1 Chapter 9 - Lost in Translation: Urbanism in Post-Palatial Crete, A View from the East • Louise A. Hitchcock Aren M. Maeir 9.1. Introduction: This contribution will consider problems and issues related to understanding architecture and urbanism in post-palatial Crete in its larger Mediterranean context, particularly with reference to Philistia, but also with regard to Cyprus and mainland Greece (Fig 1. Comparisons with Philistia and Cyprus are relevant because many scholars have argued for a migration to these regions in the form of large scale colonization, and they have attempted to identify Aegean influences and even direct architectural transfers in these regions (as outlined below). This paper takes a more moderate or minimalist position: that any migration to these regions from the Aegean was limited and entangled taking the form of what Knapp (2008: 266– 268, 289, 292, 356; see also Hitchcock and Maeir 2013) has termed a “hybridization process.” However, a comparative approach among the Mediterranean regions has value regardless of where one positions oneself on the issue of migration, cross-cultural influence, and/or interconnections (see now Knapp and Manning 2016). The value lies in cross-cultural patterning that may be identified based on common post-palatial changes in social organization, structures, and practices; levels of technology; climate; and geography. It is the search for such patterning that typifies the approach to studying culture in cultural anthropology (e.g., Haviland et al. 2011). The benefit in identifying architectural patterns and differences across IIIC pottery producing cultures can help to identify both common social practices and regional differences. Furthermore, we will argue that understanding architecture on multiple scales (urbanism, curation, design, technique) in this era should emphasize IIIC 1 commonalities, rather than past studies that have privileged and over-emphasized continuities with the palatial Bronze Age. While such continuities are interesting and worth drawing attention to, emphasizing them minimizes the