Aegean Bronze Age Research Articles

THE ‘SWORD BEARERS’: WOMEN BEARING SWORDS? RETHINKING A GROUP OF FIGURES IN MYCENAEAN PICTORIAL VASE PAINTING

This paper focuses on a particular group of human figures attested on a number of Late Helladic (LH) IIIA2–B1 pictorial kraters which show specific attributes: they have long hair, wear an elaborate cloak-like robe and bear a sword on their chest. Furthermore, they appear in clearly peaceful representations like chariot or processional scenes. These accurately rendered ‘Sword Bearers’ have so far been assumed to be of male sex due to the presence of the sword; the interpretation proposed here, that they are women, is based on the presence of distinctive female traits as also found on female representations on pictorial vessels and other media of the same period. Particularly striking is the similarity with the enigmatic ‘Sword Bearer’ from the Cult Centre of Mycenae, who is the sole contemporary model of a female figure with a sword wrapped in a long cloak. Though not postulating that these figures are female warriors, attention will be drawn to the fact that weapons have a strong association to the female imagery as well to the sphere of ritual – a sphere in which women played, as is well known, a predominant role in Aegean culture.

1800 BC – Trade and Transformation in Middle Bronze Age Greece. An Essay on Regionality and Inter-regionality in Middle Bronze Age and Early Mycenaean Aegean

Abstract The article confirms that profound economic, social, and political transformations occurred around 1800 BC on the Greek Mainland and especially on the Peloponnese. We underline that the former century – the 19th century saw the creation of chiefdom societies in parts of the Mainland and consider the 18th century to create the economic, social, and political structures of the Mycenaean state. We have seen that the external relations with the tribes on the Greek Mainland were with the Cyclades, while no relations with Crete are attested during the period of the early shaft graves in Mycenae (MHIIIA). In the Eastern Mediterranean, the 18th century BC saw the fall of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, the rise of the Assyrian dynasty under Shamshi-Addad, the kingdom of Hammurabi of Babylon, the early Hittite kingdom and the establishment of Troy VIa in northwest Anatolia. We consider this tremendous boom in the Eastern Mediterranean to have inspired the creation of the secondary (‘derivative’) Mycenaean state. The intention is to show that using a high-resolution diachronic time scale makes it possible to create a narrative of gradual social, economic, and political transformations from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean area. The article is divided into two sections. First, a summary of the most recent results describing chronology and social transformations in Middle Bronze Age and early Mycenaean Greece (‘status analyses’) and second, a conclusion estimating what these data tell us about the origin of the Mycenaean society. To reach this conclusion, we have constructed an evolutionary model in order to establish a gradual development of Mycenaean society. The conclusion based on our evolutionary model seems to advocate for a strong influence from the eastern Mediterranean countries, creating the social and economic structure of the Mycenaean society.

An explanation for the sister repulsion phenomenon in Patterson's f-statistics.

Patterson's f-statistics are among the most heavily utilized tools for analyzing genome-wide allele frequency data for demographic inference. Beyond studying admixture, f3- and f4-statistics are also used for clustering populations to identify groups with similar histories. However, previous studies have noted an unexpected behavior of f-statistics: multiple populations from a certain region systematically show higher genetic affinity to a more distant population than to their neighbors, a pattern that is mismatched with alternative measures of genetic similarity. We call this counter-intuitive pattern "sister repulsion". We first present a novel instance of sister repulsion, where genomes from Bronze Age East Anatolian sites show higher affinity toward Bronze Age Greece rather than each other. This is observed both using f3- and f4-statistics, contrasts with archaeological/historical expectation, and also contradicts genetic affinity patterns captured using principal components analysis or multidimensional scaling on genetic distances. We then propose a simple demographic model to explain this pattern, where sister populations receive gene flow from a genetically distant source. We calculate f3- and f4-statistics using simulated genetic data with varying population genetic parameters, confirming that low-level gene flow from an external source into populations from 1 region can create sister repulsion in f-statistics. Unidirectional gene flow between the studied regions (without an external source) can likewise create repulsion. Meanwhile, similar to our empirical observations, multidimensional scaling analyses of genetic distances still cluster sister populations together. Overall, our results highlight the impact of low-level admixture events when inferring demographic history using f-statistics.

A Systematic Review of Computational Approaches to Deciphering Bronze Age Aegean and Cypriot Scripts

Abstract This article provides a detailed insight into computational approaches for deciphering Bronze Age Aegean and Cypriot scripts, namely, the Archanes script and the Archanes formula, Phaistos Disk, Cretan hieroglyphic (including the Malia Altar Stone and Arkalochori Axe), Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan, and Cypriot scripts. The unique contributions of this article are threefold: (1) a thorough review of major Bronze Age Aegean and Cypriot scripts and inscriptions, digital data and corpora associated with them, existing computational decipherment methods developed in order to decipher them, and possible links to other scripts and languages; (2) the definition of 15 major challenges that can be encountered in computational decipherments of ancient scripts; and (3) an outline of a computational model that could possibly be used to simulate traditional decipherment processes of ancient scripts based on palaeography and epigraphy. In the context of this article the term decipherment denotes the process of discovery of the language and/or the set of symbols behind an unknown script, and the meaning behind it.

SEA BROUGHT ONTO LAND: SEASCAPE IMAGERY IN THE CYCLADIC POTTERY FROM PHYLAKOPI (MELOS) IN THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, ATHENS

This study examines seascape depictions on pottery, including seafaring and sea creature scenes, from the 1896–9 excavations at Phylakopi on Melos, held in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. This analysis demonstrates that seascape scenes varied in character through time and were typically associated with vessel shapes connected to the pouring of liquids between Early Cycladic (EC) III and Middle Cycladic late and were later focused on basins. A focus on seafaring is evident in EC III, while later the iconographic focus on the sea concentrates on sea creatures. An iconographic interest in the sea, alongside that of birds and floral depictions, is suggestive of an interest in living forms that inhabit different places to humans (i.e., non-domestic) with different corporeality to humans. This research contributes further to the growing debate on human–animal/plant relationships and ontologies in the Aegean Bronze Age.

THE SWORD IS A PLOUGHSHARE? INTERPRETING THE ‘ARMED WOMAN’ IN LATE BRONZE AGE AEGEAN ART

Despite Late Bronze Age Aegean art containing a number of depictions of armed women, unacknowledged preconceptions about gender continue to divert thoughts away from past women exercising violent or coercive power, and thus affecting significantly our understanding of Late Bronze Age Aegean societies in general. This paper examines the depiction of armed women in the art of the Late Bronze Age Aegean and considers how previous generations of researchers have chosen to interpret it. The author then uses recent developments in gender theory and political theory to suggest that the connection of women to power needs to be reassessed.

Ancestors of the Minoan sword: Early Minoan IB long daggers from Hagia Photia, Crete

The long sword, a weapon first known in the Aegean Bronze Age from Middle Minoan Crete (early second millennium BC), represented the culmination of a long period of development. Several problems in both casting and forging had to be solved before the production of large implements like swords could be achieved. Very early experiments with long weapons come from Early Minoan IB Crete, early in the third millennium BC. Examples from the cemetery at Hagia Photia illustrate this early phase in the production of large implements.

A View to a Kilt – The Late Bronze Age Aegean Costume in the Context of Social and Cultural Changes

Abstract The connection between the Late Bronze Age (LBA) Aegean costumes and social, cultural and political changes is a rather unexplored topic. Probably the only exception are kilts, the connection of which to such changes on Crete during the 15th century BCE remains a commonly discussed topic in studies focusing on the LBA Aegean iconography and other data sets. However, many questions remain open and the topic is far from exhausted. In this paper I build on the work of various scholars who have studied LBA Aegean kilts in the context of social, political and cultural changes. I diachronically study the changes in the representations of kilts since the beginning of the LBA in the Aegean until the end of the Palatial period on the Greek Mainland (ca. 1700/1600–1200 BCE). Moreover, I examine the spatial distribution of specific kilt types in different periods. In cases of several different kilt types appearing in contemporary contexts in the same region, I explore whether similar costumes might have had different social connotations within the same communities. Moreover, I examine the influence of elite power structures and socio-political changes on the perception of kilts. However, I do not observe kilts as passive reflections of specific social, cultural and political contexts, but rather as material forms actively used in the creation of social realities.

THE TABLET-MAKERS OF PYLOS: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE PRODUCTION OF LINEAR B TABLETS

The Linear B administrative texts of Late Bronze Age Greece were written on clay tablets, whose production therefore formed the first stage in the process of document creation, though it generally remains unclear whether the tablets’ writers were also their makers. This study combines experimental archaeology with autopsy of the tablets from Pylos in order to investigate the methods by which the Linear B tablets were created at this site. It thereby sheds light not only on the physical processes involved in shaping the clay, but also on the decisions involved on the part of the tablet-makers, and hence on the relationship between the ‘making’ and ‘writing’ stages of the process of creating the Linear B documents.

TWO SIZES TOO SMALL: TWO CATEGORIES OF MINIATURE POTTERY IN MINOAN CRETE

Often assumed to be ritual votives or toys for children, miniature ceramic vessels in the Bronze Age Aegean have been afforded little thorough study. Their presence at peak sanctuaries, sacred caves and shrines on Crete has led to their uncritical association with ritual activity, even outside of sacred areas. When miniature pots are found in domestic spaces, they are often dismissed as objects of household ritual or simple toys. Yet miniature vessels, diverse in form and context, are so common in archaeological investigations of Minoan settlements that they merit further comprehensive study. Considered alongside the abundance of small-scale Minoan material culture, including figurines, seals, miniature wall paintings, and models, miniature pottery appears to be one facet of a larger semiotic ideology – one well-versed in the language and power of the miniature. By analysing 504 miniature pots from 13 sites in central and east Crete, this paper explores the wide range of miniature vessel types used in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial periods and applies contextual analysis to draw out their meanings. Contextualisation and data analysis reveal two distinct categories within the corpus of miniature pots: ‘micro-miniatures’ and ‘small miniatures’. While micro-miniatures were indeed inherently cultic, small miniatures served a variety of practical functions within the world of Minoan Crete and should not be assumed to relate to ritual. To differentiate between the categories, the relationship between the miniature and its prototype, as well as its semiotic meaning are considered. By applying Peircean understandings of iconicity and indexicality to these two categories, the use and significance of Bronze Age miniature vessels are further illuminated, in ritual and beyond.

Defining cultural traditions in the Early Bronze Age Aegean: Characterizing obsidian consumption at Early Cycladic Kastri (Syros, Greece)

While the obsidian sources of the Aegean formed an important focus for the first Eurasian characterization studies, there have been far fewer subsequent sourcing projects in this region compared to the neighbouring regions of the West/Central Mediterranean and Anatolia. The work that has been done suggests that there were significant differences in the use of the region’s two major sources, Sta Nychia and Dhemenegaki on Melos. This paper contributes to Aegean sourcing studies, and understanding of Melian obsidian exploitation over the long-term, via a characterization study of 149 artefacts from the late Early Bronze Age II (mid third millennium cal. BC) fortified site of Kastri on the Cycladic island of Syros, Greece. Methodologically, this involved integrating elemental data generated by pXRF, with the artefacts’ techno-typological, and scalar attributes, to detail the population’s traditions of consumption. The results indicate an exclusive on-site use of Melian obsidian to make pressure blades albeit with a clear preference for raw materials from the Sta Nychia source, and only a minority fashioned from Dhemenegaki products. When these data are contextualised, it appears that the Kastri community’s raw material choices formed part of a wider Cycladic and Cretan cultural tradition, yet differ from those practiced by western Anatolian populations, despite the significant ideational and material flow from the latter region to the Cyclades at this time. Ultimately, this paper not only reconfirms prior claims to the distinct exploitation histories of the Sta Nychia and Dhemenegaki sources, but also employs characterization studies as a means of mapping common crafting traditions (raw material, technical and morphological choices) that were both informed by and came to define a particular social group’s very way of being.

Production and distribution of White Ware towards the end of Late Bronze Age in Greece

This article discusses new evidence concerning the production and distribution of White Ware, a pottery class characterized by its distinct sandy fabric, pale surface and predominantly simple decoration that was in circulation in the Aegean during the two last centuries of the 2nd millennium BCE. After a summary of previous studies and hypotheses concerning its production location(s), results of petrographic and Neutron Activation Analysis for White Ware pottery from Eleon and Lefkandi are presented. They confirm that White Ware from these sites is identical to that of Perati, and that it was most likely produced at the same location. Several lines of evidence, including distribution pattern and most recent discoveries in the area of Perati, designate East Attica the most likely production area for White Ware.

Wars Between the Aegeans did not Take Place … Development of Iconography and Ideology of Battle, Lion Hunting, and Figures of Power in the Late Bronze Age Aegean

This paper examines representations of battle in Late Bronze Age (LBA) Aegean iconography and their connection to depictions of lion hunters and figures of power and authority. Representations of battle scenes, lion hunters, and figures of power are examined because of their mutual symbolic correlation and importance in the expression of elite identities from the beginning to the end of the LBA in the Aegean. The paper defines the spatial and chronological distribution patterns of the three types of representations. The main focus of the paper is to determine the connection between the changes in these three groups of depictions and changes in the sociopolitical organization of Crete and the Greek Mainland during the LBA. In the context of Crete, the paper explores the changes in the transition between the Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods. As regards the Greek Mainland, the paper examines three main developments. First, it examines the active selection of originally Cretan iconography on the early LBA Greek Mainland. Second, it examines the disappearance of battle scenes and changes in the remaining two groups of representations during the transition between the early Mycenaean and Palatial periods. Third, it examines the re-emergence of battle scenes at the very end of the Palatial period. However, the paper does not treat Crete or the Greek Mainland as integral territorial entities, but acknowledges regionality in the way iconography correlates to socio-political changes.

Brent Davis, Robert Laffineur (Edd.): Νεωτερος . Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement.

Brent Davis, Robert Laffineur (Edd.): Νεωτερος . Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement.

Boy, You Fight like a Woman … Representations of Defeated Enemies, Boys and Male Nudity in the Late Bronze Age Aegean Iconography and Their Role in the Expression of Masculinity

This paper examines depictions of male nudity, flaccid penises and phalli (erect penises) attested in the representations of boys, defeated warriors and figures of authority in late Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 1700–1050 BCE). It is argued that, similarly to ancient Egyptian iconography, the flaccid penis, as a sign of weakness and the lack of developed masculinity, was contrasted to the phallus, as a sign of masculine strength and sexual virility. Moreover, the paper argues that there was a gradual change in the depictions of male nudity around 1420/1400 BCE. In the period between ca. 1700–1420/1400 BCE, male nudity was restricted to representations of boys and defeated warriors. After ca. 1420/1400 BCE, most depictions of male nudity represented figures of power and authority with erect penises/phalli. We believe that the depictions of male nudity in combination with phalli were used to accentuate masculinity of such figures.

Joanne M.A. Murphy (ed.), Death in Late Bronze Age Greece: Variations on a Theme.

Joanne M.A. Murphy (ed.), Death in Late Bronze Age Greece: Variations on a Theme. pp. 360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19092-606-9, hardcover £68.

Historicising the emergence of the Aegean culture (1890s)

In the course of the 20th century Aegean prehistory grew to a vigorous sub-discipline of archaeology and, in the process, the Aegean became firmly established as a distinct prehistoric culture. The notion of an Aegean culture hardened with time to the point that it is difficult today to reflect on its historicity. It is difficult, that is, to think of the Aegean concept as having arisen in a modern context, much easier to think of the Aegean culture as having existed since prehistory, waiting to be discovered by archaeology in the late 19th century. In this essay I try to negotiate the difficulties. More specifically, I review the historical conditions in which, and the processes by which, the Aegean emerged as a distinct prehistoric culture in the 1890s. In brief, I historicise the emergence of the Aegean culture. Historicising disciplinary concepts is a critical exercise. One needs to bring to the fore and scrutinise long-forgotten or overlooked details (e.g., premises of another era that were subsequently repudiated and were with time lost to memory). But make no mistake: historicising disciplinary concepts is heeding the fact that, like all things human, our concepts have histories; it is by no means tantamount to undermining or debunking the concepts under consideration. I will have a little more to say about this and a few other matters at the end of the essay.

:Labouring with Large Stones: A Study into the Investment and Impact of Construction Projects on Mycenaean Communities in Late Bronze Age Greece

:<i>Labouring with Large Stones: A Study into the Investment and Impact of Construction Projects on Mycenaean Communities in Late Bronze Age Greece</i>

5 Recent developments in archaeometallurgical research: the Bronze Age Greek Mainland, Crete, and the Cyclades

Metallurgy was a fundamental craft industry in the Aegean during the Bronze Age and had some form of impact on almost every aspect of life. This means that archaeometallurgy plays an important role in building our understanding of the region, and has in fact been integrated into Aegean archaeology since the inception of the discipline, well before it was recognized as a separate sub-discipline. Nevertheless, 15 years ago it was still possible for a leading scholar to describe Bronze Age Aegean archaeometallurgy as being in its ‘infancy’. Acknowledged weaknesses included a lack of understanding of the Aegean-specific trajectory of metalworking development, reliance on diffusionist theories, a limited interpretative use of scientific analyses, and neglect of research questions tackling social aspects of metal use. This review assesses the progress that has been made since, whether these shortcomings have been addressed, and beneficial future directions for archaeometallurgical studies of the Bronze Age Greek mainland, Crete, and the Cyclades. It focuses on several key themes: the rapidly changing story of Early Aegean metallurgy, the employment of experimental archaeology, the development of scientific techniques and expansion of their use, experimentation with ‘big data’ approaches, and the varied role of indirect evidence.

The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera

Across the Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, various small spherical lithic artefacts have been discovered. The exact use of such artefacts remains a mystery, possible interpretations suggest that they are a form of counting system or counters for board games. This paper examines the largest collection of such artefacts found in the area to-date, the 746 spheres from the prehistoric town of Akrotiri in the island of Thera (Santorini). After the spheres were assessed and traditional statistical analyses were applied, machine learning was employed to further examine clustering of the spheres and to suggest potential interpretations of their manufacture, use and deposition. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the workflow proposed here, for Akrotiri, can be used to examine patterns in similar artefact groups from the Easter Mediterranean and beyond.