Island settlements and sea routes. An Εkistics study of the Cyclades (ca 1200-700 B.C.)

This dissertation examines the settlement pattern changes on the Cycladic islands during the Postpalatial period and the Early Iron Age (ca 1200-700 B.C.). An analysis of all the Cycladic sites with archaeological data of the period 1200-700 B.C. is conducted, regardless of their function (settlement, burial ground, sanctuary, workshop, etc.) and their source (systematic or rescue excavation, survey, casual finds, seizure, etc.). Despite of important lacunae of the archaeological record due to the uneven amount of research undertaken in different parts of the Cyclades, the exploration of a total of 112 sites in 23 islands offers an enlightening picture of the Cycladic settlement patterns in three different scales: settlement, island and island cluster. Thorough examination of the settlement distribution in the Cyclades results in the construction of a model, which we can call settlement pendulum. According to this model, the settlement swings from dispersion to nucleation and backwards. The settlement pendulum takes into account all the available information and offers a realistic description about the settlement pattern changes and ways of life in the Cyclades during the period under consideration. However, the most important contribution of this model is the fact that it may suggest a convincing interpretation of the “settlement hiatus” that the present archaeological record indicates in several of the Cycladic islands during the period 1200-700 B.C. In many Greek regions, both in the mainland and the islands, there is an absence of archaeological evidence from the very end of the Late Bronze Age and the earlier Early Iron Age. This phenomenon is called as “settlement hiatus”, because entire areas seem to be abandoned for long time periods. Several interpretative approaches have been adopted in order to shed light on this “dark” aspect of the period but each of them has serious weaknesses, so the issue of the “settlement hiatus” remains open. Based on the settlement pendulum, this dissertation argues that the “settlement hiatus” of the Cyclades during the period 1200-700 B.C. is owed to the adoption of a way of life that is characterized by dispersed settlement and, thus, low archaeological visibility. Such settlement dispersion explains several phenomena which have been greatly puzzled the scholars, for example the adoption of single burials, the great variability in burial customs, whether there was a phase of the Early Iron Age during which no fortifications were built, etc. Moreover, the settlement pendulum may enlighten similar “settlement hiatus” observed in different times and places, contributing to an expanded understanding of the field of Ekistics based on archaeological evidence.