Civilizations Final

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Pliocene

Homo sapiens first appeared in which epoch?

Pleistocene

In which epoch did the last major glacial period occur?

Holocene

What is the name of the current geological epoch which began 11,700 years BP and continues to the present day?

later migration to the Aegean

Why does the Paleolithic period start later in Greece compared to the rest of the world?

water and game

Paleolithic sites were chosen for habitation based on availability of what two resources?

circulating

In the ___ model of movement, large groups of Paleolithic nomads moved their entire camp to new areas in order to follow game

radiating

In the ___ model of movement, small groups of Paleolithic hunters and foragers moved their camps away from the main site to bring food back to the whole

climate change

All Upper Paleolithic sites in the Aegean were later abandoned due to ___

Holocene

Which geological epoch was characterized by rapid climactic and environmental changes? (cold & dry → warm & wet)

Mesolithic

During what period of the Stone Age did large mammals disappear?

Franchthi Cave

What archeological site has layers from the Upper Paleolithic to the end of the Neolithic, representing 25,000 years of occupation?

obsidian

What Melian resource found in Franchthi Cave is evidence for seafaring and navigational skills as early as 13,000 BCE?

lesser reliance on big game → greater variation in wild plants eaten

How were the Mesolithic inhabitants of Franchthi Cave different from its Upper Paleolithic inhabitants?

presence of big game

Why was pre-Neolithic human activity on Crete always suspected even without evidence?

art

Asphendou Cave provides evidence for Paleolthic ___

record sites from varying periods simultaenously

What is the main advantage of surface surveys?

rye

The Natufian culture is notable for processing which plant?

indigenist perspective

model of Aegean neolithisation as an autochthonous process involving local domestication of plants and animals with little to no external contact

diffusionist perspective

model of Aegean neolithisation as a result of migration of eastern agropastoralists from the fertile crescent

plants not native to the Aegean found in Neolithic Franchthi
(which were not present in Mesolithic Franchthi)

main evidence for the diffusionist model of Aegean neolithisation

no transitional stage —- Neolithic settlements were established by people who were already agropastoral

Why is it significant that domesticated plants and animals are present in the earliest layers of Neolithic settlements?

repeated occupation and rebuilding at the same site

What causes the magoules/toumbes of so-called “mound settlements” to form?

short; economic

“Flat” settlements are formed by either ___-term occupation or a shifting ___ model.

Sesklo

What extensive “flat” settlement challenges the term’s criteria of short-term occupation because of its acropolis?

Middle Neolithic

In what period were dwellings characterized by:

• Stone socles

• Mudbrick superstructure

• Rectangular plan

• One or two rooms per building

• Pitched roofs with light raw materials (wood, reeds, earth)

Late Neolithic

In what period were dwellings characterized by:

• large, oblong megaron-type

• two consecutive rooms with storage facilities

• porch

Late Neolithic

In what period were marginal areas of the Aegean (small islands & mountainous areas) colonized?

• dairy products (milk & cheese)

• wool

• manure

List some secondary animal products utilized by Neolithic agropastoralists.

Late Neolithic

In what period did the secondary products revolution occur?

private

During the Late Neolithic period, food processing, storage, and consumption gradually become more ___

Late Neolithic

Defensive fortifications became more common during which period?

Late Neolithic

In what period was access to communal spaces first restricted?

Final Neolithic

Which period was characterized by:

• Increased interregional contact with distant communities

• intensification of production and various exchange activities

• Increase in social inequality

• Population aggregation (fewer sites covering larger areas)

metal replaces stone in tools and ornaments

The Bronze Age was heralded by which development?

Early Bronze Age

In what period did colonization and habitation in marginal areas become fully systematic?

Early Bronze Age

When did proto-urban settlements like Poliochni (Lemnos) appear, with

• drainage systems

• paved roads

• defensive walls

• large retaining walls

• public buildings

• Early Helladic Peloponnese:

  • range and number of artefact types between settlements

• Early Minoan Crete:

  • number of prized burial offerings placed at graves

• Poliochni:

  • quality and size of dwellings

List some evidence for emerging social inequality across the Aegean

Early Helladic (EBA)

Which period was marked by a sharp decline in population size and number of settlements?

Early Helladic (EBA)

What period was characterized by the following developments?

• Apsidal buildings become more widespread

• Potter’s wheel (most ceramics in the Aegean were handmade up to this point)

• Characteristic wares (Minyan pottery)

• Re-appearance of burial within (rather than apart from) settlements

Bronze Age

The Helladic Period is a Greek-specific term for which time period?

Middle Helladic (MBA)

Which period was characterized by poor quality of life, where the majority ate strictly cereals without access to meat?

Minoan

Akrotiri imitated the architecture and art of which civilization?

no victims

What is notable about the Akrotiri eruption site?

Akrotiri

The economic decline caused by the destruction of ___ allowed the Myceneans to invade.

Mycenaean

Which period was characterized by shaft graves laden with rich burial offerings?

Mycenaean

In what period was there a sudden increase in disposable wealth and deeply established differences in social status?

Paleolithic

In what period were Aegean societies mostly egalitarian?

Paleolithic

What period of the Aegean was characterized by:

• Reciprocity & cooperation

• Contact and exchange between groups

• Existence of high-status individuals like shamans, but no wealth/property distinctions

Neolithic

Villages of what period consisted of interdependent households, each owning a small plot of land, some animals, and a few dwellings?

Neolithic

In what period were a household’s dead first buried intramurally?

Early-Middle Neolithic

What period was characterized by:

• Similar houses of equal size

• Large open-air areas between houses

• Free access to food-producing and storage facilities

  • Communal surplus

early to middle

In the ___ Neolithic, architecture and use of space still show few signs of inequality; people cooperated when intensive labor in the field was necessary

Late and Final Neolithic

In what period did accumulation of wealth first lead to competition between households?

• Common material culture and lifeway

• Common ideological beliefs

• Social gatherings: celebrations and feasts

List the three major levelling mechanisms implemented during the Late Neolithic period to strengthen social cohesion

Early-Middle Helladic (Bronze Age)

Which period was characterized by the development of:

• houses with upper floors

• corridor houses

• bouleuterion (open gathering area)

• monumental burial architecture

Early-Middle Helladic (Bronze Age)

The “House tombs” at Mochlos, the Minoan tholos tombs, and pillar crypts are all examples of monumental burial architecture belonging to which period?

above-ground

What is the distinguishing feature of Minoan tholos tombs?

megaron

What type of building was repopularized in the Mycenaean period after 500 years?

large artificial harbour

What is the most notable feature of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos?

wooden

Mycenaean palaces were built with stone and mudbrick and set with a __ framework

Mesolithic

In what period were pit-dwellings utilized?

Neolithic period

When was sturdy architecture using stone and earth first constructed for dwellings?

wattle and daub

building technique: woven lattice of thin branches or horizontal planks of wood + a layer of stuck material

water resistance

Why were mudbrick dwellings covered with plaster?

baked in the sun rather than an oven

What separates mudbricks from regular bricks?

pise

building technique: layers of compacted earth and gravel are applied directly to the soil or a stone socle/foundation

Neolithic

Wattle and daub, mudbricks, and pise (rammed earth) are all characteristic building tools of which period?

no wooden mould

What makes the cob technique different from pise?

submerged in water (lakeside)

How was the wattle and daub dwelling at Dispilio preserved?

insulation

Why did early to middle Neolithic houses have thick walls?

• hearth

• raised benches

• quern and mortar

• storage

• waste cavities

List some interior features of an Early Neolithic dwelling

Late-Final Neolithic

What period did the megara-type dwelling belong to?

apsidal

___ buildings have a rectangular plan with an arc on the narrow side

Late-Final Neolithic

Dwellings of what period had the following characteristics:

• Stone foundation (underground)

• Mudbrick superstructure (aboveground)

• Roof of timber and other organic material

Late-Final Neolithic

Household isolation and restricted access to agricultural surplus and cooking facilities first became common in what period?

Late-Final Neolithic

In what period did people first acquire exotic luxuries via long-distance trade?

second or third floors

The unusually thick walls of Neolithic Knossos suggest:

Bronze Age

House compounds with internal segmentation belonged to which period?

Middle Helladic (MBA)

When did intramural burial reappear after its initial decline?

Bronze Age Knossos (Palatial period)

What settlement was characterized by:

• “Town mosaic” — faience (crushed quartz) with low relief decoration

• terrace rooms

• flat roofs

• pier-and-doors partitions

• pillared crypts

• general monumentality (extensive use of gypsum)

Agia Triada

main administrative center in the Minoan neopalatial period

Loose arrangement, free-standing dwellings

The typical plan of Mycenaean settlements different starkly from development on Crete in what way?

Specifically “Mycenaean” architectural practices cannot be identified in this period

What does the lack of a consistent layout and a combination of influences in Mycenaean dwellings signify?

Mycenaean

Return to earlier traditions:

• house compounds with several rectangular rooms and earthen floors

• Close-clustered units separated by narrow alleys

• Flat roofs constructed with wooden beams

after the collapse of which civilization?

• grazing animals in mountainous areas where crops can’t be grown

• cultivation of hill slopes (terrace farming)

• crop diversification

What are the three ways in which agropastoralists cope with the mountainous topography and dry climate of Greece?

• create flat land for cultivation

• prevent erosion

• conserve water

Why are stone wall-terraces suitable for Greece’s mountainous, dry land?

Loaning agricultural surplus to neighbors with the expectation that they will return the favor when needed

What is “social storage”?

• eaten in case of a low yield

• fed to animals

• exchanged for prized commodities

How was an agricultural surplus used?

summer through mid-September

When is the ideal, mild navigation season in the Aegean?

spring

What season is ideal for traveling north in the Aegean?

summer

What season is ideal for traveling south in the Aegean?

first evidence of homo sapiens sapiens in Greece

significance of the Apidima Cave site

EBA I & II (Early Bronze Age I)

period of social openness and international spirit in the Aegean, particularly the Cyclades

• Addition of mast and sails

• Larger ships with deep, curved hulls (more suitable for open sea and more cargo)

• Use of oars rather than paddles

In what way did navigation technology expand during the Middle Bronze Age (MBA)?

All were stops along important naval trade routes

How did the Minoans choose which islands to colonize?

• Minoan-style pottery—local and imported

• Pier-and-door partitions

• Minoan-style frescoes

• Peak-sanctuaries (Kythera) and Minoan cult activity

• Linear A tablet

• Timber-framed structures + use of ashlar masonry (Akrotiri)

• Lustral basins (Akrotiri)

• Chamber tombs (Karpathos)

• Loom weights (Rhodes)

List some Minoan features found at islands like Kythera, Melos, Rhodes, Thera, Miletos, and Cyprus that connect these sites to Minoan culture.

Mycenaean dominance

What event revitalizes trade in the Aegean after the period of unrest following EBA II?

Peaceful conditions;

wide variety of raw materials, rare commodities, and prize goods

What socioeconomic conditions are reflected by the Uluburun shipwreck (1300 BCE)?

Crisis years;

mostly scrap metal to melt down

What socioeconomic conditions are reflected by the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck (1200 BCE)?

Neolithic period

When does (sparse) evidence of cult activity first appear in the Aegean?