The crucial earliest phases of palatial Knossos are not well known, in part due to over-building by neopalatial structures and floors. This volume represents the first complete publication of substantial deposits dating to this period, specifically the Middle Minoan IB and IIA phases. This is a first not only for Knossos but for Crete as a whole, and will act as a crucial point of reference for future work on these key phases in the islands prehistory. The five Protopalatial deposits in question, excavated in 1973, 1987 and 199293, are fully published with their contexts, the stratified pottery and small finds including the earliest inscribed clay document from Crete, clay sealings, horn-cores and chipped stone; radiocarbon dates are also presented. The deposits come from the south-west of the palace area, and provide evidence for a range of activities such as ceremonial feasting, workshop production and administration, as well as showing the early development of individual town dwellings on terraces just a few metres from the palace. The volume concludes with a full discussion of the form and function of the Old Palace, stressing that the plans laid down in the first 150 years were far more closely followed over the next 400 years than has hitherto been suspected.

This volume presents the pottery from a series of deposits excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in the palace at Knossos and assigned by him to the last part of the Middle Bronze Age or Middle Minoan III. The substantial architectural modifications seen in this period are examined along with stratigraphy to give proper context to the pottery deposits. Middle Minoan III was the time when Knossos appeared to expand its reach across Crete: from the First Palace Period, when palaces at Malia and Phaistos rivalled Knossos, to the Second Palace Period, when seemingly they diminished and other smaller palaces were built. These changes unfolded over the course of the Middle Minoan III period, divided by Evans into two sub-phases, MM IIIA and MM IIIB. He used many palatial deposits to define these phases. However, he did not present the pottery, stratigraphy and architecture in full, leading eventually to some ambiguity over the status of the period. This detailed study revisits more than a dozen of these contexts, to provide a more solid footing for the phasing and use of the Middle Minoan III palace. The investigation confirms that it is possible to distinguish not only between MM IIIA and MM IIIB, but also between early and late MM IIIA; this distinction enables a more nuanced understanding of the significant changes in architecture and material culture that were taking place. Furthermore, ceramic analysis highlights some of the functions of the palace at this time, with a plethora of conical cups and very few fine tablewares suggesting particular kinds of feasting; and a large number of imported transport and storage wares from off-island locales in the Aegean, such as the Cyclades, Dodecanese, and coastal Anatolia, pointing to a level of connectivity and exchange not previously recognised. This volume demonstrates that much new information can be extracted from legacy material excavated more than a century ago, through the use of a methodology that integrates ceramic, stratigraphic and architectural evidence.

The Middle Minoan III period on Crete was initially identified and studied in detail at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans. Subsequent scholarly attention focused on the preceding Old Palace period and the apparent floruit of the New Palaces at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. In consequence one of the critical transitions in Minoan culture has been virtually overlooked, giving rise to confused and ill-informed judgements concerning developments in Crete and further afield. With numerous innovations in art, architecture and material culture- notably an entirely new palace at Galatas - the changes in Middle Minoan III are striking, and appear to herald a new political organisation of the island, centred on Knossos. The papers in this volume, presented at the first colloquium to be held in the Villa Ariadne at Knossos, now restore the period to its rightful position. The specialist contributions cover most key sites where Middle Minoan III occupation has been identified. The aim has been to rehabilitate Middle Minoan III as a dynamic period in Crete and also on Thera, in order to provide a better understanding of socio-political change across the island and beyond in the latter part of the Middle Bronze Age.

In this book is presented hitherto unpublished finds from the Minoan Palace periods discovered in major and minor excavations of recent years in the central, eastern and northern Aegean. The sites in the Aegean are Thera, Ios, Karpathos, Rhodes, Lemnos and Samothrace, while the west coast of Asia Minor are represented with the Urla peninsula (Cesme), Teichioussa, Iasos, Miletus and Troy. The papers discuss finds such as pottery, loom weights, other small finds, administrative written and sealed documents, and architecture seen in relation to questions like trade, 'minoanising' and colonization. The central issues of the conference are discussed among Aegean scholars in the last chapter.