Editing History of Crete (section)

==Prehistoric Crete==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2021}}
[[File:Steatopygous Goddess, clay, Crete, 5300-3000 BC, AMH, 144506.jpg|thumb| Goddess clay figurine. [[Neolithic]], 5300–3000 BC. Pano Chorio, Ierapetra region, Crete. Archaeological Museum of Heraklion]]
Excavations in South Crete in 2008–2009 revealed stone tools at least 130,000 years old, including bifacial ones of [[Acheulean]] type. This was a sensational discovery, as the previously accepted earliest sea crossing in the Mediterranean was thought to occur around 12,000 BC. This suggests that the island may have been visited by [[archaic humans]] during the [[Middle Pleistocene]].<ref name=":0">T.F. Strasser, E. Panagopoulou, C.N. Runnels, P.M. Murray, N. Thompson, P. Karkanas, F.W. McCoy, K.W. Wegmann [http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/StoneAgeSeafaringintheMedHesp79_2_145-190.pdf Stone Age seafaring in the Mediterranean: evidence from the Plakias region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic habitation of Crete] ''Hesperia'', 79 (2010), pp. 145-190</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Howitt-Marshall |first1=Duncan |last2=Runnels |first2=Curtis |date=June 2016 |title=Middle Pleistocene sea-crossings in the eastern Mediterranean? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278416516300058 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=42 |pages=140–153 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2016.04.005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tourloukis |first1=Vangelis |last2=Harvati |first2=Katerina |date=February 2018 |title=The Palaeolithic record of Greece: A synthesis of the evidence and a research agenda for the future |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618216310011 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=466 |pages=48–65 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2017.04.020|bibcode=2018QuInt.466...48T }}</ref> During the [[Late Pleistocene]], the island was ecologically isolated, and only inhabited by a few mammal species, including deer belonging to the [[Endemism|endemic]] genus ''[[Candiacervus]],'' a lineage of mice (''Mus bateae'', ''[[Mus minotaurus|M. minotaurus]]''), a [[dwarf elephant]] (''[[Palaeoloxodon creutzburgi]]''), the [[Cretan otter]] (''Lutrogale (Isolalutra) cretensis''), and the [[Cretan shrew]] (''Crocidura zimmermanni''),<ref name=":1" /> as well as the large terrestrial [[Cretan owl]] (''Athene cretensis'') all of which but the shrew are now extinct.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last1=Lyras |first1=George A. |title=The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece |date=2022 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 |work=Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2 |pages=661–701 |editor-last=Vlachos |editor-first=Evangelos |access-date=2023-04-30 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 |isbn=978-3-030-68441-9 |last2=Athanassiou |first2=Athanassios |last3=van der Geer |first3=Alexandra A. E.|s2cid=239841623 }}</ref><ref>M. Pavia, C. Mourer-Chauviré An overview of the Genus ''Athene'' in the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean Islands, with the Description of ''Athene trinacriae'' n.sp. (Aves: Strigidae) Z. Zhou, F. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Beijing Science Press (2002), pp. 13-27</ref>

Stone tools indicate that the island was inhabited by [[Mesolithic]] hunter gatherers during the Early Holocene.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Neolithic]] begins on Crete around 9000 years [[Before Present]] /7000 BC.<ref>{{Citation |last=Day |first=Jo |title=Crete, Archaeology of |date=2018 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1434-2 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=1–18 |access-date=2023-05-08 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1434-2 |isbn=978-3-319-51726-1}}</ref> In the [[Neolithic period]], some of the early influences on the development of [[Crete|Cretan]] culture arise from the [[Cyclades]] and from [[Egypt]]; cultural records are written in the undeciphered script known as "[[Linear A]]". The archaeological record of Crete includes [[Minoan palaces]], houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. [[Early Neolithic]] settlements in Crete include [[Knossos]] and [[Trapeza, Crete|Trapeza]].

For the earlier times, [[radiocarbon dating]] of organic remains and charcoal offers some dates. Based on this, it is thought that Crete was inhabited from about 130,000 years ago, in the [[Lower Paleolithic]],<ref>Hemingway, Seán, '' Art of the Aegean Bronze Age'', p. 25, ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', Spring 2012 Volume LXIX, Number 4</ref> perhaps not continuously, with a Neolithic farming culture from the [[7th millennium BC]] onwards.  The first settlers introduced [[cattle]], [[sheep]], [[goat]]s, [[pig]]s, and [[dog]]s, as well as domesticated cereals and [[legume]]s.

Remains of a settlement found under the Bronze Age palace at [[Knossos]] date to the 7th millennium BC.  Up to now, Knossos remains the only [[aceramic]] site. The settlement covered approximately 350,000 square metres. The sparse animal bones contain the above-mentioned domestic species as well as deer, badger, marten and mouse: the extinction of the local megafauna had not left much game behind.

Neolithic pottery is known from Knossos, Lera Cave and [[Gerani, Rethymno|Gerani]] Cave.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Almyrida 2024 - Almyrida 2024 |url=https://www.almyrida.gr/index.php/component/content/article?id=40 |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=www.almyrida.gr}}</ref> The [[Late Neolithic]] sees a proliferation of sites, pointing to a population increase. In the late Neolithic, the donkey and the rabbit were introduced to the island; deer and agrimi were hunted. The [[Kri-kri]], a feral goat, preserves traits of the early domesticates. Horse, fallow deer and hedgehog are only attested from Minoan times onwards.