Aegean Prehistory: Neolithic and Prepalatial Crete

The project "The Neolithic and Prepalatial Periods of Crete" aims at a comprehensive monographic study which will treat the Neolithic, Early Minoan and early Middle Minoan periods of Crete. These periods were characterized by important achievements in the realms of tecluiology and of socio-political organization which eventually gave rise to the Minoan palatial culture as the first cultural climax in Europe. This important period of Crete has been last extensively described by Keith Branigan in 1988 as well as by Zois in 1997 in Greek. lt is true that in the meantime several reports have appeared which contain surveys of new discoveries and reports an recent research work an the Early Bronze Age. But they do not exceed the size of articles. Moreover most of them confine to single aspects of the period. This book will offer a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the international research work which has been done during the last 25 years. lt will present an updated picture of the prepalatial development of Crete as it emerges from the new evidente, and place it within the broader frame of the prehistoric Aegean developments. lt will be the successor of Stefan Hiller`s volume an Minoan Crete in the first series of "Ägäische Frühzeit" (1977). The new book will complement Eva Alrarn-Stern`s volumes an the Neolithic period (1996) and the Early Bronze Age (in prep.) in Greece both of which do not include Crete. This volume will form another part of the series "Ägäische Frühzeit". The book will contain two main sections: 1. Part: The Neolithic Period. 2. Part: The Prepalatial Period I. Bibliography 1977-2005 II. Analysis, synopsis and comprehensive description: 1) Chronology. 2) Natural resources. 3) Archaeological evidente. 4) Economy and social structure. 5) Historical conclusions III. The development of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age culture in the various regions of Crete The publication will also comprise many illustrations and distribution charts. The project "Tlie Neolithic and Prepalatial Periods of Crete" will be perfonned and published by Dr. Eva Alram- Stern. It is part of a major research program "Die Ägäische Frühzeit" carried out at the Mykenische Kommission of the Academy of Sciences, where Dr. Alrarn works as a research worker.

The project "The Neolithic and Prepalatial Period of Crete" is part of the long-time project "Ägäische Frühzeit" of the Mykenische Kommission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The aim of this project is the publication of a series of monographies concerning all pre-and protohistoric periods of Greece. Author is Eva Alram-Stern, collaborator at the Mykenische Kommssion of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The main aim of this publication is a complete analysis, evaluation and synthesis of the present state of knowledge of the Neolithic period, the Early Bronze Age (Early Minoan I-III) and the start of the Middle Bronze Age (Middle Minoan IA) as it may be understood after 30 years of intensive international research. Since these periods have been treated for the last time in a work by Stefan Hiller in 1977 this publication follows this book. The book will to be arranged in analogy to the preceding volumes in three parts. Part I : Bibliography 1977-2005 in alphabetic order. This bibliography is the printed version of a data base which has been compiled in Access 2000/2003 for Windows. During the past years this data base has been completed. It now contains 691 titles of monographies and articles. Not included are reports of finds published in the Archaiologikon Deltion, the Ergon and Praktika will be evaluated in the third part. In addition to an alphabetic order this database can also be queried according to sites which are arranged according to landscapes as well as to topics. Thus the database is an important requisition for all analytical and synoptical works for the book which has to be continuously supplemented by the latest publications. Since this bibliography is extremely useful it is planned that, after its completion, it will also be available online. Part II: Analysis of archaeological, cultural historical and historical themes which crystallize from the new archaeological finds and results. These are the chapters on 1) chronology (relative sequence, 14C-dates, correlation of Neolithic Crete with the Aegean. 2) palaeoenvironment. 3) subsistance: the introduction of animal husbandry and cultivated plants (also the possible early use of the olive). 5) neolithization of Crete. 4) cultural development concerning architecture, pottery, tools and small finds. 6) settlement development. 7) relations to neighbouring regions. 8) social change during the Late and Final Neolithic periods as it may be seen by the settlement patterns. Third section: In this part of the book the new excavations, surveys and finds are summarized in geographical order. Description of the development of the Neolithic and prepalatial cultures in the various parts of Crete. The information comes on the one hand from publications collected in the bibliography as well as from reports in various periodicals. During the first part of the project work concentrated on this part of the book. Reports of all Neolithic sites have been finished.