Pollard, Dominic; (2022) Between the Mountains and the Sea: Landscapes of Settlement, Subsistence and Funerary Practice in Later Bronze Age and Iron Age Crete. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Preview	Text Dominic Pollard Thesis - Text.pdf - Accepted Version Download (1MB) | Preview
Preview	Text Dominic Pollard Thesis - Appendices.pdf - Supplemental Material Download (12MB) | Preview
Preview	Text Dominic Pollard Thesis - Figures and Bibliography. Edited Version.pdf - Supplemental Material Download (61MB) | Preview

Abstract

This thesis presents a study of Late Bronze Age (LBA) and Early Iron Age (EIA) Crete – from the Late Minoan II to early Archaic periods – and specifically the settlement systems, agricultural regimes, and mortuary practices which characterised the transition from the palace-centred, ‘Minoan’ society, through a period of political and economic fragmentation, to the emergence of the small, numerous city-states of the Greek era. Research on these periods has traditionally been divided amongst quite distinct scholarly traditions. This thesis seeks to transcend these disciplinary boundaries by focussing on types of evidence well represented across the entire timeframe, and by employing methods so far underutilised in their study. Firstly, with a database of known habitation sites, along with digitised intensive surveys of several subregions, this thesis presents an analysis of the environmental correlates and spatial relationships of human settlement, and the networks of visibility, movement and interaction which, it is suggested, underpinned the long-term evolution of Crete’s LBA and EIA communities. Secondly, drawing on these same datasets, and ethno- and bio-archaeological studies of ancient agriculture, developments in the demography and subsistence practices of LBA and EIA Crete are examined. Thirdly, with a database of published and reported tombs from the periods under investigation, this thesis undertakes a spatial and quantitative analysis of mortuary practices and assemblages across the island. Finally, these analyses are integrated into an historical synthesis, based on diverse strands of evidence, including law codes, historical sources, and settlement and cult assemblages. This thesis argues that a focus on changes in the networks of movement and interaction which developed at multiple scales interconnecting communities of the LBA and EIA – at all times rooted in the affordances of the Cretan landscape – offers a fruitful, dynamic means of bridging the traditionally perceived disjuncture between the final palaces and the later city-states.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVJSONXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item