I agree, Roxana. It's good to see that the popular conception of the Minoans and the whole prehistoric matriarchy thing are being undermined by some clear-eyed reassessment of the archaeological record. I've just done an article about this, briefly tying together the now-abandoned "unilineal cultural evolution" of nineteenth-century scholars (which hugely affected Evans' interpretations of Knossos) and the second-wave-feminist-goddess-matriarchy bunch. Here's the link, in case anyone is interested:

[skepticink.com]

Personal anecdote of relevance: As a very young field worker, on my way back from my very first season in the Sudan, I stopped by Crete for a busman's holiday. At Knossos, I spied a middle-aged gentleman sitting in the middle of the great plaza, staring morosely at an architectural plan on a large drawing board. Correctly assuming he was an archaeologist, I went up to him with the supreme self-confidence of youth, and introduced myself as a colleague. Instead of swatting me for my presumption, he very kindly explained what he was doing, and took me on a tour, with an illuminating commentary. It was the great Sinclair Hood himself, and he was engaged in the Herculean task of sorting out the Cretan from the "Concretan" archaeological record - the first time I ever heard that term, and my introduction to the sad truth that the lovely Minoan dream was built on shaky foundations.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2013 04:10PM by Hermione.