Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2015
The small, golden pendant from the Minoan settlement of Mallia on the island of Crete (PL. 1) is one of the best known pieces of jewellery from Minoan, if not all, prehistoric times. First published in 1930 (Demargne, 1930), it was unearthed in the Chrysolakkos cemetery area of the palace at Mallia. Although dating is difficult, the piece is usually assigned a date in Middle Minoan times, generally to MM I, between roughly 2000 and 1700 BC (Demargne, 1930, 419; Evans, 1935, 75–6; Higgins, 1967, 47, 199).