Cycladic civilization
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Cycladic civilization (also known as Cycladic culture or The Cycladic period) is an Early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, spanning the period from approximately 3000 BC-2000 BC.
History
The significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic flat female idols carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age ("Minoan") culture arose in Crete, to the south: these figures have been looted from burials to satisfy a thriving Cycladic antiquities market since the early 20th century.
A distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BCE, based on emmer wheat and wild-type barley, sheep and goats, pigs, and tuna that were apparently speared from small boats (Rutter). Excavated sites include Saliagos and Kephala (on Keos) with signs of copper-working, Each of the small Cycladic islands could support no more than a few thousand people, though Late Cycladic boat models show that fifty oarsmen could be assembled from the scattered communities (Rutter), and when the highly organized palace-culture of Crete arose, the islands faded into insignificance, with the exception of Delos, which retained its archaic reputation as a sanctuary through the period of Classical Greek civilization (see Delian League).
The chronology of Cycladic civilization is divied into three major sequences: Early, Middle and Late Cycladic. The early period, beginning ca. 3000 BCE segued into the archaeologically murkier Middle Cycladic ca. 2500 BCE. By the end of the Late Cycladic sequence (ca. 2000 BCE) there was essential convergence between Cycladic and Minoan civilization.
There is some tension between the dating systems used for Cycladic civilization, one "cultural" and one "chronological." Attempts to link them lead to varying combinations; the most common are outlined below.
'''Cycladic chronology [Chronology and Terminology] of [The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean]
accessed May 23 2006''' | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase | Date | Culture | Contemporary mainland culture | Notes | |||||||||
| Early Cycladic I (ECI) | Grotta-Pelos | ||||||||||||
| Early Cycladic II (ECII) | Keros-Syros | ||||||||||||
| Early Cycladic III (ECIII) | Kastri | ||||||||||||
| Middle Cycladic I (MCI) | Phylakopi | ||||||||||||
| Middle Cycladic II (MCII) | |||||||||||||
| Middle Cycladic III (MCIII) | |||||||||||||
| Late Cycladic I | |||||||||||||
| Late Cycladic II | |||||||||||||
| Late Cycladic II | |||||||||||||
Archaeology
The first archaeological excavations of the 1880s were followed by systematic work by the British School at Athens and by Christos Tsountas, who investigated burial sites on several islands in 1898-99 and coined the term "Cycladic civilization" Interest lagged, then picked up in the mid-20th century, as collectors competed for the modern-looking figures that seemed so similar to sculpture by Jean Arp or Constantin Brancusi. Sites were looted and a brisk trade in forgeries arose. The context for many of these Cycladic Figurines has thus been mostly destroyed; their meaning may never be completely understood. Another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic frying pans. More accurate archaeology has revealed the broad outlines of a farming and seafaring culture that had immigrated from Asia Minor ca 5000 BCE. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between ca 3300 - 2000 BCE, when it was increasingly swamped in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. The culture of mainland Greece contemporary with Cycladic culture is termed Helladic.Notes
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