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Cycladic Civilization
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akritas View Drop Down
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Posts: 1460 		  Quote akritas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cycladic Civilization
    Posted: 13-Mar-2006 at 17:22
The islands of Greece are many and varied in size and character. They are bathed in a quality of light, which the ancient gods themselves must have decreed. Under a blue sky and amid Homers wine dark sea, the islands vie with one another for tourist attention. Yet amidst all this dazzling light and color, there is one island that is unique. Born out of a massive upheaval of the earth's crust, Santorini is an experience. It is the most southern of the Cycladean group, but in no way resembles the other islands. It must be one of the most spectacular, photogenic and beautiful islands in the world.

The early Cycladic culture extended to the Asiatic mainland, at its south-east corner, where remains of this period have been found on the Myndos peninsula, near Assarlik. It would seem probable enough that the native Carian or Lelegian population of this region was thus early influenced by the Cretan-Cycladic culture. We may notice in this connexion the famous archaeological report of Thucydides, (i, 8) that in his own time Carian graves had been discovered on Delos.

From the Cyclades the Cycladic-Cretan or (as we may now call it) Aegean culture passed on to the mainland of Greece, probably somewhere about 2800 B.C.Legend and the works of Plato identify Santorini as the lost land of Atlantis.
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Maju View Drop Down
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Posts: 6565 		  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Mar-2006 at 22:15
I found this material but I can't study it right now:
For other Greek areas such as Crete or mainland Greece, check the main site: Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean.

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Digenis View Drop Down
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Posts: 694 		  Quote Digenis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Mar-2006 at 14:27
i wonder if there is any evidence of warfare found from the Cycladic civilization (weapons,or pictures of soldiers)  ( ? )
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Maju View Drop Down
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Posts: 6565 		  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Mar-2006 at 00:38
There are at least four citadels blonging to the Early Cycladic IIB or IIIA (2450-2150 BCE), contemporary with pre Bell-Beaker civilizations of Iberia and Troy II-III. I mention Iberian civs because they share some traits (tholos tombs particularly).


(1) Kastri on Syros is a small fortified citadel ca. 50 m. across perched on a steep hilltop. In the valleys just below are the numerous cemeteries of Chalandriani which consist mostly of Keros-Syros tombs but which also include some typologically indistinguishable graves of this later "Kastri Group" phase. The fortifications consist of a wall with six hollow projecting bastions built of small to medium-sized slabs (no large blocks as in the fortifications of MBA Ayia Irini and Phylakopi III). Outside this wall is a second defensive wall or breastwork. Entrance into the fort is gained through one of the bastions. The interior of the settlement consists of clusters of small rooms separated by narrow alleyways. Hearths were found in three rooms, one containing a crucible and a hoard of metal objects in tin bronze. Other crucibles, as well as stone moulds, were found in the settlement, and there is also evidence of lead-working on the site. The latest assessment of the evidence concludes that only melting and recasting took place in this settlement, no smelting of metal-bearing ores. Weapons found include two short daggers and the earliest well-dated slotted spearhead found west of the Anatolian Mainland. (2) Panormos on Naxos is another, even smaller fort some 25 m. long. The exterior is irregular, with several roughly semicircular bastions and a single entrance from the east. A pile of circular stones lying just outside of this entrance has been somewhat improbably interpreted as a supply of slingstones for the defenders. (3) Mt. Kynthos on Delos seems to have been yet another small fort perched on a hill and consisting of several bastions within which are some irregularly shaped rooms and at least three small apsidal houses. (4) Ayia Irini on Keos witnesses during period III several neatly constructed additions to, or remodelings of, the very tidily built rectangular structures of the Keros-Syros period II.

All four of these sites are abandoned during or at the end of this period, only Ayia Irini being subsequently occupied but not until much later in the Middle Cycladic period. Every one of the four except Kastri had been occupied in earlier stages of the EC period.

http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_age/l essons/les/4.html#9

Whatever the specific reasons for the abandonement, it seems a major crisis in the Cycladic society, as long-settled sites were totally abandoned. Reasons?



Edited by Maju

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YusakuJon3 View Drop Down
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Posts: 223 		  Quote YusakuJon3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Mar-2006 at 21:20
This Cycladic civilization seems to have predated Minoan Crete, according to what I'm reading here.  Did you have some indication as to when the fortresses were abandoned?  It seems a bit early for some of the events timed in which both Mycenae and Minoan civilization fell (after the middle of the 2nd Millenium BCE).   Perhaps there was more than one crisis period in which the inhabitants felt pressured to leave their  dwellings.
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