ABSTRACT
It remains to consider the great island of Crete, at the time of her final emergence from the Dark Ages.
Owing to the local tradition of building in stone rather than in mud brick, traces of eighth-century architecture are more substantial here than in most other districts; one thinks especially of the settlements at Phaistos, Vrokastro, and Kavousi, and the sanctuary of Apollo at Dreros. The cave shrines of Ida and Dicte have yielded a rich variety of metal offerings, among which the votive bronze shields from the Idaean cave are of outstanding interest; their designs in relief form the chief corpus of Cretan figured art during this period, orientalizing in style and theme, yet beginning well back in the eighth century. Far less spectacular is the local pottery, where figured decoration is extremely rare; but with pottery we must begin, because it provides the only secure foundation for chronology, and also affords the clearest view of regional variations within the island.
