The mid second millennium BC material record of the southern Aegean shows evidence of strong Cretan influence. This phenomenon has traditionally been seen in terms of ‘Minoanisation’, but the nature and degree of Cretan influence, and the process/processes by which it was spread and adopted, have been widely debated. This new study addresses the question of ‘Minoanisation’ through a study of the adoption of Cretan technologies in the wider southern Aegean: principally, weaving technology.

By the early Late Bronze Age, Cretan-style discoid loom weights had appeared at a number of settlements across the southern Aegean. In most cases, this represents not only the adoption of a particular type of loom weight, but also the introduction of a new weaving technology: the use of the warp-weighted loom. The evidence for, and the implications of, the adoption of this new technology is examined. Drawing upon recent advances in textile experimental archaeology, the types of textiles that are likely to have been produced at a range of sites both on Crete itself and in the wider southern Aegean are discussed, and the likely nature and scale of textile production at the various settlements is assessed.

A consideration of the evidence for the timing and extent of the adoption of Cretan weaving technology in the light of additional evidence for the adoption of other Cretan technologies is used to gain insight into the potential social and economic strategies engaged in by various groups across the southern Aegean, as well as the motivations that may have driven the adoption and adaptation of Cretan cultural traits and accompanying behaviours. By examining how technological skills and techniques are learned and considering possible mechanisms for the transmission of such technical knowledge and know-how, new perspectives can be proposed concerning the processes through which Cretan techniques were taken up and imitated abroad.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Ancient Textiles Series’ editor preface
• Editorial preface
• Publications of J. E. Cutler
• List of figures
• Abstract
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The nature of the evidence for ‘Minoanisation’
  • A brief history of archaeological research in the southern Aegean
    • The Cyclades
    • The southeast Aegean
    • The southwest Aegean
  • The material evidence
    • The Cyclades
    • The southeast Aegean
    • The southwest Aegean
• 3. The interpretative background
• 4. Social identity, technological choice and technological change
  • A ‘Minoan’ identity?
  • The socially situated nature of technological practices
  • The transmission of craft skills
  • The adoption of new technologies
  • Thinking about connections
• 5. Textiles and textile technology
  • Textile production
    • Bronze Age Aegean textiles: raw materials
    • Flax and wool: fibre procurement, fibre preparation and associated land and labour requirements
  • Thread production
    • Weaving techniques
    • Loom types
    • Dyeing
    • Finishing
  • Weaving and spinning in the Bronze Age southern Aegean: female technologies?
  • From textile tools to textiles
    • Spindle whorls and thread
    • Loom weights and fabrics
• 6. Textile production on Crete
  • The Neolithic and Prepalatial background
  • Documentary evidence for organised textile production on Crete
  • Production and exchange of textiles in the wider eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, and implications for the Cretan Bronze Age
  • Archaeological evidence for the nature of textile production in Protopalatial and Neopalatial Crete
    • Knossos
    • Other sites in north central Crete
    • Phaistos
    • Ayia Triada
    • Kommos
    • Myrtos Pyrgos
    • Mallia
    • Sissi
    • Pseira
    • Mochlos
    • Petras
    • Palaikastro
    • Other sites in east Crete
    • Chania
    • Other sites in west Crete
    • Summary
• 7. Textile production in the wider southern Aegean
  • The Cyclades
    • Ayia Irini
    • Phylakopi
    • Akrotiri
    • Elsewhere in the Cyclades
  • The southeast Aegean
    • Miletus
    • Iasos
    • Elsewhere in the southeast and northern Aegean
    • Warp-weighted loom technology in the southeast Aegean
  • The southwest Aegean
    • Kythera
    • Other islands in the southwest Aegean
    • The southern Greek mainland
  • Summary
• 8. Crafts production and social dynamics
  • The adoption of Cretan weaving technology: externally and/or internally driven change?
  • Weaving pan-Aegean fabrics?
  • Female mobility and the transmission of craft skills
  • Differential scales of use of the warp-weighted loom?
  • Ceramic and stone vessel technologies
  • Cretan ceramic and weaving technologies: a comparative perspective
  • Strong ties, weak ties
• 9. Conclusions
• References