The island of Crete was home to a strikingly sophisticated culture during the Bronze Age, known today as the Minoan civilization. The remains of the Minoan culture were only rediscovered in the early twentieth century by Sir Arthur Evans, with his initial exploration and excavation at the site of Knossos. Evans dubbed the material assemblage he found at this central Cretan site after the mythical king of Crete, King Minos. The complex of buildings he discovered reminded the excavator of the Labyrinth constructed by Minos at his palace, Knossos, to house the Minotaur. Thus, Knossos and the Minoans received their names.

The Minoans are a culture known almost entirely from archaeology. They possessed a written language known as Linear A, but it has yet to be deciphered. There also exist some records of from the Mycenaean period in the deciphered Linear B of the mainland, but very little can be learned from these documents about anything other than economics. So for all intensive purposes, the Minoans were prehistoric, and scholars studying them today must deduce all that is known about them from their material remains.

The island civilization of the Minoans was a truly unique assemblage of cultural features. The Minoans developed a quite distinctive art and architectural style, both highly decorative and with an air of elegance. Crete is dotted with the remains of the once great “palace” complexes that were the centers of Minoan society. Knossos was the greatest of them, but others include Mallia, Gournia, and Zakros. The exact purpose and use of these so-called palaces is still uncertain. It is believed that these palace complexes were the centers of the large bureaucratic system of Minoan society. The influence of the Minoans was not limited to the island of Crete. They are known to have traded with the Egyptians and other cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, and their influence can be seen in the contemporary cultures of the Aegean Sea and beyond. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Minoans were prolific traders, and ruled the surrounding seas in an early form of a thalassocracy. The Minoan culture reached its greatest height during the New Palace period between 1725 and 1380 BCE, but shortly thereafter met with disaster. Nearly 2,000 years of cultural development on Crete came to an end with a series of destructions at the Minoan centers. Life continued at some of the former palace complexes, such as at Knossos after 1380 BCE, thoguh changed. But the heyday of Cretan culture and dominance had come to an end, and the focus of the Bronze Age now turned to the mainland and the Mycenaeans (see Mycenaean Culture). Many aspects of Minoan culture did survive, however, in the Mycenaean cultural tradition, and some even survived into the Archaic and Classical periods of Greek history.

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Chronology of the Minoan Period
Pre-Palace period (Early Minoan I through Middle Minoan IA) c. 3100-1925 BCE
Old Palace period (Middle Minoan IB and II) c. 1925-1725 BCE
New Palace period (Middle Minoan III and Late Minoan I, II and IIIA) c. 1725-1380 BCE
Post-Palace period (Late Minoan IIIA, IIIB and IIIC) c. 1380-1000 BCE

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Other topics in Minoan archaeology
Minoan Chronology
Minoan Architecture
Minoan Art
Minoan Society and Way of Life
Minoan Religion
Minoan History and Development
Significant Sites of the Minoan Culture
Legacy of the Minoans

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References

Biers, William R. The Archaeology of Greece. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.
Dickinson, Oliver. The Aegean Bronze Age. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Fitton, J. Lesley. Minoans. London: The British Museum Press, 2002.

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Minoan

Bronze Age, Greece
Greek Archaeology