Publisher's Synopsis
The human body has been under-researched in the field of Minoan archaeology and understandings about the Cretan Bronze Age have often relied on data not directly related to the human body, such as pottery and architecture. While methodologically important, these data offer an incomplete picture of Minoan societies. Furthermore, current modernist research categories (such as osteoarchaeological, microglyptic and linguistic studies) create artificial divisions which impede a more holistic approach to the human condition in Minoan Crete. What is currently lacking is a contribution which recasts the human body as a central archaeological informant, in its various manifestations such as human remains, frescoes and figurines. This book redresses this imbalance by combining analysis of biological and represented bodies from Minoan Crete. As such, this book is neither an exhaustive account of people in Bronze Age Crete nor a treatise on the themes it explores. It is, rather, an archaeological and anthropological study on how current debates on social, economic and political change in the Minoan Age can be enhanced through exploration of the diversity and corporeal experience of its populations. Ultimately, the book aims to provide a stimulus towards re-evaluating Minoan archaeology through embodiment and will be a springboard for furthering debates on gender, political complexity and social change, as well as stimulating discussion on class, hybridity and bodily regionalism. This work will have wider methodological ramifications, because its debate transcends the boundaries of Minoan archaeology and can be applied to archaeologies of other regions and eras.
