The organization of space and time in the quartier Mu of Malia (Crete, bronze age, 3200-1100 BC), in light of lamps

In recent decades, the development of virtual reality has allowed us to propose realistic reconstructions of lighting in Bronze Age buildings of the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean world. However, light and darkness have been studied separately: the former in relationship to everyday life, the latter in connection to night activities, rituals and religion. Studying a Middle Bronze Age Cretan city and its corpus of lamps, we can identify several lighting devices, of various kinds and functional qualities, the analysis of which contributes to revealing a Minoan lived space where light and darkness cannot be segregated.