page_title: History of Crete
section_title: Prehistoric Crete
hierarchical_section_title: History of Crete / Prehistoric Crete
caption_attribution_description: English: Steatopygous Goddess. Clay figurine of a squatting woman. Neolithic, 5300-3000 BC. Pano Chorio, Ierapetra region, Crete. Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, ex Giamalakis Collection.Čeština: Bohyně z Kréty, Steatopygous. Sedící žena, keramika. Neolit, 5300 až 3000 před n. l. Nález z Pano Chorio v regionu Ierapetra na Krétě. Archeologické muzeum v Irakliu, z Gimalakisovy kolekce.
context_page_description: The history of Crete goes back to the 7th millennium BC, preceding the ancient Minoan civilization by more than four millennia. The palace based Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe.
  After the Minoan civilization was devastated by the Thera eruption, Crete developed an Ancient Greece-influenced organization of city states, then successively became part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetian Republic, the Ottoman Empire, autonomous state, and the modern state of Greece.
context_section_description: In 2002, the paleontologist Gerard Gierlinski discovered fossil footprints left by ancient human relatives 5,600,000 years ago.
  Excavations in South Crete in 2008–2009 revealed stone tools at least 130,000 years old. This was a sensational discovery, as the previously accepted earliest sea crossing in the Mediterranean was thought to occur around 12,000 BC.
  The stone tools found in the Plakias region of Crete include hand axes of the Acheulean type made of quartz. It is believed that pre-Homo sapiens hominids from Africa crossed to Crete on rafts.
  In the neolithic period, some of the early influences on the development of Cretan culture arise from the Cyclades and from Egypt; cultural records are written in the undeciphered script known as "Linear A". The archaeological record of Crete includes superb palaces, houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. Early Neolithic settlements in Crete include Knossos and Trapeza.
  Because of a lack of written records, estimates of Cretan chronology are based on well-established Aegean and Ancient Near Eastern pottery styles, so that Cretan timelines have been made by seeking Cretan artifacts traded with other civilizations (such as the Egyptians) – a well established occurrence. For the earlier times, radiocarbon dating of organic remains and charcoal offers independent dates. Based on this, it is thought that Crete was inhabited from the 7th millennium BC onwards.
  The native fauna of Crete included pygmy hippo, pygmy elephant Paleoloxodon chaniensis, dwarf deer Praemegaceros cretensis, giant rodents and insectivores as well as badger, beech marten and Lutrogale cretensis, a kind of terrestrial otter. Large mammalian carnivores were lacking; in their stead, the flightless Cretan owl was the apex predator. Most of these animals died out at the end of the last ice-age. Humans played a part in this extinction, which occurred on other medium to large Mediterranean islands as well;, for example, on Cyprus, Sicily and Majorca.
  Remains of a settlement found under the Bronze Age palace at Knossos date to the 7th millennium BC.
  The first settlers introduced cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs, as well as domesticated cereals and legumes.
  Up to now, Knossos remains the only aceramic site. The settlement covered approximately 350,000 square metres. The sparse animal bones contain the above-mentioned domestic species as well as deer, badger, marten and mouse: the extinction of the local megafauna had not left much game behind.
  Neolithic pottery is known from Knossos, Lera Cave and Gerani Cave. The Late Neolithic sees a proliferation of sites, pointing to a population increase. In the late Neolithic, the donkey and the rabbit were introduced to the island; deer and agrimi were hunted. The Kri-kri, a feral goat, preserves traits of the early domesticates. Horse, fallow deer and hedgehog are only attested from Minoan times onwards.
caption: Goddess clay figurine. Neolithic, 5300–3000 BC. Pano Chorio, Ierapetra region, Crete. Archaeological Museum of Heraklion
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