groups at Knossos. Annual of the British School at Athens88: 21 – 28.
Caskey JL (1956) Excavations at Lerna, 1955. Hesperia25: 147 – 173.
Caskey JL (1960) The Early Helladic period in the Argolid. Hesperia29: 285 – 303.
Catling HW (1973) Cyprus in the Early Bronze Age. In Edwards IES, Gadd CJ & Hammond NGL (eds) The Cambridge Ancient History. Third edition, vol.1 Part 2: 808–823. Cambridge University Press Cambridge.
Cavanagh W, Crouwel J, Catling RWV, Shipley G (1996) The Laconia survey. Vol. II: archaeological data. British School at Athens London.
Cherry JF (1983) Evolution, revolution, and the origins of complex society in Minoan Crete. In Krzyszkowska O, Nixon L (eds) Minoan society. Proceedings of the Cambridge colloquium 1981: 33–45. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
Cosmopoulos MB (1991) The Early Bronze 2 in the Aegean. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 98. Paul Åströms Förlag Jonsered.
Davis (JL) 1987 Perspectives on the prehistoric Cyclades: an archaeological introduction. In Getz-Preziosi P Early Cycladic art in north American collections: 4–45. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Richmond.
Davis JL (1992) The islands of the Aegean. American Journal of Archaeology96: 699 – 756.
Evans AJ (1921). The palace of Minos at Knossos, vol.I. Macmillan London.
Forsén J (1992) The twilight of the Early Helladics: a study of the disturbances in east-central and southern Greece towards the end of the Early Bronze Age. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology and Literature Pocket-book 116. Paul ÅstrÅms FÅrlag Jonsered.
French EB (1991) Archaeology in Greece 1990–91. Archaeological Reports37: 3 – 78.
French EB (1994) Archaeology in Greece 1993–94. Archaeological Reports40: 3 – 84.
Friedman J (1982) Catastrophe and continuity in social evolution. In Renfrew C, Rowlands MJ, Segraves BA (eds) Theory and explanation in archaeology: the Southampton conference: 175–196. Academic Press New York.
Hägg R, Konsola D (eds) (1986) Early Helladic architecture and urbanization. Proceedings of a seminar held at the Swedish Instituteo in Athens, June 8, 1985. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 76. Paul Åströms Förlag Göteborg.
Hood MSF (1961-1962) Stratigraphic excavations at Knossos, 1957–61. Kretika Chronika 15–16: 92–98.
Hood S (1966) The Early and Middle Minoan periods at Knossos. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies London13: 110 – 111.
Jahns S (1990) Preliminary notes on human influence and the history of vegetation in S. Dalmatia and S. Greece. In Bottema S, Entjes-Nieborg G, van Zeist W (eds) Man’s role in the shaping of the eastern Mediterranean Landscape: 333–340. A.A Balkema Rotterdam.
Jameson MH, Runnels CN, van Andel TH (1994) A Greek countryside: the southern Argolid from prehistory to present day. Stanford University Press Stanford.
Kalin RM, McCormac FG, Damon PE, Eastoe CJ & Long A (1995) Intercomparison of high-precision 14C measurements at the University of Arizona and the Queen’s University of Belfast radiocarbon laboratories. Radiocarbon37: 33 – 38.
Karantzali E (1996) Le Bronze Ancien dans les Cyclades et en Crète. BAR International Series 631. Tempus Reparatum Oxford.
Kilian K (1986) The circular building at Tiryns. In Hägg R, Konsola D (eds) Early Helladic architecture and urbanization. Proceedings of a seminar held at the Swedish Institute in Athens, June 8, 1985: 65–71. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 76. Paul Åströms Förlag Goteborg.
Konsola D (1990) Settlement size and the beginning of urbanization. In Darcque P & Treuil R (eds) L’habitat Égéen préhistorique: 463–471. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique Supplement XIX. Boccard Paris.
Korfmann M, Kromer B (1993) Demircihüyük, Besik-Tepe, Troia — Eine Zwischenbilanz zur Chronologie dreier Orte in Westanatolien. Studia Troica 3: 135 – 171.
Kosse K (1994) The evolution of large, complex groups: a hypothesis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology13: 35 – 50.
Laviosa C (1973) L’abitato Pre-Palaziale di Hagia Triadha. Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente50 /51: 503 – 513.
Levi D (1961–1962) Gli scavi a Festò negli anni 1958–60. Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente 39–40: 377–504.
Levi D (1976) Festòs e la civilta’ Minoica. I*. Rome: Instituto per gli studi Micenei ed egeo-anatolici.
Lewthwaite J (1983) Why did civilization not emerge more often? A comparative approach to the development of Minoan Crete. In Krzyszkowska O & Nixon L (eds.), Minoan society. Proceedings of the Cambridge colloquium 1981: 171–183. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
McCormac FG, Baillie MGL, Pilcher JR, Kalin RM (1995) Location-dependent differences in the 14C content of wood. Radiocarbon 37: 395 – 407.
MacGillivray J A, Driessen JM (1990) Minoan settlement at Palaikastro. In Darcque P & Treuil R (eds) L’habitat Égéen préhistorique: 395–412. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément XIX. Boccard Paris.
Manning SW (1994) The emergence of divergence: development and decline on Bronze Age Crete and the Cyclades. In Mathers C & Stoddart S (eds) Development and decline in the Mediterranean Bronze Age: 221–270. John Collis Sheffield.
Manning SW (1995a) The absolute chronology of the Aegean Early Bronze Age: archaeology, radiocarbon and history. Sheffield Academic Press Sheffield.
Manning SW (1995b) Before Daidalos: the origins of complex society, and the genesis of the state on Crete. Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge.
Momigliano N (1991) MMIA pottery from Evans’ excavations at Knossos: a reassessment. Annual of the British School at Athens86: 149 – 271.
Pelon O (1989) Le palais. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique113: 771 - 785.
Peregrine, PN (1992) Mississippian evolution: a world-system perspective. Monograohs in World Archaeology No.9. Prehistory Press Madison.
Pernier L (1935) 1l Palazzo Minoico di Festòs, vol. I. La Libreria Dello Stato Rome.
Persson J (1983) Cyclical change and circular exchange: a re-examination of the Kula Ring. Oceania54: 32 – 47.
Poursat JC (1988) La ville minoenne de Malia: recherches et publications récentes. Revue Archéologiques1: 61 – 82.
Pullen DJ (1985) Social organization in Early Bronze Age Greece: a multidimensional approach. Ph.D. Dissertation, Indiana University. University Microfilms International Ann Arbor.
Pullen DJ (1992) Ox and plow in the Early Bronze Age Aegean. American Journal of Archaeology96: 45 – 54.
Pullen DJ (1994) A lead seal from Tsoungiza, ancient Nemea, and Early Bronze Age Aegean sealing systems. American Journal of Archaeology98: 35 – 52.
Pullen DJ (1995) The pottery of the Neolithic, Early Helladic I, and Early Helladic II periods. In Runnels C, Pullen DJ, Langdon S (eds) Artifact and Assemblage: the finds from a regional survey of the southern Argolid, Greece. Volume I: the prehistoric and Early Iron Age pottery and the lithic artifacts: 6–42. Stanford University Press Stanford.
Ramsey CB (1995) Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon37: 425 – 430.
Renfrew C (1972) The emergence of civilization. The Cyclades and the Aegean in the third millennium B.C. Methuen London.
Renfrew C (1991) The Cycladic spirit: masterpieces from the Nicholas P. Goulandris collection. Thames and Hudson London.
Renfrew C & Cherry JF (eds) (1986) Peer polity interaction and socio-political change. Cambridge University Press Cambridge.
Runnels CN (1985) The Bronze Age flaked-stone industries from Lerna: a preliminary report. Hesperia54: 357 – 391.
Rutter JB (1979) Ceramic change in the Aegean Early Bronze Age. Occasional Paper 5. Institute of Archaeology, University of California Los Angeles.
Rutter JB (1983) Some observations on the Cyclades in the later third and early second millennia BC. American Journal of Archaeology87: 69 – 76.
Rutter JB (1984) The Early Cycladic III gap: what it is and how to go about filling it without making it go away. In MacGillivray JA, Barber RLN (eds) The prehistoric Cyclades. Contributions to a workshop on Cycladic chronology: 95 – 107. Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh.
Rutter JB (1988) Early Helladic III vase painting, ceramic regionalism, and the influence of basketry. In French EB, Wardle KA (eds) Problems in Greek prehistory: 73–89. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
Rutter JB (1993) Review of Aegean prehistory II: the prepalatial Bronze Age of the southern and central Greek mainland. American Journal of Archaeology97: 745 – 797.
Rutter JB (1995) Lerna. A preclassical site in the Argolid. Volume III: the pottery of Lerna IV. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens Princeton.
Rutter JB, Zerner CW (1984) Early Hellado-Minoan contacts. In Hägg R, Marinatos N (eds) The Minoan thalassocracy: myth and reality. Proceedings of the third international symposium at the Swedish Institute in Athens, 31 May-5 June, 1982: 75–83. Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen, 4, XXXII. Paul Åströms Förlag Stockholm.
Sakellarakis J (1977) The Cyclades and Crete. In Thimme J (ed) Art and culture of the Cyclades: 145–154. Trans. Getz-Preziosi P. The University of Chicago Press Chicago.
Saxe AA (1977) On the origin of evolutionary processes. State formation in the Sandwich Islands: a systemic approach. In Hill JN (ed) Explanations of prehistoric change: 105–151. University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque.
Shaw JW (1987) The Early Helladic II Corridor House: development and form. American Journal of Archaeology91: 59 – 79.
Soles JS (1988) Social ranking in prepalatial Cemetries. In French EB, Wardle KA (eds) Problems in Greek prehistory. Papers presented at the centenary conference of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, Manchester April 1986: 49–61. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
Soles JS (1992) The prepalatial cemeteries at Mochlos and Gournia and the house tombs of Bronze Age Crete. Hesperia Supplement 24. American School of Classical Studies at Athens Princeton.
Spence Y (1990) Was there a guarded southern entrance way to the first palace at Mallia? Annual of the British School at Athens85: 369 – 374.
Spencer CS (1993) Human agency, biased transmission, and the cultural evolution of chiefly authority. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology12: 41 – 74.
Stewart ST (1988) Bureaucracy and packaging at Lerna: evidence from the clay sealings in the House of Tiles. American Journal of Archaeology92: 253.
Stos-Gale ZA, Gale N, Gilmore GR (1984) Early Bronze Age Trojan metal sources and Anatolians in the Cyclades. Oxford Journal of Archaeology3: 23 – 43.
Stucynski SL (1982) Cycladic imports in Crete: a brief survey. In Temple University Aegean Symposium 7: 50–59. Philadelphia.
Themelis P (1984) Early Helladic monumental architecture. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung9: 335 - 351.
Touchais G (1989) Chronique des fouilles et decouvertes archéologiques en Grèce en 1988. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique113: 581 – 700.
van Andel TH, Runnels CN, Pope KO (1986) 5000 years of land use and abuse in the southern Argolid, Greece. Hesperia 55: 103–128.
van Andel TH, Zangger E & Demitrack A (1990) Land use and soil erosion in prehistoric and historical Greece. Journal of Field Archaeology17: 379 – 396.
Wagner GA, Lorenz IB (1992) Thermolumineszenz-Datierungen an Keramik vom Besik-Yassitepe. Studia Troica2: 147 – 156.
Warren P (1965) The first Minoan stone vases and Early Minoan chronology. Kretika Chronika19: 7 – 43.
Warren P (1972) Myrtos. An Early Bronze Age settlement in Crete. The British School of Archaeology at Athens/Thames and Hudson London.
Warren PM (1987) The genesis of the Minoan palace. In Högg R, Marinatos N (eds) The function of the Minoan palaces. Proceedings of the fourth international symposium at the Swedish Institute in Athens, 10—16 June, 1984: 47–56. Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen, 4, XXXV. Paul Åsträms Färlag Stockholm.
Warren P (1995) Minoan Crete and Pharaonic Egypt. In Davies WV, Schofield L (eds) Egypt, the Aegean and the Levant: interconnections in the second millennium BC: 1–18. British Museum Publications London.
Warren P, Hankey V (1989) Aegean Bronze Age chronology. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
Watrous LV (1994) Review of Aegean prehistory III: Crete from earliest prehistory through the Protopalatial period. American Journal of Archaeology98: 695 – 753.
Watrous LV et al. (1993) A survey of the western Mesara palain in Crete: preliminary report of the 1984, 1986, and 1987 field seasons. Hesperia62: 191 – 248.
Weiss H (1986) (ed) The origins of cities in dry-farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. Four Quarters Publishing Guilford.
Weiss H, Courty MA, Wetterstrom W, Guichard F, Senior L, Meadow R, Curnow A (1993) The genesis and collapse of third millennium north Mesopotamian civilization. Science261: 995 – 1004.
Weninger B (1995) Stratified 14C dates and ceramic chronologies: case studies for the Early Bronze Age at Troy (Turkey) and Ezero (Bulgaria). Radiocarbon37: 443 – 456.
Whitelaw TM (1983) The settlement at Fournou Korifi Myrtos and aspects of Early Minoan social organization. In Krzyszkowska O, Nixon L (eds) Minoan society. Proceedings of the Cambridge colloquium 1981: 323–345. Bristol Classical Press Bristol.
Wiencke MH (1989) Change in Early Helladic II. American Journal of Archaeology93: 495 – 509.
Wilson DE (1985) The pottery and architecture of the EMIIA West Court House at Knossos. Annual of the British School at Athens80: 281 – 364.
Wilson DE (1994) Knossos before the palaces: an overview of the Early Bronze Age (EMI-III). In Evely D, Hughes-Brock H, Momigliano N (eds) Knossos: a labyrinth of history. Papers in honour of Sinclair Hood: 23–44. The British School at Athens Oxford.
Wilson DE & Eliot M (1984) Ayia Irini III: the last phase of occupation at the EBA settlement. In MacGillivray J A, Barber RLN (eds) The prehistoric Cyclades. Contributions to a workshop on Cycladic chronology: 78 – 87. Department of Classical Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh.
Zangger E (1992) Neolithic to present soil erosion in Greece. In Boardman J, Bell M (eds) Past and present soil erosion: 133–147. Oxbow Oxford.
Zangger E (1993) The geoarchaeology of the Argolid. Mann Berlin.
Zois A (1968) Hyparkhei PM III epokhe. In Pepragmena tou B’ Diethnous Kretologikou Synedriou, vol.A’: 141–156. Athens.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Manning, S.W. (1997). Cultural Change in the Aegean c.2200BC. In: Dalfes, H.N., Kukla, G., Weiss, H. (eds) Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO ASI Series, vol 49. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60616-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60616-8_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64476-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-60616-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive