The Neolithic Labyrinth

Social Change at Knossos before the Bronze Age

Abstract

Neolithic Crete has long been portrayed as a slow-moving backwater. Analysis of data from the large tell site at Knossos challenges this view by demonstrating that the Neolithic settlement underwent a period of rapid growth and sudden cultural change during the earlier fifth millennium. These phenomena are most convincingly interpreted as indicators of an internal transformation in Knossos's social structure, and they suggest the emergence of a Neolithic community of some complexity. The methods and conclusions of this study may have implications for approaches to later social change in Bronze Age Crete.