Greek Art and Archaeology Quiz 1!

Archaeological things to know!

in the following notes

Law of Superposition

things farther down are typically older than things above

• could be disrupted by human or natural things like animal burrows or natural disasters or roots or humans

in situ

when something is found in its original place

stratigraphy

the study of layers that accumulate over time in soil and reveals chronologies and sequences of events through objects

secondary deposition

when something is used in one place and left and then finally left in another 

• once again could be human activity or natural

absolute dating vs. relative dating

absolute dating uses specific years while relative dating dates time periods relative to one another

• absolute=radiometric dating like radiocarbon or coins or dendrochronology

• relative=stratigraphy

People to know!

in the following notes

J.J. Winckelmann:

1. father of art history

• really liked greek classical art thinks its the best

• 18th century critic (drew distinctions btwn greek+roman art)

Piet de Jong

illustrator

• illustrated hetty goldman

• think of that illustrious group of archaeologists and friends

• he’s the reason we have a lot of portrayals of the ancient places and he’s the reason we portray ancient places a certain way

Hetty Goldman

female archaeologist

• excavated Eutresis which is in mainland greece

• established EH chronology

Arthur Evans

excavated

• discovered linear B, an early form of Greek (deciphered in 1952) which was a huge intellectual feat

• he excavated knossos

Herodotus

roman historian

• he has an account of minos subjugating a lot of territory

Peoples to know!

Hittites

modern day turkey

• theyre ahead of the curve so smart

• Anatolia

Minoans

named after king minos 

• they love a lustral basin

• they love bulls and acrobats and natural world inspiration but controlled nature

• like for example in late minoan floral style pottery which turns nature into pattern

• they love double headed axes

Myceneans

they are associated with violence

• chariots

Places to know!

1. Sesklo

2. Dimini

3. Lerna

4. Knossos

5. Akrotiri

6. Gournia, Crete

7. Mount Juktas

8. Kopaic Lake

9. Cyprus

Sesklo

has late neotlithic vaguely human figurine

Dimini

incised neolithic pot

• also big in late bronze age for myceneans 

Lerna

• agglomerative

• fortified

• big building called BG that gets made into house of tiles

Knossos

• double headed axes

• minoan

• palace

• griffin throne room,

• horns of consecration

Akrotiri

LC town destroyed by volcanic eruption

• its cooler and older than pompeii so its a bronze age time capsule

• 2 story houses, court yards, agglomerative plan, no central palatial structure

• the wall paintings show heavy minoan influence - def similarities btwn the wall paintings in Knossos and Akrotiri

• cycladic wall painting ship fresco remember this!

Gournia, Crete

LM town

• excavated by harriet boyd hawes

• its rare to find good farm land to lots of in crete lived on mountains

• in LM we get household shrines so personal religion so we get the upward arms figurines

• Mount Juktas peak sanctuary with zoomorphic figurines

Specific sites to know!

1. Francthi cave

2. House of the tiles

3. Troy

troy is the place we looked at to learn about the chronology of the middle bronze age

Francthi Cave

longest recorded continuous occupational sequence site in Greece

• earliest sign of human settleent in Greece during Paleolithic

• roughly 20,000-3,000 BC

• in mainland greece pelopeneese 

• has obsidian which is volcanic glass

Troy

troy is the place we looked at to learn about the chronology of the middle bronze age

• heinrich schliemann

• iliad, odyssey

• troy 1 and 2 were very fortified

• troy 2 had potters and metals

• troy 3 and 4 very short lived

• troy 6 lasted into late bronze

troy has tells that’s why we know it has many layers of occupation

ceramic petrographer/petrography

description and classification of rocks

• microscopic

• ceramic petrographer looks at composition

agglomerative [architecture]

no specific order to things, clusters that form together into a city

obsidian

volcanic glass from milos

• used to make seals and jars

• traveling of obsidian helps us learn abt trade

“Neolithic Package”

domestication of plants and animals

• sedentism

• and why? feasting, climate change, carrying capacity of environment who knows!

• neolithic people are founders of modern life and creative problem solvers

Sesklo and Dimini

excavated sites in thessaly

• distinctive pottery and figurines

• 5300-3000 BCE

What do we have from them?

• obsidian from milos

• chipped stone tools

• chert/flint

blades likely used for threshing grain in neolithic greece

• commonly made of obsidian or chert aka flint

neolithic figurine from Sesklo

Aghios Onouphrios Ware

from crete

• minoan culture

• EM

late neolithic pot from dimini incised

Vasilike Ware

from EM

ivory stamp seal 

• EM

• glyptic art so engraved

• personal and official (like a signature)

• for elite people

zoomorphic

animal like

• think of Mount Juktas

glyptic art

engraved

stamp seal vs cylinder seal

gurl this is pretty self explanatory

• remember the lapis lazuli cylinder one

lapis lazuli

from afganistan

cycladic figurine EC

• may be used in burials or domestic context

• remember they love trangle body shapes

frying pan

• EC

• Syros

sauceboat

• EH

• Lerna

• urfurnis/burnishing technique

This is a plan of Lerna in EH that later turns into the house of the tiles

• lerna was fortified and agglomerative

• house of the tiles is the pink highlighted area and the tiled roof is super rare bc we don’t see tiles again until 1500 years later

• corridor house that’s symmetrical and has stone foundation

• what was it used for? storage like a granary? central administration? public center?

Hetty Goldman

eutresis

Eutresis

where hetty goldman excavated

the palace at knossos plan

• different places have different purposes like there are areas with ritual purpose, with domestic purpose, administrative purpose

• admin + storage areas were og separate buildings that were linked together

Phaistos disk

• this has symbols similar to linear A on it, which was a Minoan script and is indecipherable as of present

• MM oe LM

the lustral basin

• in malia

• there’s also one outside of Queen’s hall at Knossos palace

• snake goddess

• knossos MM

• women and nature and snakes and shedding skin so transformation

• mistress of animals trope

• these figures are intricate and carved and in palaces so they are for the elite

ivory acrobats

• also knossos MM

kamares ware

• made on the wheel!

• thin walled (eggshell) tableware vs. coarse for storage or pouring

• from Phaistos MM 

long house

• apsidal (the one with the rounded end) or rectangular

• thebes EH

gray minyan ware

• MH

• minyan ware known 2b glossy, monochrome, fabric fired v hard, often bowls and goblets

polychrome painted

- Lerna MH

Queen’s hall

• palace of knossos

• look at the door and pier construction!

• also think about organized nature!

• we’re not sure if its true fresco (pigment directly applied to wet lime plaster) or if organic binding material was used

throne room

• knossos palace again!

bull leaping fresco

• palace at knossos - again!

• reminds us of the acrobats so minoan they love the bulls

marine style pottery

LM

ayia triada sarcophagus

• expression of power by mycenean elites in religious setting

• this is when myceneans were moving to crete and exerting power! #colonizing?

• gives us insight into religious rituals, death rites in Aegean bronze age

• double headed axes are minoan while chariots are mycenean so blending of those cultures

• LM

palace style minoan pottery

• adapted from mainland greece aka mycenean pottery

• shows presence of mycenenan people on crete

• LM

cycladic wall painting

• segment of ship fresco

• west house, Akrotiri

• late cycladic

Akrotiri

• agglomerative plan which means no central palatial structure

• and the wall paintings show lotza minoan influence

saffron gatherers

• xeste 3

• Akrotiri

• LC

dagger blade

• found in shaft grave in Mycenae

• LH 

• remember lion hunt=leisure=elites=control over nature 

• triangle bodies so cunty we love those teensy waists

Mycenae

• plan of the late bronze age citadel

• grave circles a and b are here (remember orthostats) grave circle b is slightly older and a is slightly fancier

• super cool stuff found in the grave circles like the mask of agammemnon which is made of gold and not used dagger blades and both of those are LH

• the lion gate= LH= vibes of protection and violencebut could be griffins which is reminiscent of knossos

• the fucking treasury of atreus is here too

lion gate

• cyclopean masonry

• LH

• could potentially be griffins? think of knossos throne room

treasury of atreus

• Mycenae

• LH

• NOT a treasury but a huge tholos tomb

• dromos=long hallway

• ritually significant

• heavily looted

pylos megaron

• has tripartite plan,

• similar to EH longhouses and MH megara in this way

• has best preserved mycenean palace

• magaron=classic mycenean they love a big room with a hearth

• tomb of the griffin warrior is in pylos

fresco at pylos

• LH

• gives similar vibes to minoan knossos frescos

combat agate

• found in tomb of griffin warrior

• LH

• Pylos

• mycenean means fighting and looking good

• minoan influences

oxhide ingot

• this means its a cogger ingot that was a convenient shape for shipping - trade of raw materials

tell/hoyuk/magoula

the mounds left behind

Minoans vs Myceneans vs. 

Linear A vs Linear B

Linear A doesn’t appear to be connected to Greek not even the earliest form and hasn’t been deciphered while linear B was deciphered by arthur evans and is an early form of greek

light well

minoans at knossos strategically placed

Kamares Ware

Minyan Ware

Polychrome painted Minoanizing ware

Horns of consecration

knossos

minoan 

floral style vs marine style vs palace style

Gournia, Crete

Mount Juktas

Herodotus

Akrotiri

Pylos

Heinrich Schliemann

Kopaic lake

Mycenean

• draining it was feat of Mycenean hydroengineering

• gla is still there but has no lake and is now farming land for the myceneans

Mask of agamemnon

uluburun shipwreck

evidence of trade networks

• pottery important bc of what it was holding on the inside like wine or oil

• had ingots and gold and copper and ivory and precious stones and egyptian artifacts

• off the coast of turkey

“club of the great powers”

kings who called one another brother and exchanges of gifts and women (except egyptian princesses) 

• so egypt would send gold and other states woudl give craft goods/horses/copper

Cyprus

know this!

time periods are important!