Toward a Definition
of Minoan Agropastoral Landscapes:
Results of the
Survey
at Palaikastro (Crete)
By Hèctor A.
Orengo - Carl Knappett
Agricultural
production and the palatial redistribution of staples have played a key role in
the debate concerning the emergence of social complexity in Minoan Crete.
However, much of the focus has fallen on major settlements where such products
were consumed, rather than on the landscape where agricultural surplus was
produced. While there is no shortage of landscape surveys on Crete, their
emphasis has typically been on the distribution of rural settlements instead of
on identifying landscape structures and
arrangements - such
as terraces, enclosures, and field systems - that might provide data about a
territory’s economic focus. A key aim of the new survey at Palaikastro has been
to address this bias.
By combining extensive archaeological survey with
differential GPS (DGPS) measurements, high-resolution aerial photography, and
microrelief generation and analysis, the project has identified hundreds of
structures, forming an almost continuous fossilized landscape and providing
important clues on landscape management practices. The results highlight the
importance of pastoral practices, to which a large part of the landscape was
dedicated. Agricultural arrangements were also documented in the form of
terraced areas adapted for dryland agriculture and reflecting concerns for soil
retention. We argue that a highly structured landscape, indicative of pressures
in land use, was established during the Middle and Late Minoan periods across
Palaikastro’s territory.
SOURCE: Hèctor
A. Orengo - Carl Knappett «Toward a Definition of Minoan Agropastoral Landscapes: Results of the Survey at Palaikastro (Crete)», AJA, Jul. 2018.
KEYWORDS: CRETE, CRETA, KRITI, LASSITHI, KRETA
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