Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism
by Cathy Gere
press release
Posted on 05/15/2009 7:44:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeology is an inexact science, as Sir Arthur Evans, a flamboyant early practitioner, knew... an excavator can always promote an extravagant theory under the guise of interpreting the finds. As he started to unearth a prehistoric mound at Knossos in Crete at the turn of the 20th century, Evans put his imagination into high gear. He rebuilt parts of a 3,500-year-old palace in modernist style using cement and reconstructed fragmentary frescoes to suit his views on Bronze Age religion and politics. Evans boldly argued that the Minoans, as he called the early islanders, shunned warfare, conveniently forgetting about the ruined watchtowers and fortification walls he had already identified elsewhere in Crete. In public lectures and a stream of articles after the first world war he presented a vision of a lost island paradise. Disillusioned artists and intellectuals were entranced by the idea of Minoans living close to nature, playfully leaping over bulls and worshipping a benign mother goddess. Among those who swallowed the Knossos myth were Sigmund Freud, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso, though none of them visited the site... A later generation, among them Crete's 1960s hippy residents, saw the Minoans as an early blueprint for feminism and anti-war protests... Contrary to Evans's flowery interpretation, the Minoans appear to have been as bloodthirsty as other early eastern Mediterranean societies. Two excavations in 1982 revealed evidence of human sacrifice outside a village close to Knossos, and of ritual cannibalism involving children in a town-house close to the palace. In the 1990s Greek and foreign researchers re-explored the network of military roads and watchtowers in eastern Crete that Evans had chosen to ignore. Studies of Bronze Age weaponry showed that Cretan sword and dagger designs were widely copied. For all their playfulness, the Minoans were serious about waging war.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism
by Cathy Gere
press release
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Looks like Sir Arthur was re-inventing history just like today.
Hey, maybe toward the end they got infected with a peace movement, decided to be “civilized,” and then...night followed day.
The Prehistoric Archaeology of the AegeanDuring the reign of the heretical pharoah Akhenaten (= Amenhotep IV), the capital of Egypt was moved downstream from Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten (= modern Tell el-Amarna). This city was only occupied from ca. 1352-1338 B.C., and the large quantities of Mycenaean pottery found within it are therefore supplied with a fairly precise absolute date. The almost complete absence of Minoan pottery at Amarna is one indication of Mycenaean mercantile dominance within the Aegean at this time. More significant is the Mycenaean character of the settlements which have by this time replaced sites characterized until the end of the LM IB period (ca. 1500 B.C.) by Minoan cultural remains at Trianda on Rhodes, Ayia Irini on Keos, Phylakopi on Melos, and Miletus and Iasos in Asia Minor.
Lesson 18: The Nature and Extent of
Neopalatial Minoan Influence
in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Worlds
Aegean Connections With Egypt
In The Amarna Period (ca. 1360-1340 B.C.)
Trustees of Dartmouth College
revised Friday, March 18, 2000
Minoan ship to ply Greek seas for first time in 3,500 years
Discovery Channel | Fri Oct 3, 2003 4:41 AM ET | editors
Posted on 07/25/2004 7:54:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1178453/posts
Replica of 3,300-year-old shipwreck arrives in Bodrum [ Uluburun II ]
Turkish Daily News (thanks, CurmudgeonII) | Wednesday, June 28, 2006 | unattributed
Posted on 07/02/2006 9:51:33 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1659519/posts
Centuries after Jason mythed the boat, another team has a go
The Age | April 24, 2006 | Deborah Kyvrikosaios
Posted on 05/27/2007 9:23:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1840776/posts
Voyage To Prove Pharaohs Traded Cocaine
The Telegraph (UK) | 5-30-2007 | Tom Leonard
Posted on 05/29/2007 9:47:52 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1841685/posts
Replica of ancient ship to follow part of Argonauts’ route
The Star (Myanmar) | Sunday June 15, 2008 | unattributed
Posted on 06/16/2008 3:02:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2031961/posts
some other stuff:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2149829/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2110692/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2098236/posts
http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=1028
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenaean_Greece
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article2678720.ece
The Secret of Crete
by Hans Georg Wunderlich
Dang. It sounded so cool that the Minoans spent their days partying hearty with fun loving bare breasted maidens.
Yeah, what a great life, y’know, for the higher-ups. :’)
This mal-analysis is not as bad as the ‘peace-loving Mayans’ that the archaeologists used to talk about, before it was discovered that they were about as blood-thirsty as the Aztecs.
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