Bronze Age Architecture, Mainland Greece

Abstract

Tension between conservation and dynamism marks the architecture of the mainland Greek Bronze Age, from about 3000 to 1100 bce. Material may be best known from the Peloponnese, but considered here in addition is the Greek mainland as far north as Thessaly, as well as islands that are well integrated into mainland Greek culture, including particularly Aegina and Skyros, with their well-known fortified trading settlements. In no study is architecture of the entirety of the period considered together, and in general there are few synthetic treatments of mainland Greek Bronze Age architecture of any period, particularly in contrast to the number of studies on the architecture of Crete. It is standard to discuss the material of the Early Bronze Age (EBA or, regionally, Early Helladic, or EH) independent of the following periods, based on a perceived cultural break at the end of EH II, roughly at 2250 bce. The subsequent EH III and Middle Helladic (MH) periods are grouped because of the continuity between them, though they have only recently been the topic of serious study. In contrast, there are many more studies handling Mycenaean architecture, beginning with the so-called Shaft Grave period in Late Helladic (LH) I (roughly 1650 bce). In all periods, the focus has been on elite structures, including the corridor houses of EH II and the “palaces” and elite houses of the Mycenaean period, as well as large-scale works like fortifications and tholos tombs. And there is a good amount of still extant Bronze Age architecture on the Greek mainland, though in highly variable states of preservation—most commonly, only the foundations of a structure remain, even at the palatial level. On the other hand, some of the infrastructural works at this period are enormously large-scale, changing the landscape itself. The most abundant, if not the most monumental, categories of remaining architecture are relatively modest—that is, domestic architecture and the funerary material especially as represented by cemeteries.