Peaks Above, Plains Below: The Deeper Context of Settlement Patterning in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Crete

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper presents an analysis of the long-term dynamics of settlement patterning on the Greek island of Crete, with a particular focus on the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Alongside - or in the absence of - other forms of archaeological data, changes in settlement patterning have been central to debates around political and economic change on the island across the period, which includes the collapse of the Bronze Age palaces, and the emergence of the early city states or poleis. This paper situates these changes within a deeper spatio-temporal context, considering the relationships between human settlement and the island's geology, topography, and ecology. Drawing on GIS datasets and methods, oscillations in these relationships are identified, which in turn can be related to significant historical developments during the period under investigation. It is argued that by first establishing a more foundational appreciation of the ecological and topographic correlates of settlement on the island in prehistory, we can better understand the specific historical conditions - and social strategies - which introduced short-term variation and idiosyncrasy into these long-term patterns.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37147.0