Organic compounds and cultural continuity: The Penn Museum Late Minoan IIIC stirrup jar from Tourloti

Andrew J. Koh & Kathleen J. Birney Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry 17.2 (2017): 19-33

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The turn of the 12th century B.C. traditionally has been cast as a period of turmoil and upheaval in the eastern Mediterranean. Although recent scholarship qualifies “the Collapse,” the dominant narrative continues to be one of disruption, regression, and isolation. East Crete has been painted with a similar brush. Yet the century that followed the final demise of Bronze Age Knossos remains generally understudied, despite scholarly recognition of the region’s importance for the reconstruction of both local Cretan and pan-Mediterranean histories at the end of the Late Bronze Age. As a small contribution to this discourse, we present here an interdisciplinary analysis of a noteworthy Late Minoan IIIC Early (ca. 1175 B.C.) stirrup jar from the western Siteia foothills of East Crete. Organic residue analysis utilizing gas chromatography has allowed us not only to identify the value-added product contained within the jar, a perfumed oil, but also to consider its individual ingredients in light of known craft practices and agricultural activity from the earlier Neopalatial period. Our results reveal surprising evidence of specialized craft continuity in East Crete at the conclusion of the Bronze Age, which suggests a historical picture more complex than traditionally imagined. This will be the first in a series of OpenARCHEM studies of legacy objects employing both traditional and scientific methods.