The Minoan thalassocracy reconsidered: provenance studies of LH II A/LM I B pottery from Phylakopi, Ay. Irini and Athens (Plate 39)

Chemical analysis by ICP at the Fitch Laboratory (British School at Athens) is used to see if the imported LB II pottery at Phylakopi on Melos is Minoan or Mycenaean. The possibility of a Minoan thalassocracy and of Minoan colonies in the Cyclades is reconsidered in the light of this new evidence, trade routes to the Cyclades are examined, the nature of the Mycenaean presence in the Cyclades is briefly discussed and the evidence for a LM I B horizon at Kastri on Kythera reinvestigated.