CHAPTER X
LIFE UNDER THE SEA-KINGS
What manner of men were the people who developed the Bronze Age
civilization of Crete? Can we form any idea of their physical
characteristics, of their homes and social conditions, of the general
aspect of their daily life, and of the occupations in which they
were engaged? Such questions can only be answered more or less
generally in the absence of written material, or, rather, in our
lack of understanding of the written material that exists; but,
still, a considerable mass of evidence is in existence from which
some broad outlines may be deduced with moderate certainty, and
the object of this chapter is to present these outlines.
First, as to the physical characteristics of the race. Two lines
of evidence are here available. On the one hand, there is that
afforded by the actual remains of the bodies of men and women of
the Minoan race which have been exhumed from ossuaries of the Bronze
Age, and studied by anthropologists. Generally speaking, the result
of their investigations has been to show that the Minoans belonged
to the southernmost of the three great racial belts into which
the ancient peoples of Europe may be divided--the so-called
Mediterranean race. That is to say, they were a people of the
long-headed type, dark in colouring and small in stature.
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