Editing Minoan civilization (section)

=={{anchor|Agriculture and subsistence}}Agriculture and cuisine==

{{see also|Cretan cuisine}}
[[File:Campstool fresco 1.jpg|thumb|250px|The mostly reconstructed "Campstool [[Fresco]]" from Knossos]]
[[File:Zakros bull's head rhyton archnmus Heraklion.jpg|thumb|200px|Bull [[rhyton]] from [[Kato Zakros]]]]
The Minoans raised [[cattle]], [[Sheep farming|sheep]], [[Pig farming|pig]]s and [[goat]]s, and grew [[wheat]], [[barley]], [[vetch]] and [[chickpea]]s. They also [[Viticulture|cultivated grapes]], [[ficus|figs]] and [[olive]]s, grew [[poppy|poppies]] for [[Poppy seed|seed]] and perhaps opium. The Minoans also [[apiculture|domesticated bee]]s.<ref name="Sinclair Hood 1971">[[Sinclair Hood|Hood, Sinclair]] (1971) "The Minoans; the story of Bronze Age Crete"</ref>

Vegetables, including [[lettuce]], [[celery]], [[asparagus]] and [[carrot]]s, grew wild on Crete. [[Pear]], [[quince]], and olive trees were also native. [[Date palm]] trees and cats (for hunting) were imported from Egypt.<ref>Hood (1971), 87</ref> The Minoans adopted [[pomegranate]]s from the Near East, but not [[lemon]]s and [[orange (fruit)|oranges]].

They may have practiced [[polyculture]],<ref>However, [[Hamilakis]] raised doubts in 2007 that systematic polyculture was practiced on Crete. (Hamilakis, Y. (2007) [https://archive.today/20130105122117/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119953774/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Wiley.com]</ref> and their varied, healthy diet resulted in a population increase. Polyculture theoretically maintains soil fertility and protects against losses due to crop failure. Linear B tablets indicate the importance of orchards ([[Common fig|figs]], olives and grapes) in processing crops for "secondary products".<ref>Sherratt, A. (1981) ''Plough and Pastoralism: Aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution''</ref> [[Olive oil]] in Cretan or [[Mediterranean cuisine]] is comparable to butter in northern European cuisine.<ref>Hood (1971), 86</ref> The process of fermenting wine from grapes was probably a factor of the "Palace" economies; wine would have been a trade commodity and an item of domestic consumption.<ref>[[Hamilakis]], Y (1999) ''Food Technologies/Technologies of the Body: The Social Context of Wine and Oil Production and Consumption in Bronze Age Crete'' [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2023344]</ref> Farmers used wooden [[plow]]s, bound with leather to wooden handles and pulled by pairs of [[donkey]]s or [[ox]]en.

Seafood was also important in Cretan cuisine. The prevalence of [[Mollusca#Uses by humans|edible molluscs]] in site material<ref>Dickinson, O (1994) ''The Aegean Bronze Age'' p. 28)</ref> and artistic representations of marine fish and animals (including the distinctive [[Marine Style]] pottery, such as the LM IIIC "Octopus" [[stirrup jar]]), indicate appreciation and occasional use of fish by the economy. However, scholars believe that these resources were not as significant as grain, olives and animal produce. "Fishing was one of the major activities...but there is as yet no evidence for the way in which they organized their fishing."<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 | title=Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete| isbn=9781134880645| last1=Castleden| first1=Rodney| date=2002| publisher=Routledge}}</ref> An intensification of agricultural activity is indicated by the construction of terraces and dams at Pseira in the Late Minoan period.
[[File:P1010596 crop.jpg|thumb|The (incomplete) ''[[Harvester Vase]]'', [[soapstone]], LM I.<ref>Hood (1978), 145–146; [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/harvester-vase German, Senta, "The Harvester Vase"], Khan Academy</ref>]]
Cretan cuisine included wild game: Cretans ate wild deer, [[wild boar]] and meat from livestock. Wild game is now extinct on Crete.<ref>Hood (1971), 83</ref> A matter of controversy is whether Minoans made use of the indigenous Cretan megafauna, which are typically thought to have been extinct considerably earlier at 10,000{{nbsp}}BC. This is in part due to the possible presence of [[dwarf elephant]]s in contemporary Egyptian art.<ref>Marco Masseti, Atlas of terrestrial mammals of the Ionian and Aegean islands, Walter de Gruyter, 30/10/2012</ref>

Not all plants and flora were purely functional, and arts depict scenes of lily-gathering in green spaces. The fresco known as the ''Sacred Grove'' at Knossos depicts women facing left, flanked by trees. Some scholars have suggested that it is a harvest festival or ceremony to honor the fertility of the soil. Artistic depictions of farming scenes also appear on the ''[[Harvester Vase]]'' (an egg-shaped [[rhyton]]), which depicts 27 men led by another carrying bunches of sticks to beat ripe olives from the trees.<ref>Hood (1978), 145-146; Honour and Fleming, 55-56; [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/harvester-vase "The Harvester Vase"], German, Senta, [[Khan Academy]]</ref>

The discovery of storage areas in the palace compounds has prompted debate. At the second "palace" at Phaistos, rooms on the west side of the structure have been identified as a storage area. Jars, jugs and vessels have been recovered in the area, indicating the complex's possible role as a re-distribution center for agricultural produce. At larger sites such as Knossos, there is evidence of craft specialization (workshops). The palace at Kato Zakro indicates that workshops were integrated into palace structure. The Minoan palatial system may have developed through economic intensification, where an agricultural surplus could support a population of administrators, craftsmen and religious practitioners. The number of sleeping rooms in the palaces indicates that they could have supported a sizable population which was removed from manual labor.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

==={{anchor|Evolution of agricultural tools in Minoan Crete}}Tools===

Tools, originally made of wood or bone, were bound to handles with leather straps. During the [[Bronze Age]], they were made of [[bronze]] with wooden handles. Due to its round hole, the tool head would spin on the handle. The Minoans developed oval-shaped holes in their tools to fit oval-shaped handles, which prevented spinning.<ref name="Sinclair Hood 1971"/> Tools included double [[adze]]s, double- and single-bladed [[axe]]s, axe-adzes, [[sickle]]s and [[chisel]]s.