Colonialism without Colonies? A Bronze Age Case Study from Akrotiri, Thera

by Carl Knappett and Irene Nikolakopoulou

Hesperia, Volume 77, Issue 1
Page(s): 1-42
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25068048
Year: 2008
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ABSTRACT:

Using ceramic evidence from Bronze Age Akrotiri on Thera, the authors explore the idea that regional cultural interactions of a "colonialist" character can take place without the occurrence of colonization per se. They assess the types and frequency of Cretan Middle Minoan IIIA imports from selected deposits at the site, the nature of local imitations of Cretan pottery, and the adoption of a characteristically Cretan technology, the potter's wheel. By comparing processes of material, stylistic, and technological transfer, the authors seek to characterize Crete's influence off-island and the responses of neighboring island communities, concluding that Cretan material culture is more a cause than an effect of Minoanization.