ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the beginnings of civilisation in Europe, with special reference to Minoan culture, and the various origin narratives concerning the beginnings of humanity and civilisation, particularly those that feature subterranean and underworldly themes. Origin narratives, whether ‘scholarly’ or ‘cultural’ in character, feature many mythological elements and command a significant (cultural) power, which renders them a useful material for examining various characteristics of civilisation and its non-rational and underworldly elements. In addition to the Minoans and the Graeco-Roman world, we discuss the notion of indigenous peoples – the Sámi of northern Fennoscandia specifically – in relation to the ideas of ‘European origins’. This chapter also discusses how engagements with the world beneath the surface (both as a ‘real’ place and as accessed in altered states of consciousness) have been involved in the emergence and development of civilisation. The more specific topics discussed in this chapter include the idea of ‘cave man’ ancestors of modern humans, the underworldly aspects of agriculture (as an ultimate foundation of civilisation), the role of caves and the subterranean in Minoan Crete, the palace of Knossos as a labyrinth and portal to the underworld, and the relationships between perceptions of (early) civilisation, indigenous people, and indigeneity.
