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The Bronze Age (1)

The Bronze Age (1). Bronze Age (3.200 – 1.100 BC). Stable settlement - Development of systematic farming, stock-rearing, exchange of raw materials and products & navigation Use of copper – Development of metallurgic techniques Development of significant civilizations.

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The Bronze Age (1)

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  1. The Bronze Age (1)

  2. Bronze Age (3.200 – 1.100 BC) • Stable settlement - Development of systematic farming, stock-rearing, exchange of raw materials and products & navigation • Use of copper – Development of metallurgic techniques • Development of significant civilizations

  3. Bronze Age (3.200 – 1.100 BC) • Southern Aegean Civilization (3.200 – 1.600 BC) • Cycladic Civilization (3.200 – 1.500 BC) • Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Helladic Civilization (3.200 – 1.600 BC) • Mycenaean Civilization (1.600 – 1.100 BC)

  4. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Inhabitation of the islands in the Neolithic Age • Factors of development: geographical position – geological terrain – local raw materials • Most important archaeological points:Limnos, Lesvos, Thira, Kea, Melos, etc.

  5. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Development of metalworking and use of bronze alloys (from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC) • Durable tools and weapons • Improvement and expansion of many productive activities • Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding, trade and artisanship

  6. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Large settlements with an early urban character and population of 300-1500 persons, mostly located near the sea • Stone fortification walls of a retaining, flood-preventing and fortifying character ,mainly from the side of the land • Mainly stone-built buildings with usually rectangular shape, consisted mainly only of a ground floor and more infrequently of two or three stores. They are built either attached to one another or free-standing • Houses with stone or clay storage constructions & sewage system

  7. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Beginning of cultivation of the vine & olive tree • Development of marine trade in order to discover raw materials (obsidian, metals), to acquire technical knowledge & to promote exchangeable agricultural and manufactured goods (especially by the Cyclades) • Extraction & elaboration of metals (copper, lead, silver) by using special tools & techniques – Manufacture of golden & silver jewels

  8. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Decorated ceramic vases & frescoes, with various colors and themes from the animal- , plant- & everyday's life or sometimes even landscape paintings or historical scenes (e. g. Acrotiri on Thira)

  9. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Marble-sculpture (vases & figurines) from the Cyclades  anthropocentric character of the art • Isolated burials of infants and children within the limits of the settlement, in vases or simple pits into the floors of houses – Burials of adults in simple pits or in “pithoi” in cemeteries out of the settlements

  10. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Foundation of the earliest sanctuary of the prehistoric Aegean in AgiaIrini on Kea • Female figures dominating in religious scenes (e.g. Santorin), as in those of Minoan Crete • Ritual acts (Thira – young men with blue hair and long locks) through which the youths officially became adults, responsible to society & gods

  11. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Indications of a dressing code very close to the Minoan ( figurines from Thermi on Lesvos & frescoes from Thira) • Clothes expressing presumably social differences • Minoan style loincloth worn mostly by men that were occupied with an activity of movement (e.g. “pygmachoi”) • Impressive women with wide bell-shaped skirts made of successive woven bands and a tight-fitting bodice leaving the breasts exposed – Sometimes very fine transparent clothes, probably made of silk - Many jewels, made of precious metals and colorful stones - Painting of the eyes & face & tattoo marks

  12. Southern Aegean & Cycladic Civilization(3.200 – 1.600/1.500 BC) • Existence of a political-administrative power which coordinated the communal works and observed the harmonic function of the community ( existence of “Bouleutirion”) • Existence of a wealthy class of merchants & craftsmen  seals, bronze tools and weapons & the jewels of exceptional art as "prestige goods" or objects of "social prestige“, found in houses or graves (Thermi, Poliochni)

  13. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Factors of development: • Geographical position in the centre of the East Mediterranean Sea, at the connecting point of 3 continents • Geomorphologic terrain, with big & small plains among high mountains • Warm climate • 1st settlements already in the Neolithic Age

  14. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • 1899 – 1935: excavations of Sir Arthur Evans in Knossos  1st extensive revelation of the Minoan Civilization • Most important archaeological points: Phaistos, Knossos, Malia, Zacros, etc • Economy based on agriculture, animal-breeding, exchanging trade & artisanship

  15. Minoan Civilization (3.200 – 1.450 BC) • Development of navigation  "Minoan thalassocracy“ • “Paxminoica” ( not any kind of fortification) • “International” trade with the Aegean Islands, Egypt (“Kefti”) & the coasts of the Near East – Exchange of Cretan produced goods with raw materials • Collection, storage & trade of the produced goods exclusively organized by the palace centers, where there are also located specialized workshops

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