Cycladic culture (also known as Cycladic civilisation) was a Bronze Age culture (c. 3100βc. 1000 BC) found throughout the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. In chronological terms, it is a relative dating system for artifacts which is roughly contemporary to Helladic chronology (mainland Greece) and Minoan chronology (Crete) during the same period of time.
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π Cycladic culture in the context of Early Helladic
Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a historical framework. Whereas Minoan chronology is specific to Crete, the cultural and geographical scope of Helladic chronology is confined to mainland Greece during the same timespan (c. 3200 β c. 1050 BC). Similarly, a Cycladic chronology system is used for artifacts found in the Aegean islands. Archaeological evidence shows that civilization developed at the same time across the region, so the three schemes align chronologically. They are grouped together as "Aegean" in terms such as Aegean art and, rather more controversially, Aegean civilization.
The systems derive primarily from changes in the style of pottery, which is a benchmark for relative dating of associated artifacts such as tools and weapons. On the basis of style and technique, Evans divided his Cretan Bronze Age pottery finds into three main periods which he called Early, Middle and Late Minoan. These were sub-divided into phases and some of those into sub-phases. The Helladic and Cycladic schemes were devised later and have similar sub-divisions. Evans' system has stood the test of time remarkably well but his labels do not provide firm dates because change is never constant and some styles were retained in use much longer than others. In fact it is partly this lack of dates that has been the strength of Evans's system; several of the dates Evans believed have certainly changed, and others remain under discussion, though within fairly narrow ranges, but the scheme just adjusts for such changes. Some pottery can be dated with reasonable precision by reference to Egyptian artifacts whose dates are more certain.
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Cycladic culture in the context of Naxos (city)
Naxos (Greek: ΞάξοΟ), commonly referred to as Chora (Greek: Ξ§ΟΟΞ±, meaning 'town'), is a city and a former municipality on the island of Naxos, in the Cyclades, Greece. The community has 8,897 inhabitants (2021 census). It is located on the west side of Naxos Island in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It was an important centre of bronze age Cycladic culture and an important city in the ancient Greek Archaic Period. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.
Cycladic culture in the context of Aegean art
Aegean art (2800β1100 BC) is art that was created in the lands surrounding, and the islands within, the Aegean Sea during the Bronze Age, that is, until the 11th century BC, before Ancient Greek art. Because it is mostly found in the territory of modern Greece, it is sometimes called Greek Bronze Age art, though it includes not just the art of the Mycenaean Greeks, but also that of the Cycladic and Minoan cultures, which converged over time.
Cycladic art is known for its simple figurines carved in white marble; Minoan art for its palace complexes with frescos, imagery of bulls and bull-leaping, and sophisticated pottery and jewellery; and Mycenaean art for its lavish metalwork in gold, imagery of combat and massively-constructed citadels and tombs. These are very different arts, reflecting very different cultures. For this reason, many art historians consider the term "Aegean art" inappropriate, as it reflects mere geographic proximity and not cultural or artistic unity. Others point to the many communalities, especially following the "process of Minoanization from c. 1700 upwards" over the other parts of the region, and the difficulty at several times and places in deciding whether excavated objects were imported or made locally.
Cycladic culture in the context of Cycladic art
The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Along with the Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Greece, the Cycladic people are counted among the three major Aegean cultures. Cycladic art therefore comprises one of the three main branches of Aegean art.
The best known type of artwork that has survived is the marble figurine, most commonly a single full-length female figure with arms folded across the front. The type is known to archaeologists as a "FAF" for "folded-arm figure(ine)". Apart from a sharply defined nose, the faces are a smooth blank, although there is evidence on some that they were originally painted. Considerable numbers of these are known, although most were removed illicitly from their unrecorded archaeological context, which seems usually to be a burial.