Domestic space and community identity in the Aegean Islands and Crete 1200-600 BC

Anastasia Christophilopoulou MOSAIKjournal 1 (2010): 67-126.

Abstract

This paper investigates aspects of community identity in the Aegean Islands and Crete through examination of their domestic environments, between c. 1200–900 BC, a period when Cycladic, Eastern Aegean islands and Crete were engaged in different social developments. By comparing their developments in domestic space, I consider here how household organisation reflects the wider social and historical context in different island communities, by accepting that the conscious structuring of space within the house is often a symbolic ordering of space, and that the organisation of households and household activities can inform us to a great extent about the social fabric of their inhabitants. Finally, I will analyse the relationship between physical distance and “insularity” as expressed through the medium of domestic architecture and household organisation; as well as the way “insularity” can be responsible for creating particular com-munity identities. If we accept that ordering space inside the house is a way of comprehending the space outside, this paper also seeks to investigate when Early Iron Age Cretan and Aegean households show signs of “insularity”, and when they share features across islands, by considering that “insularity” is frequently a social choice, rather than a geographic reality.

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