Prassa

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Prassa (also Prassas) is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement on Crete.

Minoan civilization Bronze Age Aegean civilization flourishing on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands from c. 2600 to 1100 BC

The Minoan civilization represents the first advanced civilization in Europe. It gave rise to massive building complexes, tools, sophisticated artwork, seafaring ships and ship building technology, and writing systems, much of which has endured as archaeological treasures. It established an extensive trade network, with copper, fishing and architecture as specialties. The Minoans were instrumental in bringing early Greek culture and mythos to many neighboring peoples. Much of the information on this culture has been misrepresented in the works and contentions of many scientific and theological interests, which have left out much definitive evidence and as a result, the less provable aspects are more widely known or accepted.

Crete The largest and most populous of the Greek islands

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete and a number of surrounding islands and islets constitute the region of Crete, one of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece. The capital and the largest city is Heraklion. As of 2011, the region had a population of 623,065.

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Archaeology

Two Middle Minoan houses were uncovered at Prassa, which were in use until Late Minoan I.

Minoan pottery

Minoan pottery has been used as a tool for dating the mute Minoan civilization. Its restless sequence of quickly maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons' pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the strata of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th century BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, on Cyprus, along coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.

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