Emilie Hayter (UCL) - 2015-16 Students
emilie.hayter@outlook.com

A Game of Stones: production, consumption and the social perception of architectural stone in Minoan Crete

When Minos Kalokairinos first explored the Prehistoric palace at Knossos, Crete in 1878, the complex architecture invoked that of the labyrinth from the myth of King Minos. The palaces represent the epitome of social and economic complexity; they were monumental foci for large-scale communal ceremonies and served as visual manifestations of elite power. My study will focus on the detailed analysis of architecture and stone use at two of the most important palatial sites, Knossos and Mallia. It is clear that stone use often transcended functionality to become a strategically deployed medium of symbolic expression.