View source for Minoan civilization

{{Short description|Bronze Age civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands}}
{{Redirect|Minoan}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name        = Minoan civilization
|map         = Map Minoan Crete-en.svg
|mapalt      = 
|majorsites  = [[Knossos]], [[Phaistos]], [[Hagia Triada]], [[Malia (archaeological site)|Malia]], [[Zakros]]
|horizon     = 
|region      = [[Crete]], additional settlements around [[Aegean Sea]]
|period      = [[Aegean civilization|Aegean Bronze Age]]
|dates       = {{circa|3100|1100}}{{nbsp}}BC
|precededby  = [[Neolithic Crete]]
|followedby  = [[Mycenaean Greece]]
}}
{{History of Greece}}
The '''Minoan civilization''' was a [[Bronze Age]] culture which was centered on the island of [[Crete]]. Known for its monumental architecture and [[Minoan art|energetic art]], it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the [[Minoan palace]]s at [[Knossos]] and [[Phaistos]] are popular tourist attractions.

The Minoan civilization developed from the local [[Neolithic Crete|Neolithic]] culture around 3100{{nbsp}}BC, with complex urban settlements beginning around 2000{{nbsp}}BC. After {{circa}}{{nbsp}}1450{{nbsp}}BC, they came under the cultural and perhaps political domination of the mainland [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greeks]], forming a hybrid culture which lasted until around 1100{{nbsp}}BC.

Minoan art included elaborately decorated [[Minoan pottery|pottery]], [[Minoan seals|seals]], [[figurine]]s, and colorful [[fresco]]es. Typical subjects include nature and ritual. Minoan art is often described as having a fantastical or ecstatic quality, with figures rendered in a manner suggesting motion. 

Little is known about the structure of Minoan society. Minoan art contains no unambiguous depiction of a monarch, and textual evidence suggests they may have had some other form of governance. Likewise, it is unclear whether there was ever a unified Minoan state. Religious practices included worship at [[peak sanctuaries]] and [[Sacred caves of Crete|sacred caves]], but nothing is certain regarding their [[pantheon (religion)|pantheon]]. The Minoans constructed enormous labyrinthine buildings which their initial excavators labeled [[Minoan palaces]]. Subsequent research has shown that they served a variety of religious and economic purposes rather than being royal residences, though their exact role in Minoan society is a matter of continuing debate. 

The Minoans traded extensively, exporting agricultural products and luxury crafts in exchange for raw metals which were difficult to obtain on Crete. Through traders and artisans, their cultural influence reached beyond Crete to the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Minoan craftsmen were employed by foreign elites, for instance to paint [[Minoan frescoes from Tell el-Daba|frescoes at Avaris]] in Egypt.

The Minoans developed two [[writing system]]s known as [[Cretan hieroglyphs]] and [[Linear A]]. Because neither script has been fully [[decipherment|deciphered]], the identity of the [[Minoan language]] is unknown. Based on what is known, the language is regarded as unlikely to belong to a well-attested [[language family]] such as [[Indo-European]] or [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]. After 1450 BC, a modified version of Linear A known as [[Linear B]] was used to write [[Mycenaean Greek]], which had become the language of administration on Crete. The [[Eteocretan language]] attested in a few post-Bronze Age inscriptions may be a descendant of the Minoan language.

Largely forgotten after the [[Late Bronze Age collapse]], the Minoan civilization was rediscovered in the early twentieth century through [[archaeology|archaeological excavation]]. The term "Minoan" was coined by [[Arthur Evans]], who excavated at Knossos and recognized it as culturally distinct from the mainland Mycenaean culture. Soon after, [[Federico Halbherr]] and [[Luigi Pernier]] excavated the [[Palace of Phaistos]] and the nearby settlement of [[Hagia Triada]]. A major breakthrough occurred in 1952, when [[Michael Ventris]] deciphered Linear B, drawing on earlier work by [[Alice Kober]]. This decipherment unlocked a crucial source of information on the economics and social organization in the final year of the palace. Minoan sites continue to be excavated—recent discoveries including the [[necropolis]] at [[Armenoi_(archaeological_site)|Armenoi]] and the harbour town of [[Kommos (Crete)|Kommos]].

==Name==
[[File:Knossos bull leaping fresco.jpg|thumb|alt=Fresco of an acrobat straddling a bull, with two helpers|''[[Bull-Leaping Fresco]]'' found at Knossos]]

The modern term "Minoan" is derived from the name of the mythical [[Minos|King Minos]], who the [[Classical Greece|Classical Greeks]] believed to have ruled [[Knossos]] in the distant past. It was popularized by [[Arthur Evans]], possibly drawing on an earlier suggestion by [[Karl Hoeck]]. It is a modern coinage and not used by the Minoans, whose [[Endonym|name for themselves]] is unknown.<ref name=NK>{{cite journal |first1=Nektarios |last1=Karadimas |first2=Nicoletta |last2=Momigliano |author-link2=Nicoletta Momigliano |title=On the Term 'Minoan' before Evans's Work in Crete (1894) |journal=Studi Micenei ed Egeo-anatolici |volume=46 |number=2 |year=2004 |pages=243–258 |url=http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/pdf/Karadimas-2004-SMEA.pdf}}</ref><ref>John Bennet, "Minoan civilization", ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', 3rd ed., p. 985.</ref>

The [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] referred to the Minoans as the {{transliteration|egy|[[wiktionary:kftjw#Proper_noun|kftjw]]}} (vocalized as "{{transliteration|egy|Keftiu}}" in modern [[Egyptian language#Egyptological_pronunciation|Egyptological pronunciation]]). It is not known whether this was an [[exonym]] or if it was an [[endonym]] originating in the [[Minoan language]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kozloff|first=Arielle P.|author-link=Arielle P. Kozloff|title=Amenhotep III: Egypt's Radiant Pharaoh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKsgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-50499-7|page=211}}</ref><ref name="auto">Dickinson, O (1994) p. 248</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wachsmann|first=Shelley|title=Aegeans in the Theban tombs|year=1994|publisher=Peeters|isbn=90-6831-066-6}}</ref><ref name="Strange">Strange, J. ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'' (Leiden: Brill) 1980</ref> Potentially related terms were used by a variety of [[Near Eastern]] cultures, and the [[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]] term [[Caphtor]] has sometimes been identified with Crete.<ref name="Strange">Strange, J. ''Caphtor/Keftiu: A New Investigation'' (Leiden: Brill) 1980</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kozloff|first=Arielle P.|title=Amenhotep III: Egypt's Radiant Pharaoh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKsgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-50499-7|page=211}}</ref><ref name="auto">Dickinson, O (1994) p. 248</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Wachsmann|first=Shelley|title=Aegeans in the Theban tombs|year=1994|publisher=Peeters|isbn=90-6831-066-6}}</ref><ref>[[Edward Wells (theologian)|Edward Wells]], ''An historical geography of the Old and New Testament'', Clarendon Press, 1809</ref>

==Chronology and history==
{{Further|Minoan chronology|Minoan pottery|Minoan eruption#Eruption dating|l3=Dating the Thera eruption}}
{| class="wikitable floatright border: gray solid 1px; text-align: center; background: white;"
|- style="background: #ececec;"
|+Minoan chronology
!Timespan!!colspan=2|Period
|-
| 3100–2650{{nbsp}}BC{{efn|This chronology is based on Manning (2012), which gives absolute dates based on radiocarbon dating.}}
| EM I
| rowspan="4"| Prepalatial
|-
| 2650–2200{{nbsp}}BC
| EM II
|-
| 2200–2100{{nbsp}}BC
| EM III
|-
| 2100–1925{{nbsp}}BC
| MM IA
|-
| 1925–1875{{nbsp}}BC
| MM IB
| rowspan="2"| Protopalatial
|-
| 1875–1750{{nbsp}}BC
| MM II
|-
| 1750–1700{{nbsp}}BC
| MM III
| rowspan="3"| Neopalatial
|-
| 1700–1625{{nbsp}}BC
| LM IA
|-
| 1625–1470{{nbsp}}BC
| LM IB
|-
| 1470–1420{{nbsp}}BC
| LM II
| rowspan="4"| Postpalatial
|-
| 1420–1330{{nbsp}}BC
| LM IIIA
|-
| 1330–1200{{nbsp}}BC
| LM IIIB
|-
| 1200–1075{{nbsp}}BC
| LM IIIC
|}

Two systems of [[Relative dating|relative chronology]] are used for the Minoans. The first, based on [[pottery]] styles, divides Minoan history into three major periods: Early Minoan (EM), Middle Minoan (MM) and Late Minoan (LM). These periods can be divided using Roman numerals (e.g. EM I, EM II, EM III), which can be further divided using capital letters (e.g. LM IIIA, LMIIIB, LM IIIC). An alternative system, proposed by Greek archaeologist [[Nikolaos Platon]], divides Minoan history into four periods termed Prepalatial, Protopalatial, Neopalatial, and Postpalatial.

Establishing an [[absolute dating|absolute chronology]] has proved difficult. Archaeologists have attempted to determine calendar dates by synchronizing the periods of Minoan history with those of their better understood contemporaries. For example, Minoan artifacts from the LM IB period have been found in [[18th Dynasty]] contexts in Egypt, for which [[Egyptian chronology]] provides calendar dates. However, dates determined in this manner do not always match the results of [[carbon dating]] and other methods based on [[natural science]]. Much of the controversy concerns the dating of the [[Minoan eruption|eruption of Thera]], which is known to have occurred towards the end of the LM IA period. While carbon dating places this event (and thus LM IA) around 1600 BC, synchronism with Egyptian records would place it roughly a century later.<ref name="Manning">{{cite journal| last=Manning|first=Sturt W|author2=Ramsey, CB |author3=Kutschera, W |author4=Higham, T |author5=Kromer, B |author6=Steier, P |author7=Wild, EM|title=Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700–1400{{nbsp}}BC|journal=Science|volume=312|issue=5773|pages=565–569|year=2006|doi=10.1126/science.1125682|pmid=16645092|bibcode = 2006Sci...312..565M |s2cid=21557268}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last=Friedrich|first=Walter L|author2=Kromer, B |author3=Friedrich, M |author4=Heinemeier, J |author5=Pfeiffer, T |author6=Talamo, S |title=Santorini Eruption Radiocarbon Dated to 1627–1600 B.C|journal=Science|volume=312|issue=5773|page=548|year=2006|doi=10.1126/science.1125087|pmid=16645088|s2cid=35908442}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.therafoundation.org/articles/chronololy/ |website=Thera Foundation |title=Chronology|access-date=2009-01-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=New Carbon Dates Support Revised History of Ancient Mediterranean|author=Balter, M|journal=Science|volume=312|issue=5773|year=2006|pages=508–509|doi=10.1126/science.312.5773.508|pmid=16645054|s2cid=26804444|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Warren PM|title=Timelines: Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 149)|veditors=Czerny E, Hein I, Hunger H, Melman D, Schwab A |publisher=Peeters |location=Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |year=2006|pages=2: 305–321 |isbn=978-90-429-1730-9 }}</ref>

=== {{anchor|Historical overview}} Origins ===
{{main|Neolithic Crete}}
Although stone-tool evidence suggests that [[hominin]]s may have reached Crete as early as 130,000 years ago, evidence for the first anatomically modern human presence dates to 10,000–12,000 [[YBP]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html Wilford, J.N., "On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners"], ''The New York Times,'' Feb 2010</ref><ref>[https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/ancient-seafarers/ Bowner, B., "Hominids Went Out of Africa on Rafts"], ''Wired,'' Jan 2010</ref> The oldest evidence of modern human habitation on Crete is pre-ceramic [[Neolithic]] farming-community remains which date to about 7000{{nbsp}}BC.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Broodbank | first1 = C. | last2 = Strasser | first2 = T. | year = 1991 | title = Migrant farmers and the Neolithic colonisation of Crete | journal = Antiquity | volume = 65 | issue = 247| pages = 233–245 | doi=10.1017/s0003598x00079680| s2cid = 163054761 }}</ref> A comparative study of [[DNA]] [[haplogroups]] of modern Cretan men showed that a male founder group, from [[Anatolia]] or the [[Levant]], is shared with the Greeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dirkschweitzer.net/E3b-papers/KingAHG-08-72-205.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305052142/http://dirkschweitzer.net/E3b-papers/KingAHG-08-72-205.pdf|title=R.J. King, S.S. Ozcan et al., "Differential Y-chromosome Anatolian influences on the Greek and Cretan Neolithic"|archive-date=March 5, 2009}}</ref> The Neolithic population lived in open villages. Fishermen's huts were found on the shores, and the fertile [[Messara Plain]] was used for agriculture.<ref name="bengtson">Hermann Bengtson: ''Griechische Geschichte'', C.H. Beck, München, 2002. 9th Edition. {{ISBN|340602503X}}. pp. 8–15</ref>

===Early Minoan===
[[File:AMC_Early_Minoan_bird-shaped_vessel.jpg|thumb|alt=An Early Minoan vessel shaped like a bird.|An Early Minoan bird-shaped vessel.]]

Early Minoan society developed largely continuously from local Neolithic predecessors, with some cultural influence and perhaps migration from eastern populations. This period saw a gradual shift from localized clan-based villages towards the more urbanized and stratified society of later periods.<ref name=TomkinsSchoepHandbook>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Tomkins |first1=Peter|last2=Schoep|first2=Ilse|year=2012 |title=Crete |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=66–82 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0005|isbn=978-0-19-987360-9}}</ref>

'''EM I''' (c. 3100-2650 BC) is marked by the appearance of the first painted ceramics. Continuing a trend that began during the Neolithic, settlements grew in size and complexity, and spread from fertile plains towards highland sites and islands as the Minoans learned to exploit less hospitable terrain.<ref name=TomkinsSchoepHandbook/><ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=35–38|isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref>

'''EM II''' (c. 2650-2200 BC) has been termed an international era. Trade intensified and Minoan ships began sailing beyond the Aegean to Egypt and Syria, possibly enabled by the invention of masted ships. Minoan material culture shows increased international influence, for instance in the adoption of [[Minoan seals]] based on the older [[Ancient Near Eastern seals and sealing practices|Near Eastern seal]]. Minoan settlements grew, some doubling in size, and monumental buildings were constructed at sites that would later become palaces.<ref name=TomkinsSchoepHandbook/><ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=38–48|isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref>

'''EM III''' (c. 2200-2100 BC) saw the continuation of these trends.

===Middle Minoan===

[[File:Palace_of_Knossos_Crete_Greece_(44812341684).jpg|thumb|alt=West facade of the Palace at Knossos|The western façade of the Palace at Knossos. Like other palaces, it was built during the Middle Minoan era but continually renovated throughout its existence.]]

'''MM I''' (c. 2100–1875 BC) saw the emergence of Protopalatial society. During MM IA (c. 2100-1925 BC), populations increased dramatically at sites such as Knossos, Phaistos, and Malia, accompanied by major construction projects. During MM IB (c. 1925-1875 BC), the first palaces were built at these sites, in areas which had been used for communal ceremonies since the Neolithic. Middle Minoan artisans developed new colorful paints and adopted the [[potter's wheel]] during MM IB, producing wares such as [[Kamares ware]].<ref name=TomkinsSchoepHandbook/><ref name=SchoepHandbook>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schoep|first=Ilse|year=2012 |title=Crete |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=113–125 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0008|isbn=978-0-19-987360-9}}</ref><ref name="Minoan Pottery">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hallager|first=Birgitta|year=2012 |title=Minoan Pottery |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=405–414 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0030|isbn=978-0-19-987360-9}}</ref>

'''MM II''' (c. 1875–1700 BC) saw the development of the Minoan writing systems, [[Cretan hieroglyphs|Cretan hieroglyphic]] and [[Linear A]]. It ended with mass destructions generally attributed to earthquakes, though violent destruction has been considered as an alternative explanation.<ref name=SchoepHandbook /><ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=52–76|isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref>

'''MM III''' (c. 1750–1700 BC) marks the beginning of the Neopalatial period. Most of the palaces were rebuilt with architectural innovations, with the notable exception of Phaistos. Cretan hieroglyphs were abandoned in favor of Linear A, and Minoan cultural influence becomes significant in mainland Greece.<ref name=SchoepHandbook/><ref name=welwei>Karl-Wilhelm Welwei: ''Die Griechische Frühzeit'', C.H. Beck, München, 2002. {{ISBN|3406479855}}. pp. 12–18</ref>

===Late Minoan===

The Late Minoan period was an eventful time that saw profound change in Minoan society. Many of the most recognizable Minoan artifacts date from this time, for instance the [[Minoan snake goddess figurines|snake goddess figurines]], [[La Parisienne (fresco)|La Parisienne Fresco]], and the [[Minoan pottery#Marine style|marine style]] of pottery decoration.<ref name="HallagerHandbook">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Hallager |first1=Erik|year=2012 |title=Crete |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=149–159 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0011|isbn=978-0-19-987360-9}}</ref>

'''Late Minoan I''' (c. 1700-1470 BC) was a continuation of the prosperous Neopalatial culture. A notable event from this era was the [[Minoan eruption|eruption of the Thera volcano]], which occurred around 1600 BC towards the end of the LM IA subperiod.<ref name="HallagerHandbook" /> One of the largest volcanic explosions in recorded history, it ejected about {{convert|60|to|100|km3|cumi}} of material and was measured at 7 on the [[Volcanic Explosivity Index]].<ref name="McCoy2002">{{cite conference |author=McCoy, FW |author2=Dunn, SE|title=Modelling the Climatic Effects of the LBA Eruption of Thera: New Calculations of Tephra Volumes May Suggest a Significantly Larger Eruption than Previously Reported|book-title=Chapman Conference on Volcanism and the Earth's Atmosphere |url=http://www.agu.org/meetings/cc02babstracts/McCoy.pdf|publisher=American Geographical Union|year=2002|location=Thera, Greece|access-date=2007-05-29}}</ref><ref name="Sigurdsson">{{cite journal |vauthors=Sigurdsson H, Carey S, Alexandri M, Vougioukalakis G, Croff K, Roman C, Sakellariou D, Anagnostou C, Rousakis G, Ioakim C, Gogou A, Ballas D, Misaridis T, Nomikou P |year=2006 |title=Marine Investigations of Greece's Santorini or Akrotiri Volcanic Field |journal=Eos |volume=87 |issue=34 |pages=337–348 |url=http://www.uri.edu/endeavor/thera/EOS.pdf |doi=10.1029/2006EO340001 |bibcode=2006EOSTr..87..337S |s2cid=55457903 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630233518/http://www.uri.edu/endeavor/thera/EOS.pdf |archive-date=June 30, 2007 }}</ref> While the eruption destroyed [[Cycladic]] settlements such as [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] and led to the abandonment of some sites in northeast Crete, other Minoan sites such as Knossos continued to prosper. The post-eruption LM IB period (c.1625-1470) saw ambitious new building projects, booming international trade, and artistic developments such as the [[Minoan pottery#Marine style|marine style]].<ref name="HallagerHandbook" />

[[File:AMI_-_Oktopusvase.jpg|thumb|alt=A Minoan vase featuring an octopus.|A [[Minoan pottery#Marine style|Marine Style]] vase from {{circa|1500 BC}} found in Palaikastro, and commonly known as the ''Octopus Vase''; typical of the Late Minoan IB period that followed the eruption of Thera. It is currently in the [[Heraklion Museum]].]]

Late Minoan IB (c. 1625-1470 BC) ended with severe destructions throughout the island, marking the end of Neopalatial society. These destructions are thought to have been deliberate, since they spared certain sites in a manner inconsistent with natural disasters. For instance, the town at Knossos burned while the palace itself did not. The causes of these destructions have been a perennial topic of debate. While some researchers attributed them to Mycenaean conquerors, others have argued that they were the result of internal upheavals. Similarly, while some researchers have attempted to link them to lingering environmental disruption from the Thera eruption, others have argued that the two events are too distant in time for any causal relation.<ref name="HallagerHandbook" />

'''Late Minoan II''' (c. 1470-1420 BC) is sparsely represented in the archaeological record, but appears to have been a period of decline.<ref name="HallagerHandbook" />

'''Late Minoan III''' (c. 1420-1075 BC) shows profound social and political changes. Among the palaces, only Knossos remained in use, though it too was destroyed by LM IIIB2. The language of administration shifted to [[Mycenaean Greek]] and material culture shows increased mainland influence, reflecting the rise of a Greek-speaking elite.<ref name="HallagerHandbook" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=188–201|isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref> In Late Minoan IIIC (c. 1200-1075 BC), coinciding with the wider [[Late Bronze Age collapse]], coastal settlements were abandoned in favor of defensible locations on higher ground. These small villages, some of which grew out of earlier mountain shrines, continued aspects of recognizably Minoan culture until the [[Greek Dark Ages|Early Iron Age]].<ref name="HallagerHandbook" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=197–201 |isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref>

==Geography==

The Minoan Civilization was centered on the island of [[Crete]], with additional settlements around the [[Aegean Sea]]. Crete is located in the south of the Aegean, situated along maritime trade routes that connect [[Europe]], [[Africa]], and the [[Middle East]]. Because it straddles the Mediterranean and African climate zones, with land at a variety of elevations, it provides a diverse array of natural resources. However, it is notably poor in metals, a fact believed to have spurred the Minoans' interest in international trade. The island is seismically active, with signs of earthquake damage at many Minoan sites. The majority of Minoan sites are found in central and eastern Crete, with few in the western part of the island, especially to the south.<ref>{{cite book |last=Watrous |first=L. Vance |year=2021 |title=Minoan Crete: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=4–13|isbn=978-1-108-44049-3}}</ref>

===Major settlements===

[[File:Knossos - North Portico 02.jpg|thumb|The Palace of [[Knossos]], the largest Minoan palace]]

* [[Knossos]] – the largest<ref name="Thera and the Aegean World III">{{cite web|url=http://www.therafoundation.org/articles/economysociety/theislesofcretetheminoanthalassocracyrevisited|title=Thera and the Aegean World III|access-date=2009-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425083244/http://www.therafoundation.org/articles/economysociety/theislesofcretetheminoanthalassocracyrevisited|archive-date=2010-04-25}}</ref> Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete. Knossos had an estimated population of 1,300 to 2,000 in 2500{{nbsp}}BC, 18,000 in 2000{{nbsp}}BC, 20,000 to 100,000 in 1600{{nbsp}}BC and 30,000 in 1360{{nbsp}}BC.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6rRTWv8zY0C&pg=PT48|title=The Knossos Labyrinth|isbn=978-1-134-96785-8|last1=Castleden|first1=Rodney|date=2012-10-12|publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68|title=Minoan Life in Bronze Age Crete|isbn=978-1-134-88064-5|last1=Castleden|first1=Rodney|year=2002|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
* [[Phaistos]] – the second-largest<ref name="Thera and the Aegean World III"/> palatial building on the island, excavated by the Italian school shortly after Knossos
* [[Hagia Triada]] – town and administrative center near Phaistos which has yielded the largest number of [[Linear A]] tablets.
* [[Kommos (Crete)|Kommos]] – harbour town serving Phaistos and Hagia Triada, with civic buildings mirroring palatial architecture
* [[Malia (archaeological site)|Malia]] – the subject of French excavations, a palatial center which provides a look into the proto-palatial period
* [[Kato Zakros]] – sea-side palatial site excavated by Greek archaeologists in the far east of the island, also known as "Zakro" in archaeological literature
* [[Galatas Palace|Galatas]] – confirmed as a palatial site during the early 1990s
*[[Kydonia]] (modern [[Chania]]), the only palatial site in West Crete
* [[Gournia]] – town site excavated in the first quarter of the 20th century
* [[Myrtos Pyrgos|Pyrgos]] – early Minoan site in southern Crete
* [[Vasiliki, Lasithi|Vasiliki]] – early eastern Minoan site which gives its name to distinctive ceramic ware
* [[Fournou Korifi|Fournou Korfi]] – southern site
* [[Pseira]] – island town with ritual sites
* [[Mount Juktas]] – the greatest Minoan peak sanctuary, associated with the palace of Knossos<ref>Donald W. Jones (1999) Peak Sanctuaries and Sacred Caves in Minoan Crete {{ISBN|91-7081-153-9}}</ref>
* [[Arkalochori]] – site of the [[Arkalochori Axe]]
* [[Karfi]] – refuge site, one of the last Minoan sites
* [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] – settlement on the island of [[Santorini]] (Thera), near the site of the [[Thera Eruption]]
* [[Zominthos]] – mountainous city in the northern foothills of [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida]]

[[File:Ship procession fresc, Akrotiri, 17th c BC, PMTh, 226371.jpg|thumb|alt=Colorful, detailed fresco with people and animals|Detail of [[Minoan painting]], from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]], the ''Ship Procession'']]

==={{anchor|Minoans beyond Crete}}Beyond Crete===

[[File:Minoan copper ingot from Zakros, Crete.jpg|thumb|alt=Rectangular copper, oxidized green|Minoan [[copper]] [[ingot]]]]

The Minoans were traders, and their cultural contacts reached [[Egypt]], [[Cyprus]], [[Canaan]] and the Levantine coast and Anatolia. Minoan-style frescoes have been found at elite residences in [[Avaris]] and [[Tel Kabri]]. Minoan techniques and ceramic styles had varying degrees of influence on [[Helladic period|Helladic Greece]]. Along with Santorini, Minoan settlements are found<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Ho9HcwrVkwC&pg=PA114|title=Interaction and Acculturation in the Mediterranean: Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Mediterranean Pre- and Protohistory, Amsterdam, 19–23 November 1980|first1=Jan G. P.|last1=Best|first2=Nanny M. W. de|last2=Vries|date=1980|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=978-90-6032-194-2}}</ref> at [[Kastri, Kythera]], an island near the Greek mainland influenced by the Minoans from the mid-third millennium{{nbsp}}BC (EMII) to its Mycenaean occupation in the 13th century.<ref>Hägg and Marinatos 1984; Hardy (ed.) 1984; Broadbank 2004</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Minoan Colonialism|first=Keith|last=Branigan|date=1981|volume=76|pages=23–33|doi=10.1017/s0068245400019444|jstor=30103026|journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens|s2cid=246244704 }}</ref> Minoan strata replaced a mainland-derived early [[Bronze Age]] culture, the earliest Minoan settlement outside Crete.<ref>J. N. Coldstream and G. L. Huxley, ''Kythera: Excavations and Studies Conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the British School at Athens'' (London: Faber & Faber) 1972.</ref>

The Cyclades were in the Minoan cultural orbit and, closer to Crete, the islands of [[Karpathos]], [[Saria Island|Saria]] and [[Kasos]] also contained middle-Bronze Age (MMI-II) Minoan colonies or settlements of Minoan traders. Most were abandoned in LMI, but Karpathos recovered and continued its Minoan culture until the end of the Bronze Age.<ref>E. M. Melas, ''The Islands of Karpathos, Saros and Kasos in the Neolithic and Bronze Age'' (Studies in Mediterranean archaeology '''68''') (Gothenburg) 1985.</ref> Other supposed Minoan colonies, such as that hypothesized by [[Adolf Furtwängler]] on [[Aegina]], were later dismissed by scholars.<ref>James Penrose Harland, ''Prehistoric Aigina: A History of the Island in the Bronze Age'', ch. V. (Paris) 1925.</ref> However, there was a Minoan colony at [[Ialysos]] on [[Rhodes]].<ref>Arne Furumark, "The settlement at Ialysos and Aegean history c. 1500–1400 B.B.", in ''Opuscula archaeologica'' '''6''' (Lund) 1950; T. Marketou, "New Evidence on the Topography and Site History of Prehistoric Ialysos." in Soren Dietz and Ioannis Papachristodoulou (eds.), ''Archaeology in the Dodecanese'' (1988:28–31).</ref>

[[File:Cretans Bringing Gifts, Tomb of Rekhmire.jpg|thumb|left|Cretans ({{transliteration|egy|kftjw}}) bringing gifts to Egypt, in the [[TT100|Tomb of Rekhmire]], under Pharaoh [[Thutmosis III]] (c. 1479-1425{{nbsp}}BC)]]
Minoan cultural influence indicates an orbit extending through the Cyclades to Egypt and Cyprus. Fifteenth-century{{nbsp}}BC paintings in [[Thebes, Egypt]] depict Minoan-appearing individuals bearing gifts. Inscriptions describing them as coming from ''keftiu'' ("islands in the middle of the sea") may refer to gift-bringing merchants or officials from Crete.<ref name="auto"/>

Some locations on Crete indicate that the Minoans were an "outward-looking" society.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MeIU7DNjERoC&pg=PA178|title=Imports and Immigrants: Near Eastern Contacts with Iron Age Crete|first=Gail L.|last=Hoffman|date=1997|publisher=University of Michigan Press|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-472-10770-4}}</ref> The neo-palatial site of [[Kato Zakros]] is located within 100 meters of the modern shoreline in a bay. Its large number of workshops and wealth of site materials indicate a possible ''[[entrepôt]]'' for trade. Such activities are seen in artistic representations of the sea, including the ''Ship Procession'' or "Flotilla" fresco in room five of the West House at [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Warren|first=Peter|date=1979|title=The Miniature Fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera, and Its Aegean Setting|journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies|volume=99|pages=115–129|doi=10.2307/630636|issn=0075-4269|jstor=630636|s2cid=161908616 }}</ref>

In 2024, archaeologists discovered a Minoan bronze dagger with silver rivets in an ancient shipwreck at [[Kumluca]] in [[Antalya Province]]. According to the researchers, the discovery highlights the cultural and commercial exchanges in the Mediterranean during the bronze age.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/09/a-dagger-from-the-minoan-civilization-of-crete-found-in-a-bronze-age-shipwreck/ |title=A Dagger from the Minoan Civilization of Crete Found in a Bronze Age Shipwreck|date=4 September 2024 |access-date=2024-09-04|archive-date=2024-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240907084434/https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/09/a-dagger-from-the-minoan-civilization-of-crete-found-in-a-bronze-age-shipwreck/}}</ref>
{{clear}}

=={{anchor|Painting}}Art==
{{main|Minoan art}}
{{Wide image|Wall painting of cult procession from Knossos (Corridor of Procession) - Heraklion AM - 01.jpg|950|Procession fresco from Knossos; reconstructed by [[Émile Gilliéron]]}}
Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship. [[Sinclair Hood]] described an "essential quality of the finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions".<ref>Hood (1978), 56</ref> It forms part of the wider grouping of [[Aegean art]], and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over [[Cycladic art]]. Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are [[Minoan pottery|pottery]], intricately carved [[Minoan seals]], palace [[fresco]]s which include landscapes (but are often mostly "reconstructed"), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork.

The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later [[Ancient Greek art]] has been much discussed. It clearly dominated [[Mycenaean art]] and [[Cycladic art]] of the same periods,<ref>Hood (1978), 17-18, 23-23</ref> even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the [[Greek Dark Ages]] after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece.<ref>Hood (1978), 240-241</ref>
[[File:Akrotiri Spring Fresco room.jpg|thumb|The ''Spring Fresco'' from Akrotiri, Thera, dated to c. 16th century BC. It is currently in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Greece]].]]
Minoan art has a variety of subject-matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes. [[Bull-leaping#Minoan Crete|Bull-leaping]] appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures is often tentative,<ref>Gates (2004), 33-34, 41</ref> with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy or devotees.<ref>e.g. Hood (1978), 53, 55, 58, 110</ref> Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine.<ref>Chapin, 49-51</ref>

Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the [[Marine Style]] is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including [[octopus]] spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes;<ref>Hood (1978), 37-38</ref> sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market, or Mycenaean overlords of Crete.

While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with [[Ancient Egyptian art]] they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic.<ref>Hood (1978), 56, 233-235</ref> In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures, though the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally; but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts.<ref>Hood (1978), 235-236</ref>

What is called [[landscape painting]] is found in both frescos and on painted pots, and sometimes in other media, but most of the time this consists of plants shown fringing a scene, or dotted around within it. There is a particular visual convention where the surroundings of the main subject are laid out as though seen from above, though individual specimens are shown in profile. This accounts for the rocks being shown all round a scene, with flowers apparently growing down from the top.<ref>Hood (1978), 49-50, 235-236; Chapin, 47 and throughout</ref> The seascapes surrounding some scenes of fish and of boats, and in the ''Ship Procession'' miniature fresco from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]], land with a settlement as well, give a wider landscape than is usual.<ref>Hood (1978), 63-64</ref>
{{Wide image|AKROTIRI SHIP-PROCESSION-FULL.jpg|950|"Ship Procession" fresco, from Akrotiri}}

The largest and best collection of Minoan art is in the [[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]] ("AMH") near [[Knossos]], on the northern coast of Crete.

===Pottery===
{{Main|Minoan pottery}}
Many different styles of potted wares and techniques of production are observable throughout the history of Crete. Early Minoan ceramics were characterized by patterns of [[spiral]]s, [[triangle]]s, curved lines, [[cross]]es, [[fish bone]]s, and beak-spouts. However, while many of the artistic motifs are similar in the Early Minoan period, there are many differences that appear in the reproduction of these techniques throughout the island which represent a variety of shifts in taste as well as in power structures.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Minoans: Life in Bronze Age|last=Castleden|first=Rodney|publisher=Routledge|year=1993|page=106}}</ref> There were also many small [[terracotta]] figurines.

During the Middle Minoan period, naturalistic designs (such as fish, squid, birds and lilies) were common. In the Late Minoan period, flowers and animals were still characteristic but more variety existed. However, in contrast to later [[Ancient Greek vase painting]], paintings of human figures are extremely rare,<ref>Hood (1978), 34, 42, 43</ref> and those of land mammals not common until late periods. Shapes and ornament were often borrowed from metal tableware that has largely not survived, while painted decoration probably mostly derives from frescos.<ref>Hood (1978), 27</ref>

===Jewellery===
Minoan jewellery has mostly been recovered from graves, and until the later periods much of it consists of [[diadem]]s and ornaments for women's hair, though there are also the universal types of rings, bracelets, armlets and necklaces, and many thin pieces that were sewn onto clothing. In the earlier periods gold was the main material, typically hammered very thin.<ref name="Hood 1978, 188-190"/> but later it seemed to become scarce.<ref>Hood (1978), 205-206</ref>

The Minoans created elaborate metalwork with imported gold and copper. Bead necklaces, bracelets and hair ornaments appear in the frescoes,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://university.langantiques.com/index.php/Greek_Jewelry|title=Greek Jewelry – AJU|access-date=2016-04-06|archive-date=2016-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423072032/http://university.langantiques.com/index.php/Greek_Jewelry}}</ref> and many [[labrys]] pins survive. The Minoans mastered [[Granulation (jewellery)|granulation]], as indicated by the [[Malia Pendant]], a gold pendant featuring bees on a honeycomb.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nelson|first1=E Charles|last2=Mavrofridis|first2=Georgios|last3=Anagnostopoulos|first3=Ioannis Th|title=Natural History of a Bronze Age Jewel Found in Crete: The Malia Pendant|date=2020-09-30|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003581520000475/type/journal_article|journal=The Antiquaries Journal|volume=101|language=en|pages=67–78|doi=10.1017/S0003581520000475|s2cid=224985281|issn=0003-5815|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This was overlooked by the 19th-century looters of a royal burial site they called the "Gold Hole".<ref>Hood (1978), 194-195</ref>

===Weapons===
[[File:Bronzedolch Malia 01.jpg|thumb|Dagger with gold hilt and bronze blade, MM, AMH]]
Fine decorated bronze weapons have been found in Crete, especially from LM periods, but they are far less prominent than in the remains of warrior-ruled Mycenae, where the famous shaft-grave burials contain many very richly decorated swords and [[dagger]]s. In contrast spears and "slashing-knives" tend to be "severely functional".<ref>Hood (1978), 173-175, 175 quoted</ref> Many of the decorated weapons were probably made either in Crete, or by Cretans working on the mainland.<ref>Hood (1978), 175</ref> Daggers are often the most lavishly decorated, with gold hilts that may be set with jewels, and the middle of the blade decorated with a variety of techniques.<ref>Hood (1978), 176-177</ref>
[[File:Oreficeria funebre micenea, XVI sec. ac., fodero di pugnale con decorazioni in oro 02.JPG|thumb|Blade of the "Lion Hunt Dagger", [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]

The most famous of these are a few inlaid with elaborate scenes in gold and silver set against a black (or now black) "[[niello]]" background, whose actual material and technique have been much discussed. These have long thin scenes running along the centre of the blade, which show the violence typical of the art of Mycenaean Greece, as well as a sophistication in both technique and figurative imagery that is startlingly original in a Greek context.

===Metal vessels===

[[File:Golden cup from Vafio 1500 to 1450 BC, NAMA 1759 080874.jpg|thumb|Golden cup from a LH&nbsp;IIA Mycenaean grave at Vapheio, one of a pair known as the "[[Vaphio|Vapheio Cups]]". This cup is believed to be of Minoan manufacture while its twin is thought to be Mycenaean. [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]].]]

Metal vessels were produced in Crete from at least as early as EM II (c. 2500{{nbsp}}BC) in the Prepalatial period through to LM IA (c. 1450{{nbsp}}BC) in the Postpalatial period and perhaps as late as LM IIIB/C (c. 1200{{nbsp}}BC),<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hemingway|first1=Séan|title=Minoan Metalworking in the Postpalatial Period: A Deposit of Metallurgical Debris from Palaikastro|journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens|date=1 January 1996|volume=91|pages=213–252|doi=10.1017/s0068245400016488|jstor=30102549|s2cid=127346339 }}</ref> although it is likely that many of the vessels from these later periods were heirlooms from earlier periods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rehak|first1=Paul|editor1-last=Laffineur|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Betancourt|editor2-first=Philip P.|title=TEXNH. Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age / Artisanat et artisans en Égée à l'âge du Bronze: Proceedings of the 6th International Aegean Conference / 6e Rencontre égéenne internationale, Philadelphia, Temple University, 18–21 April 1996|date=1997|publisher=Université de Liège, Histoire de l'art et archéologie de la Grèce antique|location=Liège|isbn=978-1-935488-11-8|page=145|chapter=Aegean Art Before and After the LM IB Cretan Destructions}}</ref> The earliest were probably made exclusively from [[precious metal]]s, but from the Protopalatial period (MM IB – MM IIA) they were also produced in [[arsenical bronze]] and, subsequently, tin [[bronze]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Clarke|first1=Christina F.|title=The Manufacture of Minoan Metal Vessels: Theory and Practice|date=2013|publisher=Åströms Förlag|location=Uppsala|isbn=978-91-7081-249-1|page=1}}</ref> The [[archaeological record]] suggests that mostly cup-type forms were created in precious metals,<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|1977}}</ref> but the corpus of bronze vessels was diverse, including cauldrons, pans, [[hydria]]s, bowls, pitchers, basins, cups, ladles and lamps.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Matthäus|first1=Hartmut|title=Die Bronzegefässe der kretisch-mykenischen Kultur|date=1980|publisher=C.H. Beck|location=München|isbn=978-3-406-04002-3}}</ref> The Minoan metal vessel tradition influenced that of the Mycenaean culture on [[mainland Greece]], and they are often regarded as the same tradition.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Catling|first1=Hector W.|author-link1=Hector Catling|title=Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean World|date=1964|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|page=187}}</ref> Many precious metal vessels found on mainland Greece exhibit Minoan characteristics, and it is thought that these were either imported from Crete or made on the mainland by Minoan metalsmiths working for Mycenaean [[patronage|patrons]] or by Mycenaean smiths who had trained under Minoan masters.<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|1977|pages=328–352}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Agriculture and subsistence}}Agriculture and cuisine==

{{see also|Cretan cuisine}}
[[File:Campstool fresco 1.jpg|thumb|The mostly reconstructed "Campstool [[Fresco]]" from Knossos]]
[[File:Zakros bull's head rhyton archnmus Heraklion.jpg|thumb|Bull [[rhyton]] from [[Kato Zakros]]]]
The Minoans raised [[cattle]], [[Sheep farming|sheep]], [[Pig farming|pig]]s and [[goat]]s, and grew [[wheat]], [[barley]], [[vetch]] and [[chickpea]]s. They also [[Viticulture|cultivated grapes]], [[ficus|figs]] and [[olive]]s, grew [[poppy|poppies]] for [[Poppy seed|seed]] and perhaps opium. The Minoans also [[apiculture|domesticated bee]]s.<ref name="Sinclair Hood 1971">[[Sinclair Hood|Hood, Sinclair]] (1971) "The Minoans; the story of Bronze Age Crete"</ref>

Vegetables, including [[lettuce]], [[celery]], [[asparagus]] and [[carrot]]s, grew wild on Crete. [[Pear]], [[quince]], and olive trees were also native. [[Date palm]] trees and cats (for hunting) were imported from Egypt.<ref>Hood (1971), 87</ref> The Minoans adopted [[pomegranate]]s from the Near East, but not [[lemon]]s and [[orange (fruit)|oranges]].

They may have practiced [[polyculture]],<ref>However, [[Hamilakis]] raised doubts in 2007 that systematic polyculture was practiced on Crete. (Hamilakis, Y. (2007) [https://archive.today/20130105122117/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119953774/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Wiley.com]</ref> and their varied, healthy diet resulted in a population increase. Polyculture theoretically maintains soil fertility and protects against losses due to crop failure. Linear B tablets indicate the importance of orchards ([[Common fig|figs]], olives and grapes) in processing crops for "secondary products".<ref>Sherratt, A. (1981) ''Plough and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution''</ref> [[Olive oil]] in Cretan or [[Mediterranean cuisine]] is comparable to butter in northern European cuisine.<ref>Hood (1971), 86</ref> The process of fermenting wine from grapes was probably a factor of the "Palace" economies; wine would have been a trade commodity and an item of domestic consumption.<ref>[[Hamilakis]], Y (1999) ''Food Technologies/Technologies of the Body: The Social Context of Wine and Oil Production and Consumption in Bronze Age Crete'' [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2023344]</ref> Farmers used wooden [[plow]]s, bound with leather to wooden handles and pulled by pairs of [[donkey]]s or [[ox]]en.

Seafood was also important in Cretan cuisine. The prevalence of [[Mollusca#Uses by humans|edible molluscs]] in site material<ref>Dickinson, O (1994) ''The Aegean Bronze Age'' p. 28)</ref> and artistic representations of marine fish and animals (including the distinctive [[Marine Style]] pottery, such as the LM IIIC "Octopus" [[stirrup jar]]), indicate appreciation and occasional use of fish by the economy. However, scholars believe that these resources were not as significant as grain, olives and animal produce. "Fishing was one of the major activities...but there is as yet no evidence for the way in which they organized their fishing."<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 | title=Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete| isbn=978-1-134-88064-5| last1=Castleden| first1=Rodney| date=2002| publisher=Routledge}}</ref> An intensification of agricultural activity is indicated by the construction of terraces and dams at Pseira in the Late Minoan period.
[[File:P1010596 crop.jpg|thumb|The (incomplete) ''[[Harvester Vase]]'', [[soapstone]], LM I.<ref>Hood (1978), 145–146; [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/harvester-vase German, Senta, "The Harvester Vase"], Khan Academy</ref>]]
Cretan cuisine included wild game: Cretans ate wild deer, [[wild boar]] and meat from livestock. Wild game is now extinct on Crete.<ref>Hood (1971), 83</ref> A matter of controversy is whether Minoans made use of the indigenous Cretan megafauna, which are typically thought to have been extinct considerably earlier at 10,000{{nbsp}}BC. This is in part due to the possible presence of [[dwarf elephant]]s in contemporary Egyptian art.<ref>Marco Masseti, Atlas of terrestrial mammals of the Ionian and Aegean islands, Walter de Gruyter, 30/10/2012</ref>

Not all plants and flora were purely functional, and arts depict scenes of lily-gathering in green spaces. The fresco known as the ''Sacred Grove'' at Knossos depicts women facing left, flanked by trees. Some scholars have suggested that it is a harvest festival or ceremony to honor the fertility of the soil. Artistic depictions of farming scenes also appear on the ''[[Harvester Vase]]'' (an egg-shaped [[rhyton]]), which depicts 27 men led by another carrying bunches of sticks to beat ripe olives from the trees.<ref>Hood (1978), 145-146; Honour and Fleming, 55-56; [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/harvester-vase "The Harvester Vase"], German, Senta, [[Khan Academy]]</ref>

The discovery of storage areas in the palace compounds has prompted debate. At the second "palace" at Phaistos, rooms on the west side of the structure have been identified as a storage area. Jars, jugs and vessels have been recovered in the area, indicating the complex's possible role as a re-distribution center for agricultural produce. At larger sites such as Knossos, there is evidence of craft specialization (workshops). The palace at Kato Zakro indicates that workshops were integrated into palace structure. The Minoan palatial system may have developed through economic intensification, where an agricultural surplus could support a population of administrators, craftsmen and religious practitioners. The number of sleeping rooms in the palaces indicates that they could have supported a sizable population which was removed from manual labor.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

==={{anchor|Evolution of agricultural tools in Minoan Crete}}Tools===

Tools, originally made of wood or bone, were bound to handles with leather straps. During the [[Bronze Age]], they were made of [[bronze]] with wooden handles. Due to its round hole, the [[tool head]] would spin on the handle. The Minoans developed oval-shaped holes in their tools to fit oval-shaped handles, which prevented spinning.<ref name="Sinclair Hood 1971"/> Tools included double [[adze]]s, double- and single-bladed [[axe]]s, axe-adzes, [[sickle]]s and [[chisel]]s.

== Society and culture ==
[[File:Dauphins de knossos.jpg|thumb|The Dolphin fresco from Knossos]]

Apart from the abundant local agriculture, the Minoans were also a [[mercantile]] people who engaged significantly in overseas trade, and at their peak may well have had a dominant position in international trade over much of the Mediterranean. After 1700{{nbsp}}BC, their culture indicates a high degree of organization. Minoan-manufactured goods suggest a network of trade with mainland [[Greece]] (notably [[Mycenae]]), [[Cyprus]], [[Syria]], [[Anatolia]], [[Egypt]], [[Mesopotamia]] and westward as far as the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. <!--Spanish Minoan site should be mentioned here--> [[Minoan religion]] apparently focused on female deities, with women officiants.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Budin|first=Stephanie Lynn|title=The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2004|isbn=1-57607-815-9|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|pages=175–189|oclc=57247347}}</ref> While historians and archaeologists have long been skeptical of an outright [[matriarchy]], the predominance of female figures in authoritative roles over male ones seems to indicate that Minoan society was matriarchal, and among the most well-supported examples known.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-09|title=Art, religious artifacts support idea of Minoan matriarchy on ancient Crete, researcher says|url=https://news.ku.edu/2017/06/09/art-religious-artifacts-support-idea-minoan-matriarchy-ancient-crete-researcher-says|access-date=2020-12-31|website=The University of Kansas|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

The term [[palace economy]] first gained popularity among Minoan researchers.<ref>{{citation |last=Nakassis |first=Dimitri |title=Political Economies of the Aegean Bronze Age |year=2010 |pages=127–148 |editor-last=Pullen |editor-first=D. J. |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:20249/ |contribution=Reevaluating Staple and Wealth Finance at Mycenaean Pylos |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow Books |doi=10.17613/M62R3NW7C}}</ref> It is now used as a general term for ancient pre-monetary cultures where much of the economy revolved around the collection of crops and other goods by centralized government or religious institutions (the two tending to go together) for redistribution to the population. This is still accepted as an important part of the Minoan economy; all the palaces have very large amounts of space that seems to have been used for storage of agricultural produce, some remains of which have been excavated after they were buried by disasters.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} What role, if any, the palaces played in Minoan international trade is unknown, or how this was organized in other ways. The decipherment of Linear A would possibly shed light on this.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Government ===
[[File:Saffron gatherers detail Thera Santorini.png|thumb|The "[[saffron]]-gatherer" fresco, from the Minoan site of [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] on [[Santorini]]]]

Very little is known about the forms of Minoan government, particularly since the Minoan language has not yet been deciphered.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Trounson|first=Andrew|date=2019-11-05|title=How do you crack the code to a lost ancient script?|url=https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-do-you-crack-the-code-to-a-lost-ancient-script |access-date=2020-12-31|website=University of Melbourne|language=en}}</ref> It used to be believed that the Minoans had a [[monarchy]] supported by a [[bureaucracy]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Greece: Secrets of the Past - The Minoans|url=https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr1020e.html|access-date=2020-12-31|website=Canadian Museum of History}}</ref> This might initially have been a number of monarchies, corresponding with the "palaces" around Crete, but later all taken over by Knossos,<ref>Honour and Fleming, 52</ref> which was itself later occupied by Mycenaean overlords. But, in notable contrast to contemporary Egyptian and [[Mesopotamia]]n civilizations, "Minoan [[iconography]] contains no pictures of recognizable kings",<ref name=":6" />{{rp|175}} and in recent decades it has come to be thought that before the presumed Mycenaean invasion around 1450{{nbsp}}BC, a group of elite families, presumably living in the "villas" and the palaces, controlled both government and religion.<ref>Chapin, 60-61</ref> Rejecting both a monarchy and an aristocracy, [[David Graeber]] and [[David Wengrow]] recently concluded: "Pretty much all the available evidence from Minoan Crete suggests a system of female political rule – effectively a theocracy of some sort, governed by a college of priestesses."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Graeber|first1=David|last2=Wengrow|first2=David|title=The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8gZEAAAQBAJ&q=The+Dawn+of+Everything:+A+New+History+of+Humanity|year=2021|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|place=New York|isbn=978-0-374-72110-7|page=247}}</ref>

=== Status of women ===
[[File:Knossos women fresco.jpg|thumb|A reconstruction of a Minoan fresco depicting elite Minoan women. Original fresco pieces can be seen offset from reproduction done by [[Émile Gilliéron]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Reproduction of the "Ladies in Blue" fresco |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/258137 |access-date=2025-07-13}}</ref>]]

As [[Linear A]] Minoan writing has not been deciphered yet, most information available about Minoan women is from various art forms and [[Linear B]] tablets,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Budin|first=Stephanie Lynn|editor1-first=Stephanie Lynn|editor1-last=Budin|editor2-first=Jean Macintosh|editor2-last=Turfa|date=2016-08-12|title=Women in Antiquity|doi=10.4324/9781315621425|isbn=978-1-315-62142-5}}</ref> and scholarship about Minoan women remains limited.<ref name=":3" />

Minoan society was a divided society separating men from women in art illustration, clothing, and societal duties.<ref name=":3" /> For example, documents written in Linear B have been found documenting Minoan families, wherein spouses and children are not all listed together.<ref name=":2" /> In one section, fathers were listed with their sons, while mothers were listed with their daughters in a completely different section apart from the men who lived in the same household, signifying the vast gender divide present in Minoan society.<ref name=":2" />

Artistically, women were portrayed very differently from men. Men were often artistically represented with dark skin while women were represented with lighter skin.<ref name="Lee2000">{{Citation |last=Lee |first=Mireille M. |editor1-first=Alison E |editor1-last=Rautman |chapter=9. Deciphering Gender in Minoan Dress |year=2000 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1-5128-0683-0 |doi=10.9783/9781512806830-011 |title=Reading the Body |pages=111–123}}</ref> Minoan dress representation also clearly marks the difference between men and women. Minoan men were often depicted clad in little clothing while women's bodies, specifically later on, were more covered up. While there is evidence that the structure of women's clothing originated as a mirror to the clothing that men wore, fresco art illustrates how women's clothing evolved to be increasingly elaborate throughout the Minoan era.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Myres |first=John L. |date=January 1950 |title=1. Minoan Dress |journal=Man |volume=50 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.2307/2792547 |jstor=2792547}}</ref> Throughout the evolution of women's clothing, breasts were emphasized through varying degrees of exposure. The specific cultural significance of breasts in Minoan culture is not currently understood.<ref name="Lee2000"/> Both Minoan women and men were portrayed with "wasp" waists, similar to the bodice Western women wore into the 20th century.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Wall painting of two ladies and papyrus plants from Akrotiri (house of the ladies) - Thera MPT - 04.jpg|thumb|Wall painting from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]]]]
[[Fresco]] paintings portray three class levels of women: elite women, women of the masses, and servants.<ref name=":2" /> A fourth, smaller class of women who participated in religious and sacred tasks are also included among some paintings.<ref name=":2" /> Elite women were depicted in paintings as having a stature twice the size of women in lower classes, as this was a way of emphasizing the important difference between the elite wealthy women and the rest of the female population within society.<ref name=":2" />

Childcare was a central job for women within Minoan society.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Barbara A. |date=February 1998 |title=Women, children and the family in the Late Aegean Bronze Age: Differences in Minoan and Mycenaean constructions of gender |journal=World Archaeology |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=380–392 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1998.9980386 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref> Other roles outside the household that have been identified as women's duties are food gathering, food preparation, and household care-taking.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=Nikolaïdou |first=Marianna |chapter=Looking for Minoan and Mycenaean Women |date=2012 |pages=38–53 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-4443-5502-4 |doi=10.1002/9781444355024.ch3 |title=A Companion to Women in the Ancient World}}</ref> Additionally, it has been found that women were represented in the artisan world as ceramic and textile craftswomen.<ref name=":4" /> As women got older it can be assumed that their job of taking care of children ended and they transitioned towards household management and job mentoring, teaching younger women the jobs that they themselves participated in.<ref name=":2" />

While women were often portrayed in paintings as caretakers of children, pregnant women were rarely shown in frescoes. Pregnant women were instead represented in the form of sculpted pots with the rounded base of the pots representing the pregnant belly.<ref name=":2" /> Additionally, no Minoan art forms portray women giving birth, breast feeding, or procreating.<ref name=":2" /> Lack of such actions leads historians to believe that these actions would have been recognized by Minoan society to be either sacred or inappropriate, and kept private within society.<ref name=":2" />

Childbirth was a dangerous process within Minoan society. Archeological sources have found numerous bones of pregnant women, identified by the fetus bones within their skeleton found in the abdomen area, providing strong evidence that death during pregnancy and childbirth were common features within society.<ref name=":2" />

===Clothing===
[[File:Painting on limestone sarcophagus of religious rituals from Hagia Triada - Heraklion AM - 02.jpg|thumb|Figures from the [[Agia Triada Sarcophagus]].]]

Sheep [[wool]] was the main fibre used in textiles, and perhaps a significant export commodity. [[Linen]] from [[flax]] was probably much less common, and possibly imported from Egypt, or grown locally. There is no evidence of [[silk]], but some use is possible.<ref>Castleden, 11</ref>

As seen in [[Minoan art]], Minoan men wore [[loincloth]]s (if poor) or robes or [[kilt]]s that were often long. Women wore long dresses with short sleeves and layered, flounced skirts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/The-Ancient-World-Greece/Minoan-Dress.html|title=Minoan Dress - Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages|website=www.fashionencyclopedia.com}}</ref> With both sexes, there was a great emphasis in art in a small wasp waist, often taken to improbable extremes. Both sexes are often shown with rather thick belts or girdles at the waist. Women could also wear a strapless, fitted [[bodice]], and clothing patterns had [[symmetry|symmetrical]], geometric designs. Men are shown as clean-shaven, and male hair was short, in styles that would be common today, except for some long thin tresses at the back, perhaps for young elite males. Female hair is typically shown with long tresses falling at the back, as in the fresco fragment known as ''[[La Parisienne (fresco)|La Parisienne]]''. This got its name because when it was found in the early 20th century, a French art historian thought it resembled Parisian women of the day.<ref>[https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/minoan-woman-or-goddess-from-the-palace-of-knossos-la-parisienne "Minoan woman or goddess from the palace of Knossos ("La Parisienne")"] by Senta German, [[Khan Academy]]</ref> Children are shown in art with shaved heads (often blue in art) except for a few very long locks; the rest of the hair is allowed to grow as they approach puberty;<ref>Marinatos (1993), p. 202</ref> this can be seen in the [[Akrotiri Boxer Fresco]].

Two famous [[Minoan snake goddess figurines]] from Knossos (one illustrated below) show bodices that circle their breasts, but do not cover them at all. These striking figures have dominated the popular image of Minoan clothing, and have been copied in some "reconstructions" of largely destroyed frescos, but few images unambiguously show this costume, and the status of the figures—goddesses, priestesses, or devotees—is not at all clear. What is clear, from pieces like the [[Agia Triada Sarcophagus]], is that Minoan women normally covered their breasts; priestesses in religious contexts may have been an exception.<ref>Castleden, 7</ref> This shows a funeral sacrifice, and some figures of both sexes are wearing aprons or skirts of animal hide, apparently left with the hair on.<ref>[https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/snake-goddess "Snake Goddess"] by Senta German, [[Khan Academy]]</ref> This was probably the costume worn by both sexes by those engaged in rituals.<ref>Marinatos (2010), 43-44</ref>

[[Minoan jewellery]] included many gold ornaments for women's hair and also thin gold plaques to sew onto clothing.<ref name="Hood 1978, 188-190">Hood (1978), 188-190</ref> Flowers were also often worn in the hair, as by the [[Poppy Goddess]] terracotta figurine and other figures. Frescos also show what are presumably woven or embroidered figures, human and animal, spaced out on clothing.<ref>Hood (1978), 62</ref>

== Language and writing ==
{{Main|Minoan language}}
{{multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=Phaistos Disc — Side A.jpg|width1=220|image2=Phaistos Disc — Side B.jpg|width2=220|footer=[[Phaistos Disc]], side A (top), side B (bottom)}}

The Minoans used a number of different scripts. During the Palatial period, the primary scripts were [[Linear A]] and [[Cretan hieroglyphs]], the latter falling out of use in MM III. The origins of these scripts is unknown. Although Cretan hieroglyphic is often assumed to have been inspired by [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], Anatolian and Mesopotamian writing systems have also been considered as models.<ref>Hood (1971), 111</ref> Neither script has been deciphered, despite numerous attempts. For instance, when the values of the symbols in Linear B are used in Linear A, they produce mostly unrecognizable words. The language encoded by these scripts is tentatively dubbed "Minoan", though it is not certain that it was a single language. Decipherment attempts have attempted to read the language as [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Semitic languages|Semitic]], and [[Tyrsenian languages#Aegean language family|Tyrsenian languages]], but none have resulted in an accepted decipherment. The post-Bronze Age [[Eteocretan language]] has been considered as a potential descendant of Minoan. However, this language is only known from five inscriptions in eastern Crete and is thus itself poorly understood.<ref>{{cite book | author = Stephanie Lynn Budin | author2 = John M. Weeks | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=u-Py1QbavoQC&q=symi+island%2Bhebrew+greeks&pg=PA26 | title = The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives | page = 26 | publisher = ABC-CLIO | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-1-57607-814-3 | oclc = 249196051 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190525092934/https://books.google.it/books?id=u-Py1QbavoQC&pg=PA26&dq=symi+island%2Bhebrew+greeks&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN9uCBqrbiAhXRxqQKHdwSAoQQ6AEIKzAA%23v=onepage&q=%22unfortunately%20the%20language%22&f=false#v=onepage&q=symi%20island%2Bhebrew%20greeks&f=false | archive-date = May 25, 2019 | url-status = live | access-date = May 25, 2019 }}</ref>{{sfn|Facchetti|Negri|2003}}{{sfn|Yatsemirsky|2011}}{{Sfn|Beekes|2014|p=1}}{{sfn|Brown|1985|loc=p. 289}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Emmett L. |author-link=Emmett L. Bennett Jr. |editor-last=Daniels |editor-first=Peter T. |editor-link=Peter T. Daniels |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William O. |editor-link2=William O. Bright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ospMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |page=132 |title=The World's Writing Systems |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7}}</ref>

[[Linear B]] became the primary Cretan script after LM II. This script was adapted from the earlier Linear A in order to write [[Mycenaean Greek]], which had become the language of administration. Linear B was deciphered in 1952, unlocking a major source of textual evidence about the economics and social organization of the final year at the palace of Knossos.<ref name="Chadwick2014">{{cite book|author=John Chadwick|title=The Decipherment of Linear B|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meclBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-69176-6|page=134}}</ref>

A handful of Minoan inscriptions use other unknown writing systems. For instance, the [[Phaistos Disc]] features a pictorial script whose only close comparison is found on the [[Arkalochori Axe]]. Because so few instances of these scripts have been found, they remain undeciphered.

== Religion ==
{{Main|Minoan religion}}
[[File:Θεά των Όφεων 6393 (cropped).JPG|thumb|alt=Small statue of a woman holding a snake in each hand|The smaller of two [[Minoan snake goddess figurines]]]]

Arthur Evans thought the Minoans worshipped, more or less exclusively, a [[mother goddess]], which heavily influenced views for decades. Recent scholarly opinion sees a much more diverse religious landscape although the absence of texts, or even readable relevant inscriptions, leaves the picture very cloudy. We have no names of deities until after the Mycenaean era. Much Minoan art is given a religious significance of some sort, but this tends to be vague, not least because Minoan government is now often seen as a [[theocracy]], so politics and religion have a considerable overlap. The Minoan pantheon featured many deities, among which a young, spear-wielding male god is also prominent.<ref name="Johnston2004">{{cite book|author=Sarah Iles Johnston|title=Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvtebmqZZDYC&pg=PA206|year=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01517-3|page=206}}</ref> Some scholars see in the Minoan Goddess a female divine solar figure.<ref>{{Cite arXiv|title=Evidence of Minoan Astronomy and Calendrical Practises|eprint=0910.4801 |last1=Ridderstad |first1=Marianna |date=2009 |class=physics.hist-ph }}</ref><ref>[[Nanno Marinatos|Marinatos, Nanno]]. ''Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess: A Near Eastern Koine'' (2013).</ref>

It is very often difficult to distinguish between images of worshipers, priests and priestesses, rulers and deities; indeed the priestly and royal roles may have often been the same, as leading rituals is often seen as the essence of rulership. Possibly as aspects of the main, probably dominant, nature/mother goddess, archaeologists have identified a mountain goddess, worshipped at [[peak sanctuaries]], a dove goddess, a snake goddess perhaps protectress of the household, the [[Potnia Theron]] goddess of animals, and a goddess of childbirth.<ref>Kristiansen, Kristiansen & Larsson, 84-86</ref> Late Minoan [[terracotta]] votive figures like the [[poppy goddess]] (perhaps a worshipper) carry attributes, often birds, in their [[diadem]]s. The mythical creature called the [[Minoan Genius]] is somewhat threatening but perhaps a protective figure, possibly of children; it seems to largely derive from [[Taweret]] the Egyptian hybrid crocodile and hippopotamus goddess.

[[File:Seal MET DP110335 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Impression of [[Minoan seal]]; designs like this are thought to represent rustic shrines]]

Men with a special role as priests or priest-kings are identifiable by diagonal bands on their long robes, and carrying over their shoulder a ritual "axe-sceptre" with a rounded blade.<ref>Kristiansen, Kristiansen & Larsson, 85</ref> The more conventionally shaped [[labrys]] or double-headed axe, is a very common [[votive offering]], probably for a male god, and large examples of the [[Horns of Consecration]] symbol, probably representing bull's horns, are shown on seals decorating buildings, with a few large actual survivals. [[Bull-leaping]], very much centred on Knossos, is agreed to have a religious significance, perhaps to do with selecting the elite. The position of the bull in it is unclear; the funeral ceremonies on the (very late) [[Hagia Triada sarcophagus]] include a bull sacrifice.<ref>[https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/hagia-triada-sarcophagus "Hagia Triada sarcophagus"], German, Senta, [[Khan Academy]]</ref> The saffron may have had a religious significance.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OwRuSQQYi0C&pg=PA276|title=The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion|first=Martin Persson|last=Nilsson|date=1950|publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-8196-0273-2}}</ref>{{Better source needed|Reason=Reputable but very out of date, predates decipherment of Linear B.|date=August 2023}}

According to [[Nanno Marinatos]], "The hierarchy and relationship of gods within the pantheon is difficult to decode from the images alone." Marinatos disagrees with earlier descriptions of Minoan religion as primitive, saying that it "was the religion of a sophisticated and urbanized palatial culture with a complex social hierarchy. It was not dominated by fertility any more than any religion of the past or present has been, and it addressed gender identity, rites of passage, and death. It is reasonable to assume that both the organization and the rituals, even the mythology, resembled the religions of Near Eastern palatial civilizations."<ref name="Marinatos">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvtebmqZZDYC&q=Minoan+matriarchal&pg=PA209|title=Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide|author=Nanno Marinatos|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-674-01517-3|editor=Sarah Isles Johnston|pages=206–207|chapter=Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations}}</ref> It even seems that the later Greek pantheon would synthesize the Minoan female deity and Hittite goddess from the Near East.<ref>[http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3471&context=etd] Sailors, Cara. "The Function of Mythology and Religion in Ancient Greek Society." East Tennessee State University, Digital Commons, 2008, dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3471&context=etd.</ref>

=== Symbolism ===

Minoan horn-topped altars, which [[Arthur Evans]] called [[Horns of Consecration]], are represented in seal impressions and have been found as far afield as Cyprus. Minoan sacred symbols include the [[Bull (mythology)|bull]] (and its horns of consecration), the [[labrys]] (double-headed axe), the [[column|pillar]], the serpent, the sun-disc, the [[tree]], and even the [[Ankh]].

[[File:The Bull Leaper Knossos 1500BC.jpg|thumb|alt=Ivory figurine of a man in a diving position|''The Bull Leaper'', from Knossos ([[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]])]]

Haralampos V. Harissis and Anastasios V. Harissis posit a different interpretation of these symbols, saying that they were based on [[apiculture]] rather than religion.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Haralampos V.|last1=Harissis|first2=Anastasios V.|last2=Harissis|title=Apiculture in the Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan and Mycenaean Symbols Revisited|series=British Archaeological Reports (S1958)|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4073-0454-0|url=https://www.academia.edu/1259037}}</ref> A major festival was exemplified in [[bull-leaping]], represented in the frescoes of Knossos<ref>In the small courtyard of the east wing of the palace of Knossos.</ref> and inscribed in [[Minoan seals|miniature seals]].<ref>An ivory figure reproduced by Spyridon Marinatos and Max Hirmer, ''Crete and Mycenae'' (New York) 1960, fig. 97, also shows the bull dance.</ref>

=== {{anchor|Sacrifice}}Burial practices ===

Similar to other Bronze Age archaeological finds, burial remains constitute much of the material and archaeological evidence for the period. By the end of the Second Palace Period, Minoan burial was dominated by two forms: circular tombs (''tholoi'') in southern Crete and house tombs in the north and the east. However, much Minoan mortuary practice does not conform to this pattern. [[Burial]] was more popular than [[cremation]].<ref>Hood (1971), 140</ref> Individual burial was the rule, except for the Chrysolakkos complex in Malia. Here, a number of buildings form a complex in the center of Mallia's burial area and may have been the focus for burial rituals or a crypt for a notable family.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} Evidence of possible [[human sacrifice]] by the Minoans has been found at three sites: at [[Anemospilia]], in a MMII building near Mt. Juktas considered a temple; an EMII sanctuary complex at [[Fournou Korifi]] in south-central Crete, and in an LMIB building known as the North House in [[Knossos]].

== Architecture ==
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site|WHS=Minoan Palatial Centres|Criteria=ii, iii, iv, vi|ID=1733|image=Knossos Großes Treppenhaus 04.jpg|caption=The Hall of Columns at [[Knossos]]|Location=[[Crete]], [[Greece]]|Coordinates={{Coord|35.248|24.887|display=inline,title}}|Year=2025|Session=47th|locmapin=Greece}}
[[File:Clay house model from Archanes, 1700 BC, AMH, 19410, 145004.jpg|thumb|Restored model of a Minoan house found in Archanes]]
[[File:Knossos Fresko Dreigliedriger Schrein 01.jpg|thumb|Fresco from the temple of the Palace of [[Knossos]],<ref>{{cite book |author=B.P. Mihailov |author2=S.B. Bezsonov |author3=B.D. Blavatski |author4=S.A. Kaufman |author5=I.L. Matsa |author6=A.M. Pribâtkova |author7=M.I. Rzianin |author8=I.I. Savitski |author9=A.G. Tsires |author10=E.G. Cernov |author11=I.S. Iaralov|title=Istoria Generală a Arhitecturii|date=1961|publisher=Editura Tehnică|isbn=|page=88|url=|language=ro}}</ref> showing Minoan architecture]]

Minoan cities were connected by narrow roads paved with blocks cut with bronze saws. Streets were drained, and water and [[sanitary sewer|sewage]] facilities were available to the upper class through [[clay]] pipes.<ref>Ian Douglas, ''Cities: An Environmental History,'' p. 16, [[I.B. Tauris: London and New York]] (2013)</ref>

Minoan buildings often had flat, tiled roofs; [[plaster]], wood or [[flagstone]] floors; and stood two to three stories high. Lower [[wall]]s were typically constructed of stone and [[rubble]], and the upper walls of [[mudbrick]]. Ceiling timbers held up the roofs.

Construction materials for villas and palaces varied, and included sandstone, [[gypsum]] and limestone. Building techniques also varied, with some palaces using [[ashlar]] masonry and others roughly-hewn, megalithic blocks.

In north-central Crete [[Blueschist|blue]]-[[greenschist]] was used to pave floors of streets and [[courtyard]]s between 1650 and 1600{{nbsp}}BC. These rocks were likely quarried in [[Agia Pelagia]] on the north coast of central Crete.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tziligkaki |first1=Eleni K. |date=2010 |title=Types of schist used in buildings of Minoan Crete |url=http://www.hellenjgeosci.geol.uoa.gr/45/Tziligkaki.pdf |journal=[[Hellenic Journal of Geosciences]] |volume=45 |pages=317–322 |access-date=December 1, 2018 }}</ref>

=== Palaces ===
[[File:Pithoi storage jars at Knossos.jpg|thumb|alt=Three large, clay storage jars|Storage jars (pithoi, πίθοι) at Knossos]]
[[File:Reconstruccio Knossos.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the Palace of [[Knossos]]]]
[[File:Knossos sewers PA067399.JPG|thumb|Sewers of the Palace of Knossos]]

The Minoans famously built large complexes referred to as palaces. However, despite their name, it is generally agreed that they did not primarily serve as royal residences. The best known of them are at [[Knossos]], [[Phaistos]], [[Zakros]], and [[Malia (archaeological site)|Malia]].

Minoan palaces consist of wings arranged around an open rectangular court. The wings are often multi-story, with interior and exterior [[staircase]]s, [[lightwell]]s, massive [[column]]s, and large storage chambers. The various palaces have a fairly uniform style, though each has unique features. They are typically aligned with their surrounding topography, in particular with nearby sacred mountains. For instance, the palace at Phaistos appears to align with [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida]] and Knossos is aligned with [[Mount Juktas]],<ref>Preziosi, D. & Hitchcock, L.A. (1999) p. 86</ref> both on a north–south axis.

The first palaces are generally dated to the MM IB period. However, they were not a spontaneous development but rather the culmination of a longer architectural tradition. The palace style has precedents in Early Minoan construction styles and earlier buildings were sometimes incorporated in the later palaces. The palace at Malia is sometimes regarded as having achieved palacehood at the end of the Early Minoan period.<ref>D. Preziosi and L.A. Hitchcock ''Aegean Art and Architecture'' pp. 48–49, [[Oxford University Press]] (1999)</ref><ref name="Moore2015">{{cite book|author=Dudley J. Moore|title=In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53vWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA12|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-8145-6|page=12}}</ref> Palaces were continually renovated and altered, with their style changing over time. For instance, early palaces had a square-within-a-square layout, while later renovations introduced more internal divisions and corridors.<ref>Preziosi, D. & Hitchcock, L.A. (1999) p. 121</ref>

The function of the palaces is a matter of debate, though it is known that they included administrative offices, [[shrine]]s, workshops and storage spaces.<ref name="Perry2012">{{cite book|author=Marvin Perry|title=Western Civilization: A Brief History, Volume I: To 1789|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxpuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|year=2012|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-133-71418-7|page=37}}</ref>

=== Plumbing ===

During the Minoan Era extensive waterways were built in order to protect the growing population. This system had two primary functions, first providing and distributing water, and secondly relocating sewage and stormwater.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Evolution of Sanitation and Wastewater Technologies through the Centuries|last1=J.B|first1=Rose|last2=A.N|first2=Angelakis|publisher=IWA Publishing|year=2014|location=London|page=2}}</ref> One of the defining aspects of the Minoan Era was the architectural feats of their waste management. The Minoans used technologies such as wells, cisterns, and [[aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]]s to manage their water supplies. Structural aspects of their buildings even played a part. Flat roofs and plentiful open courtyards were used for collecting water to be stored in cisterns.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Evolution of Sanitation and Wastewater Technologies Through the Centuries|last1=J.B|first1=Rose|last2=A.N|first2=Angelakis|publisher=IWA Publishing|year=2014|location=London|page=5}}</ref> Significantly, the Minoans had water treatment devices. One such device seems to have been a porous clay pipe through which water was allowed to flow until clean.

=== Columns ===
For sustaining of the roof, some higher houses, especially the palaces, used columns made usually of [[Mediterranean cypress|''Cupressus sempervirens'']], and sometimes of stone. One of the most notable Minoan contributions to architecture is their inverted column, wider at the top than the base (unlike most Greek columns, which are wider at the bottom to give an impression of height). The columns were made of wood (not stone) and were generally painted red. Mounted on a simple stone base, they were topped with a pillow-like, round [[Capital (architecture)|capital]].<ref>Benton and DiYanni 1998, p. 67.</ref><ref>Bourbon 1998, p 34</ref>

=== Villas ===

A number of compounds known as "villas" have been excavated on Crete, mostly near palaces, especially Knossos. These structures share features of neopalatial palaces: a conspicuous western facade, storage facilities and a three-part Minoan Hall.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/3801242|last=Letesson|first=Quentin|title=Minoan Halls: A Syntactical Genealogy|journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=January 2013 |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=303–351 |doi=10.3764/aja.117.3.0303 |s2cid=191259609 |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref> These features may indicate a similar role or that the structures were artistic imitations, suggesting that their occupants were familiar with palatial culture. The villas were often richly decorated, as evidenced by the frescos of [[Hagia Triada]] Villa A.

A common characteristic of the Minoan villas was having flat roofs. Their rooms did not have windows to the streets, the light arriving from [[courtyards]], a common feature of larger Mediterranean in much later periods. In the [[2nd millennium BC]], the villas had one or two floors, and the palaces even three.

== Warfare and the "Minoan peace" ==
[[File:Assembly on the hill and the shipwreck, fresco from Akrotiri, 17th c BC, PMTh, 226357.jpg|thumb|[[Boar's tusk helmet]]s are worn by the warriors depicted in the fresco fragment from Akrotiri]]

Early excavators such as Arthur Evans proposed that there was little internal armed conflict in Minoan Crete until the Mycenaean period.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Niemeier | first1 = W.-B. | title = Mycenaean Knossos and the Age of Linear B | journal = Studi Micenei ed Egeoanatolici | volume = 1982 | page = 275 }}</ref> However, subsequent scholarship has questioned this interpretation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pax Minoica in Aegean |url=https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/46418/pax-minoica-in-aegean/ |publisher=News – ekathimerini.com}}</ref><ref>Alexiou wrote of fortifications and acropolises in Minoan Crete, in ''Kretologia'' '''8''' (1979), pp. 41–56, and especially in C.G. Starr, "Minoan flower-lovers" in ''The Minoan Thalassocracy: Myth and Reality'' R. Hägg and N. Marinatos, eds. (Stockholm) 1994, pp. 9–12.</ref>

No evidence has been found of a Minoan army or the Minoan domination of peoples beyond Crete. Evans believed that the Minoans had some kind of overlordship of at least parts of Mycenaean Greece in the [[Neopalatial Period]], but it is now very widely agreed that the opposite was the case, with a Mycenaean elite clearly ruling Knossos from around 1450{{nbsp}}BC. Few signs of warfare appear in Minoan art: "Although a few archaeologists see war scenes in a few pieces of Minoan art, others interpret even these scenes as festivals, sacred dance, or sports events" (Studebaker, 2004, p.&nbsp;27). Although armed warriors are depicted as stabbed in the throat with swords, the violence may be part of a ritual or blood sport.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

[[Nanno Marinatos]] argued that the Neopalatial Minoans had a "powerful navy" that made them a desirable ally to have in Mediterranean power politics, at least by the 14th century as "vassals of the pharaoh", leading Cretan tribute-bearers to be depicted on Egyptian tombs such as those of the top officials [[Rekmire]] and [[Senmut]].<ref>Marinatos (2010), 4-5</ref>

On mainland Greece during the [[Grave Circle A, Mycenae|shaft-grave era]] at Mycenae, there is little evidence for major Mycenaean fortifications; the citadels follow the destruction of nearly all neopalatial Cretan sites. Warfare by other contemporaries of the ancient Minoans, such as the Egyptians and the [[Hittites]], is well-documented.

=== {{anchor|Recent skepticism|Weaponry}}Warfare ===
[[File:Akrotiri Boxer Fresco.jpg|thumb|[[Akrotiri Boxer Fresco]]]]

Despite finding ruined watchtowers and fortification walls,<ref>Gere, ''Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism''</ref> Evans said that there was little evidence of ancient Minoan fortifications. According to [[Stylianos Alexiou]] (in ''Kretologia'' 8), a number of sites (especially early and middle Minoan sites such as Aghia Photia) are built on hilltops or otherwise fortified.{{Full citation needed|date=April 2017}} [[Lucia Nixon]] wrote:
{{blockquote|We may have been over-influenced by the lack of what we might think of as solid fortifications to assess the archaeological evidence properly. As in so many other instances, we may not have been looking for evidence in the right places, and therefore we may not end with a correct assessment of the Minoans and their ability to avoid war.{{Sfn|Nixon|1983}}}}

Chester Starr said in "Minoan Flower Lovers" that since [[Shang dynasty|Shang China]] and the [[Maya civilization|Maya]] had unfortified centers and engaged in frontier struggles, a lack of fortifications alone does not prove that the Minoans were a peaceful civilization unparalleled in history.<ref>{{cite book|last=Starr|first=Chester|author-link=Chester Starr|editor=Robin Hägg, Nanno Marinatos|title=The Minoan Thalassocracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1JoAAAAMAAJ|series=Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen, 4o|volume=32|year=1984|publisher=Svenska institutet i Athen|location=Stockholm|isbn=978-91-85086-78-8|pages=9–12}}</ref> In 1998, when Minoan archaeologists met in a Belgian conference to discuss the possibility that the Pax Minoica was outdated, evidence of Minoan war was still scanty. According to Jan Driessen, the Minoans frequently depicted "weapons" in their art in a ritual context:
{{blockquote|The construction of fortified sites is often assumed to reflect a threat of warfare, but such fortified centres were multifunctional; they were also often the embodiment or material expression of the central places of the territories at the same time as being monuments glorifying and merging leading power.{{sfn|Driessen|1999}}}}

[[Stella Chryssoulaki]]'s work on small outposts (or guardhouses) in eastern Crete indicates a possible defensive system; type A (high-quality) Minoan swords were found in the palaces of Mallia and Zarkos (see Sanders, AJA 65, 67, Hoeckmann, JRGZM 27, or Rehak and Younger, AJA 102).{{Full citation needed|date=April 2017}} [[Keith Branigan]] estimated that 95 percent of Minoan "weapons" had [[hafting]] ([[hilt]]s or handles) which would have prevented their use as such.{{sfn|Branigan|1999|pp=87–94}} However, tests of replicas indicated that the weapons could cut flesh down to the bone (and score the bone's surface) without damaging the weapons themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=D'Amato|first1=Raffaele|last2=Salimbeti|first2=Andrea|title=Early Aegean Warrior 5000–1450{{nbsp}}BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NY7vCwAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78096-860-5}}</ref> According to Paul Rehak, Minoan figure-eight shields could not have been used for fighting or hunting, since they were too cumbersome.{{sfn|Rehak|1999}} Although Cheryl Floyd concluded that Minoan "weapons" were tools used for mundane tasks such as meat processing,{{sfn|Floyd|1999}} Middle Minoan "[[rapier]]s nearly three feet in length" have been found.<ref>Hood (1971)</ref>

Charles Gates argues that the absence of warfare in Minoan art does not prove it did not occur because there is no correlation between a society's artistic depiction of warfare and how often said society is involved in conflict.<ref>Gates, Charles. ''Why are there no scenes of warfare in Minoan art?'', Polemos: Le Contexte Guerrier en Égée à L'âge du Bronze, Aegaeum: annals of Aegean archaeology of the University of Liège, 1999, pp.277-283</ref> Barry Molloy states that artwork is an unreliable guide to a society's behaviour, using the example that frescoes recovered prior to the Late Minoan period seldom depict people interacting with each other yet this should not be taken as evidence that Minoans rarely did so. Molloy further argues that the lack of fortifications could be attributed to Crete's rugged topography, which would have provided a significant natural defensive advantage; Molloy argues that the guardhouses could have been used to secure narrow roads through Crete.<ref>Molloy, Barry PC. "Martial Minoans? War as social process, practice and event in Bronze Age Crete." Annual of the British School at Athens 107 (2012): 87-142, pp.96-97, 107</ref>

About Minoan warfare, Branigan concluded:

{{ blockquote
| The quantity of weaponry, the impressive fortifications, and the aggressive looking long-boats all suggested an era of intensified hostilities. But on closer inspection there are grounds for thinking that all three key elements are bound up as much with status statements, display, and fashion as with aggression;... Warfare such as there was in the southern Aegean [[early Bronze Age]] was either personalized and perhaps ritualized (in Crete) or small-scale, intermittent and essentially an economic activity (in the [[Cyclades]] and the [[Argolid]]/[[Attica]]).{{sfn|Branigan|1999|p=92}}
}}

Archaeologist [[Olga Krzyszkowska]] agreed: "The stark fact is that for the prehistoric Aegean we have no direct evidence for war and warfare ''per se''."{{sfn|Krzyszkowska|1999}}

=={{anchor|Population genetics studies}}Genetic and anthropometric studies==

A [[cephalometric analysis]] by Argyropoulos et al. (1989) published in ''[[The Angle Orthodontist]]'' showed remarkable similarity in craniofacial morphology between Minoans and modern Greeks, suggesting a close affinity, and that the Greek ethnic group remained stable in its cephalic and facial morphology for the last 4,000 years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Argyropoulos |first1=E. |last2=Sassouni |first2=V. |last3=Xeniotou |first3=A. |date=1989 |title=A comparative cephalometric investigation of the Greek craniofacial pattern through 4,000 years |journal=The Angle Orthodontist |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=195–204 |issn=0003-3219 |pmid=2672905}}</ref>

A [[Craniometry|craniofacial morphological]] study by Papagrigorakis et al. (2014) published in ''[[Anthropologischer Anzeiger]]'' also indicated craniological similarities between modern Greeks and Minoans, indicating continuity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Papagrigorakis |first1=Manolis J. |last2=Kousoulis |first2=Antonis A. |last3=Synodinos |first3=Philippos N. |date=2014-06-01 |title=Craniofacial morphology in ancient and modern Greeks through 4,000 years |url=http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/anthranz/detail/71/82892/Craniofacial_morphology_in_ancient_and_modern_Gree?af=crossref |journal=Anthropologischer Anzeiger |language=en |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=237–257 |doi=10.1127/0003-5548/2014/0277 |pmid=25065118 |issn=0003-5548|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A 2013 [[archaeogenetics]] study by Hughey at al. published in ''[[Nature Communications]]'' compared skeletal [[mitochondrial DNA|mtDNA]] from ancient Minoan skeletons that were sealed in a cave in the [[Lasithi Plateau]] between 3,700 and 4,400 years ago to 135 samples from Greece, [[Anatolia]], western and northern Europe, North Africa and Egypt.<ref name="Stamatoyannopoulos">{{cite journal |last1=Hughey |first1=Jeffrey |year=2013 |title=A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete |journal=Nature Communications |volume=4 |doi=10.1038/ncomms2871 |pmid=23673646 |pmc=3674256 |bibcode = 2013NatCo...4.1861H |article-number=1861}}</ref><ref name="livescience.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.livescience.com/31983-minoans-were-genetically-european.html |website=LiveScience|title=Mysterious Minoans Were European, DNA Finds|last=Ghose|first=Tia|date=14 May 2013}}</ref> The researchers found that the Minoan skeletons were genetically very similar to modern-day Europeans—and especially close to modern-day Cretans, particularly those from the Lasithi Plateau. They were also genetically similar to [[Early European Farmers|Neolithic Europeans]], but distinct from Egyptian or Libyan populations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hughey |first1=Jeffery R. |last2=Paschou |first2=Peristera |last3=Drineas |first3=Petros |last4=Mastropaolo |first4=Donald |last5=Lotakis |first5=Dimitra M. |last6=Navas |first6=Patrick A. |last7=Michalodimitrakis |first7=Manolis |last8=Stamatoyannopoulos |first8=John A. |last9=Stamatoyannopoulos |first9=George |date=2013-05-14 |title=A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=1861 |doi=10.1038/ncomms2871 |pmid=23673646 |pmc=3674256 |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.1861H |issn=2041-1723}}</ref> "We now know that the founders of the first advanced European civilization were European," said study co-author [[George Stamatoyannopoulos]], a human geneticist at the [[University of Washington]]. "They were very similar to Neolithic Europeans and very similar to present day-Cretans."<ref name="livescience.com" />

In their archaeogenetic study published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', Lazaridis et al. (2017) found that Minoans and Mycenaean Greeks were genetically highly similar – but not identical – and that modern Greeks descend from these populations. The [[Fixation index|F{{sub|ST}}]] between the sampled Bronze Age populations and present-day West Eurasians was estimated, finding that Mycenaean Greeks and Minoans were least differentiated from the populations of modern Greece, Cyprus, Albania, and Italy.<ref>{{harvnb|Lazaridis|Mittnik|Patterson|Mallick|2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ancient DNA analysis reveals Minoan and Mycenaean origins|url=https://phys.org/news/2017-08-civilizations-greece-revealing-stories-science.html|access-date=2021-07-28|website=phys.org|language=en}}</ref> In a subsequent study, Lazaridis et al. (2022) concluded that around ~58.4–65.8% of the DNA of the Mycenaeans and ~70.9–76.7% of the Minoans came from [[Early European Farmers|Early European Farmers (EEF)]], while the remainder came from ancient populations related to the [[Caucasus hunter-gatherer|Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers (CHG)]] (Mycenaeans ~20.1–22.7%, Minoans ~17–19.4%) and the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic|Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN)]] culture (Mycenaeans ~7–14%, Minoans ~3.9–9.5%). Unlike the Minoans, the Mycenaeans had also inherited ~3.3–5.5% ancestry on average from a source related to the [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer|Eastern European Hunter-Gatherers (EHG)]], introduced via a proximal source related to the inhabitants of the Pontic–Caspian steppe ([[Western Steppe Herders]]) who are hypothesized to be the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]], and ~0.9–2.3% from the [[Iron Gates Mesolithic|Iron Gates Hunter-Gatherers]] in the Balkans.<ref name="Lazaridis2022-Supplementary">{{harvnb|Lazaridis|Alpaslan-Roodenberg|Acar|Açıkkol|2022|pp=1–13|loc=Supplementary Materials: {{Plain link|url=https://www.science.org/doi/suppl/10.1126/science.abm4247/suppl_file/science.abm4247_sm.pdf pp. 233–241}}}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Admixture proportions (%) of ancestral components for the Mycenaeans and Minoans<ref name="Lazaridis2022-Supplementary" />
!
![[Early European Farmers|EEF]]
![[Caucasus hunter-gatherer|CHG]]
![[Pre-Pottery Neolithic|PPN]]
![[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer|EHG]]
![[Iron Gates Mesolithic|Iron Gates HG]]
|-
!Mycenaeans
|58.4–65.8%
|20.1–22.7%
|7–14%
|3.3–5.5%
|0.9–2.3%
|-
!Minoans
|70.9–76.7%
|17–19.4%
|3.9–9.5%
|0–2.3%
|0–0.7%
|}
In 2023, whole genome-wide data of 102 individuals from Crete, the Greek mainland and Aegean Islands were sequenced, spanning from the Neolithic to Iron Age. It was discovered that the early farmers from Crete shared the same ancestry as other Neolithic Aegeans. It also confirmed previous findings for additional Central/Eastern European ancestry in the Greek mainland by the Middle Bronze Age.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Skourtanioti |first1=Eirini |last2=Ringbauer |first2=Harald |last3=Gnecchi Ruscone |first3=Guido Alberto |last4=Bianco |first4=Raffaela Angelina |last5=Burri |first5=Marta |last6=Freund |first6=Cäcilia |last7=Furtwängler |first7=Anja |last8=Gomes Martins |first8=Nuno Filipe |last9=Knolle |first9=Florian |last10=Neumann |first10=Gunnar U. |last11=Tiliakou |first11=Anthi |last12=Agelarakis |first12=Anagnostis |last13=Andreadaki-Vlazaki |first13=Maria |last14=Betancourt |first14=Philip |last15=Hallager |first15=Birgitta P. |date=2023 |title=Ancient DNA reveals admixture history and endogamy in the prehistoric Aegean |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=290–303 |doi=10.1038/s41559-022-01952-3 |issn=2397-334X |pmc=9911347 |pmid=36646948|bibcode=2023NatEE...7..290S }}</ref>

A report in 2024 also included a bioarcheological investigation conducted on remains that were found in [[Armenoi (archaeological site)|Armenoi]], Crete. The research revealed that the DNA of 23 newly sequenced individuals from Late Minoan tombs, had derived most of their ancestry from an Anatolian Neolithic source. Modern Greeks share this genetic profile, but are more shifted towards the [[Western Steppe Herders|Yamnaya]] on the [[Principal component analysis|PCA]], and differentiated from the Greek populations that lived during the Early Bronze Age. The admixture analysis identified three main reference components: Anatolian Neolithic, Iranian Neolithic, and Western Hunter-Gatherer, with the Minoans also having some Yamnaya-related ancestry. The majority of individuals in the necropolis formed a homogenous population, with the exception of one individual, who was more similar to the populations of Western Europe. Overall, the studied genomes were found to be most similar to the other published genomes of Myceneans from mainland Greece; however, on the PCA analysis they plot exactly in-between both Minoans and Myceneans. The researchers noted that based on their genomic profile and placement, they may have been a mix of both groups.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Foody |first1=M. George B. |last2=Ditchfield |first2=Peter W. |last3=Edwards |first3=Ceiridwen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2XEzwEACAAJ |chapter=Bioarchaeological analyses of human and faunal skeletal remains and radiocarbon dating |title=The Late Minoan III Necropolis of Armenoi: Volume II{{snd}}Biomolecular and Epigraphical Investigations |editor-last=Tzedakis |editor-first=Yannis |editor-last2=Martlew |editor-first2=Holley |editor-last3=Tite |editor-first3=Michael |date=2024 |publisher=[[Casemate Publishers|Oxbow Books]] |isbn=979-8-88857-046-3 |pages=43–45 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Minoan civilization}}
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes|others=yes |about=yes |label=Minoan civilization|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [[Caphtor]]
* [[Caucasus]]
* [[Hyksos]]
* [[Minoa]]
* [[Sacred caves of Crete]]
* [[Sea Peoples]]
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
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{{refend}}
{{div col end}}

{{Minoan civilization}}
{{History of Crete}}
{{Ancient Greece topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Ancient seafaring}}
{{Bronze Age footer}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Minoan civilization| ]]
[[Category:27th-century BC establishments]]
[[Category:12th-century BC disestablishments]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 3rd millennium BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 12th century BC]]
[[Category:Pre-Indo-Europeans]]
[[Category:Prehistoric Crete]]
[[Category:History of Crete]]