| Archaeological evidence from important settlements and cemeteries in eastern Crete, when compiled into chronological distribution maps, reveal an wide-spread socioeconomic transformation between the LM IA and LM IB periods. Details of this change and the causes behind it are the focus of my thesis. Mochlos and Gournia form the core of the research; however, Petras, Zakros, and Pseira are also used for comparisons illustrating the extensive nature of this transformation.; I have concluded that the socio-economic transformation was caused by attempts from the central authority at Knossos to reassert and reinforce centralized control in eastern Crete. To accomplish this task, they established elite structures in the settlements that imitated not only the architectural aspects of the Knossos Palace, but its economic and religious function as well. |
