Editing Philistines (section)

===== Early connections =====
There is evidence that Cretans traded with Levantine merchants since the [[Neolithic]] [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] era,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kieser |first=D. |title=CHAPTER 1: The Dawn of the Bronze Age – The Aegean in the 3rd Millennium |url=https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2066/02chapter1.pdf |journal=Unisa International Repository |via=}}</ref> which increased by the Early Bronze Age.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shelmerdine |first=Cynthia W. |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-00189-2 |edition=2nd |pages=209–229}}</ref> In the Middle Bronze Age, coastal plains in the southern Levant economically prospered due to long-distance exchange with the Aegean, Cypriot and Egyptian civilizations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marcus |first1=Ezra S. |last2=Porath |first2=Yosef |last3=Paley |first3=Samuel M. |date=2008 |title=THE EARLY MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IIa PHASES AT TEL IFSHAR AND THEIR EXTERNAL RELATIONS |journal=Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant |volume=18 |pages=221–244 |doi=10.1553/AEundL18s221 |jstor=23788614 }}</ref>

The Cretans also influenced the architecture of Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palaces such as [[Tel Kabri]]. Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the [[University of Haifa]] said that "it was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city's rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did; the Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel European."<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134292 "Remains of Minoan fresco found at Tel Kabri"]; [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109121119.htm "Remains Of Minoan-Style Painting Discovered During Excavations of Canaanite Palace"], ''ScienceDaily,'' 7 December 2009</ref>