Wool Economy in Minoan Crete before Linear B. A minimalist Position,

The importance of wool production for the economy of Bronze Age Crete has often been remarked. The current narrative hypotheses the change from vegetal to animal fibers at the beginning of Bronze Age (e.g. Tzachili 1997), and the full development of a wool based textile production already during the Early Bronze Age, with woolen textiles being the major Minoan item of export, and, as a consequence, one of the major resources of Minoan palaces (Burke 2010). The main argument for this reconstruction is, in fact, the iconographical evidence of the influence of Minoan textile patterns clearly made by wool in Egyptian and Near Eastern iconography (Kantor 1947; Shaw 1970, 2000; Barber 1991; Warren 1995; Tzachili 2000). If this reconstruction in its general outline seems to be sound, the “hard” facts are, however, scarce. The very few textile remains are of vegetal fibers. Zooarchaeological studies demonstrate that sheep could have been used for wool production already since the Final Neolithic period, but do not assure that sheep breading was mainly oriented towards it (Isaakidou, Halstead, Masala, Wilkens). Iconography represents none of the of the production phases of textiles (Militello 2011) and sheep are only rarely depicted. Still more disappointingly, Hieroglyph and Linear A scripts pays little attention to the management of sheep or of wool, in comparison to people or agricultural foodstuffs (Olivier 1996, Schoep 2002). Finally, spindle-whorls decreases enormously exactly during the Middle and Late Minoan period, when a “palatial” industry could be hypothesized (Tzachili 1997, Militello 2007). The only positive evidence is instead constituted by the presence of large amount of purple shells in dying areas, the last discovered in Pefkia, Pachia Ammos, in 2008, and the abundance of loom-weights throughout palaces, villas and settlements during all the period. In order to explain this apparent gap in the evidence, especially for the palatial periods, one element must be kept in mind. Our knowledge of Crete is mainly based on palatial centres and on palatial culture and ideology, so that what remains represents a biased perspective. Following works by Driessen and Schoep, I suggested that Minoan court centered buildings and, in LM I, Minoan villas, differently from Mycenaean palaces, were interested only in the later stages of the cycle of production, the weaving of special fabrics and the manufacture of beautiful cloth (Militello 2007). This would imply that the major part of productive cycle of wool was made outside of the major centers, probably at household level, as a consequence disappearing from the evidence in our possess for the proto- and neopalatial periods. For previous periods, however, a couple of hints, allow us to suggest an evolution in the role of wool in Minoan ideology. Concentration of spindle-whorls in single spots in Neolithic Knossos and Late Neolithic Phaistos seems to demonstrate the importance of “spinning” as a ritual and perhaps also economic activity (Militello 2011) and presupposes the use of spun yarn (probably wool) as a valuable good in itself in a phase corresponding to the secondary products revolution. This could be also demonstrated by the decoration present in some spindle whorls and by the good quality of some specimens until, at least, EM II. Afterwards, a change can be detected, large concentrations of spindle-whorls is unknown and the quality of the few known specimens ranges from poor to mean, suggesting a more routine production for the fibers. This means by no way a decrease in the economic role of wool, but simply a change in its ideological value: wool was no more a new prestige material, but it was now incorporated in daily life, forming a fundamental part of household and palatial economy, affecting perhaps the evolution of the weight system, but becoming invisible, as all mundane activities, in the iconographic and epigraphic self-representation of Minoan palaces