The Late Minoan III Necropolis of Armenoi: Volume II - Biomolecular and Epigraphical Investigations

The Late Minoan III Necropolis of Armenoi, Crete (ca. 1390-1190 BC) is the only intact, complete Late Minoan necropolis presently known. It comprises a very large number of tombs of which 232 have been excavated. The research project was the first large-scale genomic sampling of skeletal material from a single site in Bronze Age Greece, as well as being the first time a multi-disciplinary approach with ancient DNA as its focus has been conducted on a large, well-curated necropolis assemblage. As such it provides a unique opportunity to answer localized archaeological questions, the most important of which are kinship, an analysis of the ancestry of those buried in the tombs, the homogeneity of the population or otherwise, and diet. The analysis program was only possible because of the potentially large sample of skeletal remains that had been expertly conserved and the fact that the tombs had not been robbed or seriously disturbed. The results of the DNA analyses are presented here, providing the first detailed record of ancestry and kinship in this iconic period of Mediterranean prehistory.

In addition, the long-debated problem of the location of the wealthy city of da-*22-to, referred to many times in the Linear B tablets, is most likely resolved. Key evidence is presented for da-*22-to being the 'city' that built the Late Minoan III Necropolis of Armenoi. The rich finds in the Necropolis and the town excavation support this interpretation.