Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2015 - 30

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RETE IS THE LARGEST LVODQGLQ*UHHFHDQGWKH¿IWK
largest in the Mediterranean, spanning some 160
miles from east to west. At the center it is 37 miles
north to south, while on the east, near the town of Ierapetra,
not far from Gournia, the island stretches just seven and a
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The first excavations at Gournia were directed by American
archaeologist Harriet Boyd (second row, far right) between
1901 and 1904.

reaches more than 8,000 feet, to deep gorges and caves,
expansive valleys, fertile plateaus, and sandy beaches, all surĥ
rounded by the blue waters of the Aegean Sea. Located at the
crossroads of three continents, Crete has attracted visitors,
travelers, and traders for thousands, and even tens of thouĥ
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Mediterranean at many times, both ancient and modern, and
has been a prized possession of major powers from the third
millennium B.C. through the cultures of the Mycenaeans,
Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans, and as an
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the Minoans. Evans suggested that the Minoĥ
ans were refugees forced from northern
Egypt by invaders more than 5,000 years
ago. In the era in which he was workĥ
ing, it seemed impossible to imagine
a sophisticated Bronze Age Aegean
civilization that didn't have some ties
to Egypt, whose considerable antiquity,
Stone vases, such as this example made of
serpentinite, found and perhaps produced
at Gournia, are one of the most telling
categories of Minoan artifacts.
30

religious and political complexity, and architectural and artistic
achievements had been well known for some time. In fact,
Evans based his chronology of Minoan civilization on the
Egyptian model of Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, dividing
its history into periods he called Early, Middle, and Late, and
further subdividing it using Roman numerals and letters where
more precise dates were required.
For many decades, however, most scholars have
doubted Evans' concept of Minoan origins. As to
the question of when the original settlers came,
likely over the course of several migratory events,
"we should probably focus on the Neolithic as the
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on the island," says archaeologist and Aegean preĥ
historian John Cherry of Brown University. "For
earlier periods, before the seventh millennium B.C.,
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perhaps indications of seasonal occupation only,
or even of local extinctions."
A recent 10ĥ\HDUVWXG\OHGE\*HRUJH6WDPDĥ
toyannopoulos of the University of Washington
on 37 mitochondrial DNA samples extracted
from bones excavated at a Late Neolithic and
Minoan ossuary in the Agios Charalambos Cave
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Minoans were the descendants of Neolithic farmĥ
ers who had likely come from elsewhere in the
Aegean. "Previous DNA samples taken from other Minoan
sites, such as the Early Bronze Age tholos ĬEHHKLYHĥVKDSHGĭ
tombs at Odigitria in the south, were very badly degraded,
but at Agios Charalambos we were very lucky because the
cave had been sealed until 1975 and the bones were fantastic,"
Stamatoyannopoulos says. "We came away with good evidence
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is now working to sequence the entire genome, which, says
Cherry, should help scholars better understand how homogĥ
enous or heterogeneous Crete's ancient population was, and
how it varied over time.

F

of Minoan civilization,
Evans' Early Minoan period, the evidence
comes from burials and small settlements datĥ
ing to between 3100 and 1900 B.C7KHVH¿QGV
demonstrate that, early on, the Minoans were
excellent sailors who were actively trading
with Egypt and the Near East, exchanging
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olive oil, for copper, tin, gold, silver, and
ivory. It's also clear that the Minoans
were developing great skill as potters,
metalsmiths, engravers, and creators of
the carved stone vases that would become
distinctive and valuable exports for more
than a millennium to come.
At the start of the second millennium B.C.,
OR THE OLDEST ERA

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