Assessing a Polity in Protopalatial Crete: The Malia-Lasithi State

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to elucidate the regional character of the Malia-Lasithi state, one of the early states of Minoan Crete. The center of this state, the palace of Malia, was constructed, as also at Knossos, Phaistos, and perhaps Zakros, during the Middle Minoan 1 period (ca. 1900 B. C.). The territorial extent of the Malia-Lasithi polity has hitherto been hypothesized on the basis of the regional distribution of artifact styles, most notably in pottery; however, this process of placing dots on a map provides limited information. Of the various sites that are thus identified as possibly falling within the territory of Malia, the relatively distant site of Myrtos Pyrgos stands out by virtue of its abundant deposits of pottery, showing very strong stylistic similarities with Maliote pottery. In this study detailed comparisons of the MM IIB pottery from Myrtos Pyrgos and Malia (Quartier Mu) are presented, integrating typological, stylistic, technological, and compositional data. It emerges that indeed much of the fine tableware is so close as to be practically identical; it is, nevertheless, made locally at each of the two sites. Storage and transport vessels suggest substantial trade throughout the region but rarely between Malia and Myrtos Pyrgos. Production of other coarse wares and cooking ware is quite different at the two sites. The ceramic and other evidence suggest that Malia may not have been at the head of a centralized state, exercising economic and political control over Myrtos Pyrgos, as previously believed. Rather, any power it held at the regional level may have been based more upon ideology than economy, and the Malia-Lasithi state may be better characterized as a decentralized state.

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