Editing Aegean civilization (section)

==Evidence==
For details of monumental evidence the articles on [[Crete]], [[Mycenae]], [[Tiryns]], [[Troad]], [[Cyprus]], etc., must be consulted. The most representative site explored up to now is [[Knossos]] (see [[Crete]]) which has yielded not only the most various but the most continuous evidence from the [[Neolithic age]] to the twilight of classical civilization. Next in importance come [[Hissarlik]], Mycenae, [[Phaestus]], [[Hagia Triada]], Tiryns, Phylakope, [[Palaikastro]] and [[Gournia]].{{sfn|Hogarth|1911|p=246}}

===Internal evidence===
[[File:Saffron gatherers detail Thera Santorini.png|thumb|180px|The "[[saffron]]-gatherer" fresco, from the Minoan site of [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] on [[Santorini]]]]
*'''Structures''': Ruins of palaces, palatial [[villa]]s, houses, built dome- or cist-[[Tholos tomb|graves]] and [[fortification]]s (Aegean islands, Greek mainland and northwestern [[Anatolia]]), but not distinct [[temple (Greek)|temples]]; small [[shrine]]s, however, and temene (religious enclosures, remains of one of which were probably found at Petsofa near Palaikastro by J. L. Myres in 1904) are represented on [[intaglio (sculpture)|intaglio]]s and [[fresco]]es. From the sources and from inlay-work we have also representations of palaces and houses.
*'''Structural decoration''': Architectural features, such as [[column]]s, [[frieze]]s and various [[molding (decorative)|mouldings]]; [[mural]] decoration, such as fresco-paintings, coloured [[relief]]s and [[mosaic]] inlay. Roof tiles were also occasionally employed, as at early Helladic [[Lerna]] and Akovitika,<ref name="Joseph W. Shaw 72">Joseph W. Shaw, The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form, ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 91, No. 1. (Jan. 1987), pp. 59–79 (72).</ref> and later in the [[Mycenae]]an towns of [[Gla]] and [[Midea (Argolid)|Midea]].<ref>[[Ione Mylonas Shear]], "Excavations on the Acropolis of Midea: Results of the Greek-Swedish Excavations under the Direction of Katie Demakopoulou and Paul åström", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 104, No. 1. (Jan. 2000), pp. 133–134.</ref>
*'''Furniture''': (a) Domestic furniture, such as vessels of all sorts and in many materials, from huge store jars down to tiny [[unguent]] pots; culinary and other implements; thrones, seats, tables, etc., these all in stone or plastered [[terracotta]]. (b) Sacred furniture, such as models or actual examples of ritual objects; of these we have also numerous pictorial representations. (c) [[Funeral|Funerary]] furniture, for example, coffins in painted terracotta.
*'''Art products''': for example, plastic objects, carved in stone, or [[ivory]], cast or beaten in metals (gold, silver, copper and bronze), or modelled in clay, [[faience]], [[Wheatpaste|paste]], etc. Very little trace has yet been found of large free-standing sculpture, but many examples exist of sculptors' smaller work. Vases of many kinds, carved in [[marble]] or other stones, cast or beaten in metals or fashioned in clay, the latter in enormous number and variety, richly ornamented with coloured schemes, and sometimes bearing moulded decoration. Examples of painting on stone, opaque and transparent. Engraved objects in great number for example, ring-bezels and gems; and an immense quantity of clay impressions, taken from these.
*'''[[Weapon]]s, tools and implements''': In stone, clay, and bronze, and at the last iron, sometimes richly ornamented or inlaid. Numerous representations also of the same. No actual body armour, except such as was ceremonial and buried with the dead, like the gold breastplates in the circle-graves at Mycenae or the full length body [[Dendra armour|armour]] from [[Dendra]].
*'''Articles of personal use''': for example, brooches (fibulae), pins, razors, tweezers, often found as dedications to a deity, for example, in the [[Crete|Dictaean Cavern of Crete]]. No textiles have survived other than impressions in clay.
*'''Written documents''': for example, clay tablets and discs (so far in Crete only), but nothing of more perishable nature, such as skin, [[papyrus]], etc.; engraved gems and gem impressions; [[legend]]s written with [[pigment]] on [[pottery]] (rare); characters incised on stone or pottery. These show a number of systems of script employing either [[ideogram]]s or syllabograms (see [[Linear B]]).
*'''Excavated tombs''': Of either the pit, [[Mycenaean chamber tomb|chamber]] or the [[Beehive tomb|tholos]] kind, in which the dead were laid, together with various objects of use and luxury, without [[cremation]], and in either coffins or loculi or simple wrappings.
*'''Public works''': Such as paved and stepped roadways, bridges, systems of drainage, etc.{{sfn|Hogarth|1911|p=246}}

===External evidence===
*'''Monuments and records of other contemporary civilizations''': for example, representations of alien peoples in Egyptian frescoes; imitation of Aegean fabrics and style in non-Aegean lands; allusions to Mediterranean peoples in Egyptian, [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] or [[Babylonia]]n records.
*'''Literary traditions of subsequent civilizations''': Especially the Hellenic; such as, for example, those embodied in the [[Homer]]ic poems, the legends concerning Crete, Mycenae, etc.; statements as to the origin of gods, cults and so forth, transmitted to us by Hellenic antiquarians such as [[Strabo]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [[Diodorus Siculus]], etc.
*'''Traces of customs, [[creed]]s, rituals, etc.''': In the Aegean area at a later time, discordant with the civilization in which they were practiced and indicating survival from earlier systems. There are also possible linguistic and even physical survivals to be considered.
[[Mycenae]] and [[Tiryns]] are the two principal sites on which evidence of a prehistoric civilization was remarked long ago by the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]].{{sfn|Hogarth|1911|p=246}}