development of more complex social structures and ultimately the rise of
states. The island of Crete, lying at the entrance to the Aegean Sea 60 miles
from Greece, 120 from Anatolia, and 200 from the coast of Africa, was home
to thefirst advanced European civilization known today as the Minoan. In
the early to mid-second millenniumBCEMinoan political, religious, and
economic life centered on great palaces from which bureaucracies directed an
ordered society. Palace workshops were production centers for pottery,
metalwork, and textiles, and the state controlled long-distance trade. Crete
was a relatively small place with a growing population and a heated econ-
omy. The result was a hybrid system, at the same time a trade state and a
bureaucratic monarchy, but 100 percent maritime in orientation. No remains
of Minoan ships have been found, but they were not the large bulky vessels
that characterized the Egypt to Levant trade. Aegean ships were probably
about 30–50 feet in length, small enough to drag onto a beach. They used
sails but were mainly oar-driven. A signet ring depicts one vessel with 15
oars on each side and a high stern, although high prows and low sterns are
believed to have been more common. A Minoan naval procession depicted on
a frieze fromc. 1600 BCEshows galley-type ships being paddled (actually oars
had long before replaced paddles) with a single mast and an Egyptian style
square sail with a boom.
Thefirst product the Minoans had to trade was probably high-quality
timber suitable for shipbuilding since great forests originally covered the
island. Once cleared, much of the land was replanted in olive trees and grape
vines. In the Mediterranean world, the importance of the olive can scarcely
be overstated. First cultivated perhaps in Syria, it spread to Crete by the
third millenniumBCE. In places where the climate was suitable, the olive
combined remarkable endurance with copious amounts of fruit. Olive trees
thrived on rocky and barren landscapes, and their deep root systems had no
problem surviving summer droughts; they didn’t require much attention and
could remain productive for the better part of a century. The olive proved to
be a nourishing food, and its oil remained the principal edible fat in the
Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Olive oil lamps lit the interiors
of buildings, and oil soaked in aromatic herbs was used as perfumed
unguents, medicine, and body cleansers in the age before soap. Hundreds of
massive jars holding thousands of gallons of olive oil were stored in Minoan
palace warehouses awaiting export. The grape vine, which required much the
same growing conditions, provided thousands more gallons of exportable
liquids. On land where olive trees and grape vines were not grown, the
Minoans raisedflocks of sheep, allowing for a considerable export of woolen
textiles.
Olive oil and wine needed to be stored and shipped in containers as did
other commodities, including perfumes, resins, spices, and even opium,
hence the need for a large pottery industry. Some pottery was decorated,
painted, and shaped sofinely it became valuable in its own right. The craft
56 Into the Aegean and out of the Bronze Age