Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (442 page)

Minns , Sir Ellis Hovell
(1874–1953)
[Bi].

British archaeologist whose studies focused on eastern Europe. After school at Charterhouse he studied for the classical tripos at Pembroke College, Cambridge, opting for Slavonic and learning Russian. After a period in Paris he spent 1898 to 1901 working in the library of the Imperial Archaeological Commission in St Petersburg, mastering the literature on Russian archaeology. Returning to Cambridge he was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Classics, a post he held until 1927 when he was appointed Disney Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. Amongst his many publications are
Scythians and Greeks
(1913, Cambridge: CUP) and
The art of the northern Nomads
(1944, London: H. Milford ).
[Bio.: G. Clark , 1989,
Prehistory at Cambridge and beyond
. Cambridge: CUP, 30–4]

 
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A term developed by Sir Arthur evans for the Bronze Age civilization of Crete and surrounding areas, being an adaptation of the name of the legendary King Minos of Crete. The Minoan civilization emerged in the early 3rd millennium
bc
and is traditionally divided into three main phases, each with subdivisions: early Minoan (EM) 3000–2000 bc; middle Minoan (MM) 2000–1550 bc; and late Minoan (LM) 1550–1050 bc. Evans also subdivided each phase into three subdivisions denoted by Roman numbers (e.g. EM-III), onto which still finer subdivisions denoted by letters and arabic numbers have been added. An alternative scheme proposed by Nicholas Platon takes account of the architectural development of the civilization: Pre-Palatial (= EMI-III), Proto-Palatial (= MMI-II), Neo-Palatial (= MMIII–LMIIIA1), and Post-Palatial (LMIIIA2–IIIC).
During the middle Minoan period, urbanism became apparent, towns appeared, and the great palaces were built. At this time the Minoan civilization can be characterized as a palace-based redistributive economy in which food products, raw materials, and manufactured goods were collected together and redistributed from the palaces.
By the beginning of the late Minoan period Crete controlled the southern Aegean and the islands therein. In the mid 15th century
bc
the Greek-speaking
MYCENAEANS
took control of Crete and the Aegean until their empire too collapsed around 1200 bc.
The Minoan civilization was the earliest European civilization known. Its people used
LINEAR A
writing and developed a high level of architectural and artistic skill. Religious belief systems are not fully understood, but seem to have included a much represented female deity, the sacred double-axe sign, and the horns of consecration. Sacred cave and hilltop sanctuaries are known. Bulls appear widely in sporting/ceremonial contexts.

 
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A type of church, usually of royal or magnate foundation in the later 1st millennium
ad
, that was served by more than one priest exercising pastoral responsibility over a large area. Some early minsters were effectively small monastic communities.

 
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A term give by Heinrich Schliemann to the type of fine, smooth, grey or yellow-coloured pottery, made on the wheel, found widely from about 2000 bc in Thessaly and Macedonia to the Argolid and considerably at Troy. Ancestral to
MYCENAEAN
pottery. The makers and users of Minyan pottery were probably not the same as the Late Bronze Age communities associated with the fabulously rich King Minyas whose exploits are chronicled by epic and lyric poets in classical times.

 
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The epoch preceding the
PLIOCENE
and dated to between 25 million and 5 million years ago. It was during the late Miocene that the earliest hominid species begin to appear in the fossil record.

 
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