Beyond the Knossian State: Urban Economy and Society at the East Cretan Site of Palaikastro

Summary

This is an abstract from the "States, Confederacies, and Nations: Reenvisioning Early Large-Scale Collectives." session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In scholarship on the Bronze Age Aegean, there is a robust conjunction of palace, town, and state. If we take the case of Knossos, then the presumed central authority represented by its palatial complex, and its surrounding town covering 100 ha, are generally thought to imply an associated territory under its control. The same is usually assumed for the other major palatial centres that emerge on the island of Crete ca. 2000 BCE, namely Phaistos and Malia. However, Crete has other urban agglomerations that do not conform quite so neatly. The town of Palaikastro, for example, has neither any sign of a palatial building, nor any indication of a territory that one might consider a state. Where previously scholars have assumed a high degree of institutional alignment from settlement to settlement within this island society, it is increasingly apparent that some sites may have taken quite different routes in their collective action. Here I explore the coastal urban settlement of Palaikastro as a possible instance of such divergence, examining the ways in which its local economy might have contributed to its distinctive sociopolitical status.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• States, Confederacies, and Nations: Reenvisioning Early Large-Scale Collectives.   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38946.0