Consideration of economy in the Prepalatial period seems to be ‘between a rock and a hard place’. While an investigation of ‘political economy’ is commonly regarded as appropriate for the time of the palaces, such an essentially top-down approach has some untoward implications for the earlier period.  More specifically, such a viewpoint tends either to contrast the Early Minoan period with the sophistication and complexity of the later periods, or leads to an appreciation of the complexity of the Prepalatial, with the temptation to find there the seeds of the later palatial system.  In the latter case we are merely pushing back the chronological boundary of ‘complexity’, while in the former we contrast the two periods outside of any real explanatory framework, in both cases with little regard to the way life was lived in the Early Bronze Age.

This paper aims to examine aspects of the Prepalatial period on Crete primarily from the rich pottery record.  We will utilise data ranging from a major study of EMI – MMIA pottery conducted during the last 15 years, through to new excavation evidence from sites in the Mesara Plain.   This detailed ‘bottom-up’ consideration will provide a re-assessment of key issues such as: craft specialisation and the emergence of social complexity; technological traditions and population diversity; the complexity of exchange from at least the Early Bronze Age; and patterns of consumption over space and time.

Acknowledging the ‘specialised’ character of the ceramic products we move from them to their producers with the aim of delving deeper into the nature of the production groups, their technological practice and relationships with their respective communities. We will further examine the processes and social conditions that allow the emergence of specialised skill and its deployment in craft production, using a variety of case studies throughout Crete, in order to tease out insights into the Prepalatial world.