Birgitta P. Hallager

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LM IIIB Knossos and its relations to Kydonia

The date of the destruction of the palace at Knossos on Crete has been one of the key problems of Aegean prehistory since the palace was excavated at the beginning of the 20th century. The excavator Arthur Evans argued for an LM II date as he presumed that the inscribed tablets found in the palace destruction layers must have been written by the people who had produced the large and richly adorned Palace Style jars which he dated to the LM II period. After his death Evans’ date has been questioned, keenly debated and finally lowered to early LM IIIA:2. Nobody, however, has studied the amount and distribution of the latest pottery of LM IIIB date found in the palace, its connection to the inscribed tablets and its presence in the surrounding houses, town and cemeteries. The LM IIIB pottery in Knossos is here scrutinized through the Day and Note Books of the excavation, the original excavation reports in the Annual of the British School at Athens and the published sherds and complete vases. Finally the close connections between the two largest LM IIIB towns, Knossos and Kydonia—currently the only ones in Crete with Linear B tablets—are highlighted. Contents Preface, pp. 7-8. The Knossian controversy, pp. 9-10. Introduction, pp. 11-13. The LM IIIB evidence from the palace, pp. 15-71. The LM IIIB pottery from the palace, pp. 73-91. The LM IIIB evidence from the houses surrounding the palace, pp. 93-126. The LM IIIB evidence from the tombs, pp. 127-157. The Knossos-Kydonia relations, pp. 159-168. Conclusions, pp. 169-173. References, pp. 175-184.