Aegean civilizations

Table of Contents

Introduction
Dating of the Aegean Bronze Age
History of exploration
Early Aegean civilizations
- Early cultures
  - Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
  - Neolithic (New Stone Age)
- The Bronze Age
  - The Early Bronze Age (c. 3000–2200)
  - End of the Early Bronze Age on the mainland (c. 2200–2000)
  - The Middle Bronze Age on the mainland (c. 2000–1550)
  - The Cyclades
  - The Shaft Grave Period on the mainland (c. 1600–1450)
  - Period of the Early Palaces in Crete (c. 2000–1700)
  - Period of the Late Palaces in Crete (c. 1700–1450)
The decline of the early Aegean civilizations
- The eruption of Thera (c. 1500) and the conquest of Crete (c. 1450)
  - A new social order
  - The Linear B texts
  - The fusion of cultures on Crete
  - The mainland
  - Eastward explorations
- The end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean
  - Shifts in populations
  - New foreign elements
- The people of the Aegean Bronze Age
  - Dress
  - Society
  - Trade
  - Transport
  - Warfare
  - Religion

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The Aegean populations after the Neolithic Period do not conform to a clear ethnic type. The men from small tribal organizations of early times seem to have chosen brides from outside the kin group, at distances from Anatolia to the Balkans and points south. Almost from the start one finds evidence of a variety of people—slender and stout, with round and long skulls, and of tall and medium height. Probably many of the ancient inhabitants of Greece and the islands looked as people in Greece do today—active, muscular, and of moderate height. From the evidence of the wall paintings, though ...(100 of 16310 words)

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