James A. Donald wrote:

Archaeology has revealed some curious deviations from this.

Knossus, for instance, which was at first thot to be a palace, was
revealed, with further excavation, to be a labyrinthine administrative
complex with many, rather egalitarian, apartments.

Then trenching further out, they found the slums, which made sense. That
is, until they realized the slums were not built until after the warrior
Myceneans took over.

You mite wanna catch "Secrets of the Dead" on PBS this week. The
excavations on the Isle of Thera reveal another community in which all
the houses are middle/upper class, and again, no slums. No
fortifications either. And Neither Knossus nor Akrotiri, which both have
extensive artwork, shows us any images of the warrior class, weapons, or
warfare. No images of alpha male kings either.

Both of these descend from the even earlier "Cycladic" culture, which
also never left any weapons, warrior graves, or signs of the destruction
that war always leaves. And if you look at the Minoan and Cylcadic
pottery, you see it is descendant from the Cucuteni, who lived in the
Danube delta until the 4th mil BC.

And again, no signs of warfare or exploitation.