Minoan Peak Sanctuaries

The Minoans were an ancient culture that the average person would have little to no knowledge of. They are often overshadowed by their neighbors: the architecture of the Hittites in Anatolia, the stunning feats of the Ancient Egyptians, and the warrior Mycenaean Greeks that inspired the world-famous stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

But, at the same time in the Bronze Age (3,100-1,400 BCE), the Minoans were flourishing on the island of Crete. But, if the Minoan civilization is as important as the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, why do we lack so much knowledge about them? What did their society look like? And how did the island of Crete shape one of the most colorful and inventive civilizations of the Mediterranean?

This is the Palace of Knossos. While the complex isn't exactly a "palace" as we would understand (like the seat of a king), it is the phrase used most frequently by scholars. This is because it was called a palace by British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1899 (Thorpe, 2023). 

In actuality, these winding and labyrinthine buildings are actually more likely administrative complexes. Here, the elite class (like priests and priestesses) would live. But, there would also be the manufacturing, record keeping, and redistribution of grain, as well as the host for religious parades, sports, and a host for visiting dignitaries.  In its full glory, the Palace of Knossos would have been up to six stories tall and well over 150,000 square feet (Jarus, 2017). 

The Minoans loved to feature the natural world in their art, like fish, mountains, bulls, and birds. Their art was highly stylized, but focused on displaying features from the world around them side-by-side with human figures. To the Minoans, the nature world was not something to conquer, but something to coexist with. 

This is the Palace of Phaistos, another administrative complex, this time near the southern coast of Crete. There's a large theater on the east of the complex, thought to be the home of general religious dances and parades. It was excavated in 1900 by archaeologists Halbherr and Pernier, but excavations still continue periodically (Brouwers, 2019).  The Palace of Phaistos shares similar features to the Palace of Knossos to the north:

1. triangular west court
2. central court
3. kouloures (circular pits thought to be grain bins)

The Palaces of Knossos and Phaistos are two of many similarly constructed palatial structures on the whole island of Crete. Some of the largest and most researched are labeled: Kydonia, Phaistos, Knossos, Malia, and Zakros.

This is very strong evidence that the entire island was populated by one culture, who shared culture, language, artistic trends, and religion. But, if the Minoans were so widespread and singular, why don’t we know more about them?

Both of their scripts (Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphics) are not translated. This is a wealth of knowledge that we don’t have access to. So, archaeologists must use the remaining material evidence, architecture, and natural world to make informed guesses about the Minoan culture, and more specifically, Minoan religion.

These marked sites are known as peak sanctuaries. While the activities that occurred there are largely unknown, we know these places were used for a special, isolated purpose, due to their locations in high, difficult to reach elevations.

But why place your spaces for religious activity in such inaccessible places?

Scholars have provided numerous theories, but it requires an analysis of the surrounding environment working hand in hand with material evidence to come to a working hypothesis!

This is a hypothetical information highway between the Phaistos and Knossos. A message using the peak sanctuaries could have traveled 52.5 miles! As Baird writes:

While there is only 4.98 miles between Knossos and Juktas, the terrain and elevation make it a difficult task to make the pilgrimage, even in the lowest resistance areas. After all, the elevation of the climbs gets to around 780 meters!  As you can imagine, it's a treacherous task! Add to the fact that large wildlife and slippery stones are barriers to your travel, the idea of a large-scale pilgrimage to the peak sanctuaries seems very important! These peak sanctuaries must have been only for those who were truly devoted to the task, while palatial structures would have housed religious experiences for the masses! 

Even at the lowest resistances, the trek still would be not something to do every day. Then, does that make the peak sanctuaries directly related to their difficulty to reach? Could a peak sanctuary's construction hinge on the surrounding elevations, to promote a devoted pilgrimage?

We know that the two main components for placing a peak sanctuary are  sight lines  and  elevation . A peak sanctuary should be out of the way of normal society, but be within sight of another palace or sanctuary.

How can we use this information?

Using GIS systems like Google Earth, we can make hypotheses about where other sanctuaries might be located, even if they haven't been found yet!

The sight line criteria is simple to fulfill: no peaks in the elevation profile should block the view of two sites. One site should be able to always see another. The elevation criteria uses the averages and range of the elevations between the sanctuaries we've been using thus far:

Average: 718.6 meters Low: 254 meters High: 1157 meters

Using these criteria, I identified four possible peak sanctuary sites! Let's explore them now!

With these tentative sites, communication from the palaces of Zakrosto Knossos could go 70 miles in only seven relays!

New advances in GIS technology make it easier for archaeologists to use predetermined data to find new sites to explore! Without the ease of modern technology, stumbling on a sanctuary was incredibly difficult. But, with the advent of Google Earth and other applications, the time and money spent in an excavation could be made far more efficient! 

The Minoans clearly created a massive web of culture and communication across their island, one that is only now being fully explored. Archaeologists in the late 1800's could have never imagined the scale that one could analyze a culture using Google Earth and predetermined criteria. Not only do we know what the Minoans valued in their religious buildings (open communication, but isolated elevations), but we can start to hypothesize where more are!

While this is the end of the exploration of Crete, there is still plenty more that this technology could lend itself to in the exploration of archaeology! There are peaks in the Cyclades, remote temples on mainland Greece, and countless archaeological sites both in danger and undiscovered across the globe that could be learned about with the use of GIS