[ΚΕΝΟ]



Necklace of beads of semiprecious stones and glass paste

Σ-Κ250
Stone and glass paste
Intact
Phaistos
Kalyvia
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙΑ1- IIIA2 early.:
1400-1350 BC:
Gallery:
X
Case:
110
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC) - Final Palatial period (1450-1300 BC).The cemeteries
Cemeteries of Phaistos
Description
Necklace of 23 spherical glass-paste and amethyst beads. From a mortuary assemblage of Kalyvia, Phaistos. Amethyst, a semiprecious gemstone, was mainly imported from Egypt. Although its popularity in Egypt had declined by 1750 BC, as the quarry at Wadi el-Hudi was almost mined out, amethyst remained popular in Crete and mainland Greece until the 12th century BC. The amethyst objects found in Crete indicate direct networks of communication with Egypt. In the 14th century BC, the concentration of amethyst shifts from Knossos to other parts of the island, especially south-central Crete, where 28 beads were found in the cemetery of Kalyvia, most of them in a single tomb. However, the vast majority of finds from this period number just one to three beads in any one tomb, suggesting either that the source had dried up or that fewer grave goods were now being interred with the dead.
Bibliography:
Phillips, J. “Egyptian Amethyst in the Bronze Age Aegean.” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections (1-2) 2009: 9-25. Girella, L. “Middle Minoan III—Late Minoan IIIB Tombs and Funerary Practices in South-Central Crete.“ In Murphy, J.M.A. (ed.), Death in Late Bronze Age Greece: Variations on a Theme, Oxford, 2020.
Author:
G. F.


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