Beneath the Bronze Age 'Palace of Minos', Neolithic Knossos is one of the earliest known farming settlements in Europe and perhaps the longest-lived. For 3000 years, Neolithic Knossos was also perhaps one of very few settlements on Crete and, for much of this time, maintained a distinctive material culture. This volume radically enhances understanding of the important, but hitherto little known, Neolithic settlement and culture of Crete. Thirteen papers, from the tenth Sheffield Aegean Round Table in January 2006, explore two aspects of the Cretan Neolithic: the results of recent re-analysis of a range of bodies of material from J.D. Evans' excavations at EN-FN Knossos; and new insights into the Cretan Late and Final Neolithic and the contentious belated colonisation of the rest of the island, drawing on both new and old fieldwork. Papers in the first group examine the idiosyncratic Knossian ceramic chronology (P. Tomkins), human figurines from a gender perspective (M. Mina), funerary practices (S. Triantaphyllou), chipped stone technology (J. Conolly), land and-use and its social implications (V. Isaakidou). Those in the second group, present a re-evaluation of LN Katsambas (N. Galanidou and K. Mandeli), evidence for later Neolithic exploration of eastern Crete (T. Strasser), Ceremony and consumption at late Final Neolithic Phaistos (S. Todaro and S. Di Tonto), Final Neolithic settlement patterns (K. Nowicki), the transition to the Early Bronze Age at Kephala Petra (Y. Papadatos), and a critical appraisal of Final Neolithic 'marginal colonisation' (P. Halstead). In conclusion, C. Broodbank places the Cretan Neolithic within its wider Mediterranean context and J.D. Evans provides an autobiographical account of a lifetime of insular Neolithic exploration.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Contributors
• 1 - Introduction: Escaping the Labyrinth
  • A Brief History of Cretan Neolithic Studies
  • The Round Table
  • Retrospect and Prospect
  • Bibliography
• 2 - Approaching the Labyrinth
  • Introduction
  • Both Ends of the Mediterranean
  • Malta
  • Into the Labyrinth
  • A Forgotten Cycladic Islet
  • Return to Knossos
  • Bibliography
• 3 - Time, Space and the Reinvention of the Cretan Neolithic
  • A World Apart? Cretan Neolithic Chronology in Review
  • Death of a Neolithic ‘Super-site’: Knossos and the Settled Landscapes of Neolithic Crete
  • Reinventing the Cretan Neolithic
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• 4 - A Sea of Agency: Crete in the Context of the Earliest Neolithic in Greece
  • Introduction: Some Theoretical Concepts
  • The ‘Neolithic Package’
  • The Movement
  • The Evidence
  • Discussion and Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 5 - The Knapped Stone Technology of the First Occupants at Knossos
  • Introduction
  • Context
  • The IN Assemblage: Raw Material, Debitage Techniques and Tools
  • Tools
  • Comparative Analysis
  • Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• 6 - ‘The Fauna and Economy of Neolithic Knossos’ Revisited
  • Introduction
  • The Knossos Faunal Assemblage: Previous Research and the Rationale for Re-study
  • Re-analysis: Methods and Results
  • Early Farming at Knossos
  • Cows and Complexity at Knossos?
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 7 - Figurin’ Out Cretan Neolithic Society: Anthropomorphic Figurines, Symbolism and Gender Dialectics
  • A Few Words on Scope, Theory and Methodology
  • Analysis
  • Concluding Remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 8 - Living with the Dead: a Re-Consideration of Mortuary Practices in the Greek Neolithic
  • Diversity in death: the manipulation of the deceased in Neolithic Greece
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 9 - Stones of Contention: Regional Axe Production and Hidden Landscapes on Neolithic Crete
  • Chronological Terminology: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire?
  • Regionality in Cretan Neolithic Stone Axe Production
  • Discussion
  • Lost but not Forgotten
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 10 - Neolithic Katsambas Revisited: the Evidence from the House
  • Topography and Stratigraphy
  • Architectural Remains
  • Pottery
  • Chipped and Ground Stone Tools
  • Chronology and Function: Some Early Thoughts
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 11 - The Neolithic Settlement of Phaistos Revisited: Evidence for Ceremonial Activity on the Eve of the Bronze Age
  • The Chronological Background: Towards a Better Definition of the Final Neolithic Period at Phaistos
  • The Archaeological Data: Towards a Contextual Reassessment of the Activities Performed on the Phaistos Hill
  • Evidence for Ceremonial Activity on the Eve of Bronze Age
  • Discussion and Further Thoughts
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 12 - Obsidian in Transition: the Technological Reorganization of the Obsidian Industry from Petras Kephala (Siteia) between Final Neolithic IV and Early Minoan I
  • Introduction
  • Provenance
  • Technology, Production and Consumption
  • Obsidian Distribution Within the Site
  • Technological Developments
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 13 - The Final Neolithic (Late Chalcolithic) to Early Bronze Age Transition in Crete and the Southeast Aegean Islands: Changes in Settlement Patterns and Pottery
  • A Final Neolithic Refuge Site at Katalimata
  • The Topography of Late Final Neolithic Settlement
  • First Bridgeheads–Offshore Islands
  • The Dodecanesian Connection?
  • Summary
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 14 - Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Coping with Marginal Colonisation in the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Crete and the Aegean
  • Marginal Colonisation in Crete and the Aegean?
  • Marginality
  • ‘Economic’ Responses to Marginal Colonisation: Pastoralism and the ‘Secondary Products Revolution’
  • Living Off Livestock in the LN–EB Southern Aegean: Modelling Benefits and Costs
  • ‘Social’ Responses to Marginal Colonisation: Residence, Identity and Exchange
  • Some Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 15 - The Neolithic-Early Bronze Age Transition in Crete: New Evidence from the Settlement at Petras Kephala, Siteia
  • The Site
  • Chronology
  • The Advent of the Early Bronze Age
  • Population Movements and Cultural Change
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 16 - Long After Hippos, Well Before Palaces: A Commentary on the Cultures and Contexts of Neolithic Crete
  • The Kraken Wakes
  • Before the Beginning
  • The Neolithic Colonisation of Crete as a Mainstream Process
  • Enlivening the Early to Late Neolithic
  • The Many Surprises of the ‘Final Neolithic’
  • The Climates of the Times
  • Knossos Calling
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
• 17 - The Neolithic of Crete, as Seen from Outside
  • The Beginning of the Cretan Neolithic
  • Crete and a Wider World After its Initial Settlement
  • Coda
  • Notes
  • Bibliography