The Palace of King Minos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Palace of King Minos - Essay Example An Antiquarian and Numismatist, Sir Evans contracted my assistance on the project toward historiographic documentation of his work, and that of Duncan MacKenzie whom will provide oversight on the forthcoming archaeological excavation. Inspired by the work of one of my colleagues, Heinrich Schliemann and his discovery of the royal tomb at Mycenae in 1876, Sir Evans has made numerous trips to Crete and the site at Knossos since the first encounter in 1894. In the Ancient Minoan period, the great palace is not only a royal residence but also the center of administration for the broader agrarian and maritime economies of the island. The site of exchange for governance of Cretan society, and locus of power in communiqu with other seafaring cultures of antiquity, the Palace of King Minos was to become my greatest resource for inquiry into to ancient civilization. While I had spent time following others like Schliemann around the Mediterranean in writing about the development of Bronze Age cultures, nowhere was I enlightened to the human spirit and its potential for inculcating both equity and whimsy into a praxis of leadership. Unlike the hierarchies of the Ancient Egypt Egyptian Kingdoms of the same period, Crete main tained a separate culture that could very well be the precursor to democratic monarchies of the modern period. Six Months later . . .How does a historian go about constructing an adequate chronological framework for such a site as we are uncovering We have been toiling at our work endlessly as Mr. MacKenzie and his crew of local workers dig, dust and classify the bronze statuary from both Crete, and the surrounding Mediterranean, the vast amount of clay pottery, and even shards of ivory and other foreign materials from as far away as East Africa that are so indicative of the world of abundant trade that the Minoans engaged. The robustness of their culture and especially successful economic trade with other civilizations, attests to the high standard of living that the culture enjoyed well beyond what might have been expected in Europe even one hundred years ago. We have decided upon a Chronology for the Minoan Bronze Age which is now determined to be three periods: Early, Middle and Late Minoan (em, mm, lm). Subdivision of the periods has been classified according to noticeable shifts in pott ery styles. Late Minoan pottery: (a) conical rhyton, h. 325 mm, from Gournia, Room C58, lm ib; (b) ovoid rhyton, Marine style, h. c. 240 mm, from Palaikastro, lm ib; (c) bridge-spouted jar, Special Palatial tradition, Floral style, h. 165 mm, from Knossos, lm ib; (d) 'Ephyraean' goblet, h. 150 mm, from the Temple Tomb, Knossos, lm ii; (e) jar, Palace style, h. 850 mm, from Knossos, lm ii-iiia:1 (all Herakleion, Archaeological Museum); (f) stirrup jar, Close style, h. 105 mm, from a tomb at Tourloti, lm iiic (Philadelphia, PA, University of Pennsylvania, University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology).iMuch effort has gone into geographic analysis of the site, and interpretation of planning that is an obvious precursor to Roman topographic renderings available to us today. The Palace at Knossos is to our best estimation 1300 BC. The