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E-book A Greek State in Formation : The Origins of Mycenaean Pylos

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Penilaian

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The Bronze Age in Greece began around 3100 B.C. with the first bronze work-ing for the manufacture of tools and weapons (see map 1). Already in the Neo-lithic, there had been limited use of copper, the essential ingredient of bronze, while stone tools were still essential for some purposes in the Bronze Age. Copper typically was alloyed with tin to produce bronze, but so was arsenic, which contin-ued to be used into late stages of the Bronze Age on Crete. t was not until the second stage of the Early Bronze Age, ca. 2700 B.C., that archaeological evidence points to the concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals. On the mainland, this phenomenon manifested itself in the construc-tion of large buildings called “corridor houses”—two-storied, with central rooms flanked by narrow annexes. Such monumental structures were characteristic of the Early Helladic II phase in southern parts of the Greek mainland and on the island of Aigina. During Early Helladic II, material culture was broadly homogenous, and interregional exchange of goods, especially pottery, was frequent. The Greek islands, even Crete, were part of this “international spirit,” as Renfrew called it in his Emer-gence of Civilisation.1 Seals were used to secure parcels and boxes in the corridor house at Lerna, the so-called House of Tiles, and some have assumed that a central-ized administrative system was in operation there (see figure 6a and figure 6b).2 On Crete a palace-centered society, which we call the Minoan civilization, emerged around 1900 B.C. and extended its economic (and perhaps political) reach into the Aegean Sea in the Middle Minoan period. There we speak of the Old Pal-aces, followed, after a destruction, by the establishment of New Palaces later in the Middle Bronze Age.3 There was no cultural break between the Early and Middle Minoan periods. On the mainland, however, toward the end of the Early Helladic period, there was, in contrast, a significant wave of destructions and abandonments of settlements that many, following Jack Caskey, think bears witness to the arrival of newcomers to the Greek peninsula. Both he and Blegen imagined that this dis-juncture marked the “Coming of the Greeks.” Others more recently have argued that climate change was the culprit. Whatever the case, the ensuing Middle Hel-ladic period marked a setback along the road to state formation on the mainland. Mainland communities in the earlier Middle Helladic period continued to trade with each other and with some Cycladic islands, but there is little evidence for direct contact between the Peloponnese and Crete. From burial customs, we can deduce that there were mechanisms emphasizing group identities (such as the family), and that these restrained the concentration of power in the hands of any one individual. The loosening of such constraints on centralized personal power would, of course, have been a prerequisite for the creation of states, when we would expect to see the development of a system based on inherited rank.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

930.1495 DAV a

Penerbit

USA : University of California Press., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

2022

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780520387256

Klasifikasi

930.1495

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Archaeology in Greece

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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