Before Homer and the Archaic period of Greek history were the Bronze and Dark Ages.
The Minoans were a Bronze Age civilization of ancient Crete.
During the Bronze Age iron was too rare to be used for weapons, but was mainly used decoratively or for coins. Bronze was the main metal. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. In the Aegean, the Bronze Age people were traders and may have traded with Britain for tin.
Knossos is the site of a palace that Sir Arthur Evans excavated in Crete.
From Kris Hirst, the About Guide to Archaeology, an article about a cave first occupied during the Middle Paleolithic sometime between 35,000 and 30,000 years ago, and pretty much consistently up until about the final Neolithic Period, about 3000 B.C.
Hisarlik is the site Heinrich Schliemann thought was Troy.
The Minoans were a Bronze Age civilization of Ancient Crete whose early language, Linear A, we have not deciphered. Sir Arthur Evans was responsible for the excavations at Knossos and defining the Minoan period of Crete as a major civilization from c. 1900-1300 B.C.
From Kris Hirst, the About Guide to Archaeology, a look at the building of the palace at Knossos in Crete.
Dark Age Timeline of Ancient Greece
Dorpfeld was one of the excavators of the area that is thought to have been the site of the Trojan War.
The Minoans abandoned their colony in Miletus by 1400 BC. Mycenaean Miletus was a dependency or ally of Achaea.
The focus of this site is on the period of recorded history and history is the era of writing.
Schliemann was a controversial archaeologist who led excavations in the area thought to have been the site of the Trojan War.
Some of the tombs of the wealthy Mycenaean chieftains were shaft graves.
Tholos tombs were subterranean stone rooms.
The Mycenaeans lived during the late Bronze Age in Greece, from about 1600 to 1200 B.C.
