The Final Neolithic–Early Minoan I transition in South-Central Crete: A preliminary account from Phaistos

Phaistos, located in south central Crete, is well known in Minoan scholarship not only for its Middle and Late Bronze age palace, but also for being the site where the latest phases of the Neolithic, general referred to as Final Neolithic, are best represented on the island. The dearth of FN material from other sites, not least Knossos, led some scholars to hypothesise that the Phaistian FN assemblages were in part contemporary with the EM I deposits from northern Crete, material that was in turn interpreted as the product of small groups of overseas migrants, possibly Syro-Palestinian. Other scholars have highlighted the novel features of the Phaistian FN material in contrast to Late Neolithic ceramics, suggesting that the FN culture of Phaistos may in itself have been the product of an earlier migration. These hypotheses for demic diffusion were based on marked stylistic, typological and technological distinctions in the ceramic assemblages of the FN and EM I periods, though recent genetic studies have added new data to the debate. The resumption of excavations at Phaistos and the study of all of the Prepalatial assemblages uncovered over time at the site has allowed the definition of ten phases of occupation prior to the construction of the first palace: the first two (Phaistos I and II, separated by a thick level of stones marking a new internal organization of the site) have been considered to be roughly coincident with what has been defined as FN III and IV; and the following two (Phaistos III and IV, separated by a level of destruction), have been considered to be roughly contemporary to what has been defined as EM IA and EM IB. This paper will focus on the first four phases of occupation of the site and aims to show that the innovations which have been considered to signal the beginning of the EM I at Phaistos appeared independently in the II, III and IV phases. More specifically, it aims to link the innovations to the settlement history of the site and of the wider region so as to argue, on the basis of observed patterns of continuity and change, that the formation of the distinct EM I cultural package (red painted and pattern burnished pottery, tholos tombs etc.) took place over a long period of time and with the more or less pacific contribution of different human groups.