The Linear B tablets have played only a modest role in discussions of inf luence and interconnections between the Aegean and their eastern and southern neighbors, but their usefulness in this field is not yet exhausted. The Mycenaean documents do not contain any direct evidence for foreign trade, an omission which continues to surprise and to attract various explanations. Thus it seems at first look that they have little or nothing to offer discussions of interconnections between the Aegean and the Orient. The tablets can, however, assist in two fields of inquiry: 1) the movement of goods and people; and 2) the reconstruction of Mycenaean institutions and practices. Recent work in each area shows how valuable it can be to broaden the framework in which we regard Mycenaean culture, and this is certainly a consideration for future research.

Cultural and social interactions in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age involved trade, mercantile operations, migration, colonization and/or military engagement. The Mycenaean expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean found Cyprus occupying a strategic position in the sea routes between Greece and the Near East. The Mycenaeans took advantage of it, and as early as the fourteenth century BC launched efforts that eventually ended up in establishing entrepôt stations in Cyprus that facilitated their commercial interactions with the Near East. 1 In the meantime, 1 S.W. Manning and L. Hulin, L., "Maritime Commerce and Geographies of Mobility in the Late Bronze

2018

This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of Classical Studies. The seminar series has been running since the 1950s, when it focused largely on the exciting new research enabled by the decipherment of Linear B. The series has now evolved to cover Aegean Prehistory in general, and is well known among subject specialists throughout the world. Taken together, the summaries provide a rich resource for Aegean Prehistory, and often provide the only citable instance of new research projects, until their fuller publication becomes possible. The summaries of the seminars have been published as part of BICS since 1963. Starting with the 2015–16 series, the Mycenaean summaries will be published separately online, retaining their original character and their close connection with BICS, and becoming far more widely available as Open Access publications via the Humanities Digital Library.

Mycenaean pottery has been found in significant quantities in most coastal regions of the eastern Mediterranean. Most of the pottery was found in Cyprus, the Levant and Egypt. Despite its relative close proximity to the Greek mainland, Anatolia yielded only little Mycenaean pottery. The lack of significant amounts of pottery in this region has been the subject of much scholarly debate. Some have interpreted the lack of Mycenaean goods as a direct result of an alleged Hittite trade embargo, while others see it as a token of the insignificant role that Greece would have played in interregional trade and exchange. In this article I will focus on the corpora of Mycenaean goods (not only pottery) in western Anatolia. I will pay attention on the diachronic, spatial and cultural distribution of the goods. The patterns of distribution that will be distilled will be set against that what is known of the political situation in the Aegean and (western) Anatolia at that time in order to establish the role, both culturally and politically, of the Mycenaeans in western Anatolia.

Aegis 10, 2016

In this paper ceramic imports are used to reconstruct the possible role of Miletus within southern Aegean exchange networks. We identify Cretan and other imports to Miletus, characterise the main local fabrics at the site, and then show some recently discovered evidence for Milesian imports at Knossos, Akrotiri and Ayia Irini. These Milesian imports are quite diverse, ranging from conical cups, to jugs and amphoras, to loomweights. They appear to indicate a richly-textured set of connections across the Aegean, rather than a network geared solely towards the circulation of metals and exchange of commodities. We argue that the emergence of this particular network configuration in the Neopalatial period is significant, as it coincides with the rising importance of Knossos and the diversification of links across the Aegean.

WANAT Western Anatolia in the Second Millennium BCE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS, 2024

This chapter reflects on the main theories concerned with interpreting processes of cultural transmission (e.g., Minoanization, Mycenaeanization, and hybridity), which emphasize the role of western Anatolia as an Aegean frontier rather than a region in its own right. In order to go beyond these approaches, this contribution advocates an interpretation-neutral set of parameters that incorporate bottom-up, local perspectives and aspects of mobility to inves- tigate the manipulation and negotiation of local cultural identities. We provide two exam- ples to illustrate this approach, focused on the interaction with the Minoan and Mycenaean spheres, respectively. The first case study deals with the Middle Bronze Age, when the first palaces were constructed on Crete and contacts with western Anatolia were more consistent than before (especially in the case of the southeastern Aegean). This case study investigates whether Minoanization is the correct way to see the processes of cultural contact between these two areas. It will be argued that the way Minoanization has been conceptualized has, in fact, influenced the interpretative frameworks through which the engagement with the Minoan material culture was explained by scholars. The second case study considers the later stages of the Late Bronze Age, when patterns of exchange between the Aegean and Anatolia were relatively stable and relied on the role of big nodes in regional networks (such as Mile- tos) to facilitate the production and distribution of Aegean-style objects in western Anatolia. This case study suggests that interactions between Anatolia and the rest of the Aegean, usu- ally discussed as a result of increased Mycenaean influence and presence, or described as Mycenaeanization, can be explained in terms of multiculturality and increased strength of maritime connectivity, which allowed local communities to consume Mycenaean culture in distinct, selective ways in an inherently heterogeneous cultural setting.

TEXNH (Aegaeum 16), 1997

ARIADNE Supplement 5. KO-RO-NO-WE-SA. Proceedings of the 15th International Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies, J. Bennet, A. Karnava, T. Meißner (eds.),, 2024

Since the early days of the discipline, specialised studies have demonstrated that an integrative approach exploring materiality, philology and palaeography may afford the best possible understanding of Linear B documents. The pa-i-to Project 1 that was initiated in 2016 has worked in this direction on a small batch of documents, characterised by the presence of the toponymic reference pa-i-to. While the methodology and research focus adopted by our team have been addressed in previous publications, it is our intention here to expand on our 'all-round' approach, to quote Palaima 2 , by discussing our most significant results with regard to the materiality and palaeography of the documents.

AI

ANTH.245: Peoples of the World, Mediterranean Area: From Prehistory to the Trojan War (lecture series by G. Mumford), 2024

ABSTRACT: This (new) lecture summarizes diverse aspects of Mycenaean trade and interactions with various surrounding and distant regions, including the Cyclades, the Dodecanese (east Aegean), Macedonia (immediately to the north), the Northern Aegean (near Macedonia), the region of Troy and the Black Sea (Northwest Anatolia), Anatolia (subdivided into Western Anatolia and inland/central Anatolia), Cyprus, Syria-Palestine (i.e., the Levant), Egypt, Italy (including mainly southern Italy, Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, and Sardinia), and an outlying discovery of two Mycenaean, LH IIIA-B sherds in southern Spain. The lecture spans mainly the Late Bronze Age through earlier Iron Age I (12th century BCE), and also examines the varying resources in the mainland (Mycenaean Greece), the options for traders/merchants and carriers facilitating contact between Greece and these regions, the shipwrecks at Uluburun, Cape Gelidonya, and Point Iria, and related aspects of East Mediterranean trade. REVISIONS: Formatting, edits, sources, and some text and images.

The Collapse of the Mycenaean Economy, 2017

In this book, Sarah Murray provides a comprehensive treatment of textual and archaeological evidence for the long-distance trade economy of Greece across 600 years during the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age. Analyzing the finished objects that sustained this kind of trade, she also situates these artifacts within the broader context of the ancient Mediterranean economy, including evidence for the import and export of commodities as well as demographic change. Murray argues that our current model of exchange during the Late Bronze Age is in need of a thoroughgoing reformulation. She demonstrates that the association of imported objects with elite self-fashioning is not supported by the evidence from any period in early Greek history. Moreover, the notional 'decline' in trade during Greece's purported Dark Age appears to be the result of severe, economic contraction, rather than a severance of access to trade routes.

2018

This annual publication contains summaries of the Mycenaean Seminar convened by the Institute of Classical Studies. The seminar series has been running since the 1950s, when it focused largely on the exciting new research enabled by the decipherment of Linear B. The series has now evolved to cover Aegean Prehistory in general, and is well known among subject specialists throughout the world. Taken together, the summaries provide a rich resource for Aegean Prehistory, and often provide the only citable instance of new research projects, until their fuller publication becomes possible. The summaries of the seminars have been published as part of BICS since 1963. Starting with the 2015–16 series, the Mycenaean summaries will be published separately online, retaining their original character and their close connection with BICS, and becoming far more widely available as Open Access publications via the Humanities Digital Library.

2200 BC – Ein Klimasturz als Ursache für den Verfall der Alten Welt. 2200 BC – A climatic breakdown as a cause for the collapse of the old world, 2015

Profound cultural changes occurred in the later 3rd millennium BC in many parts of the Aegean during the transition from the Early Bronze Age II to III (EBA II to III). These are for example observable in the drastic changes in architectural and pottery styles. This contribution deals with some examples of archaeological indicators for long-distance contacts between the Aegean and the east (Asia Minor and even beyond) during the Early Bronze Age. Relevant archaeological material for textile manufacture, adornment, seal and weight use, and silver production will be discussed. It is argued that trade and the potential physical presence of foreign merchants had a decisive impact on the “emergence of civilisation” during the EBA II. The long distance exchange was most likely driven by the eastern demand for silver and an Aegean desire for rare commodities, like specific “semi-precious“ beads and woolen textiles. A considerable disruption of this exchange pattern is witnessed by the beginning of the EBA III in the Aegean. It brought the development towards a more complex socio-economic organisation in many parts of the Aegean to a temporary end, with the notable exception of Crete. In the light of the recent suggestions of an earlier beginning of the EBA III in the Aegean, it seems difficult to reconcile this disruption with a potential climatic change around 2200 BC

Judith Muñoz Sogas, Thirsty seafarers at Temple B of Kommos: commercial districts and the role of Crete in Phoenician trading networks in the Aegean. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2022. Pp. 170. ISBN 9781803273228, 2022

The aim of the volume, as stated, is to address the role of the island of Crete within Phoenician trade routes, in the Aegean, in the 1st millennium BC. In the introduction, after a brief review of the wider framework of connections throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, Judith Muñoz Sogas presents a series of questions ranging from "When did Phoenicians arrive in Crete?", and "What materials were transported to the island?" to "Did Phoenician trade routes exclusively touch Crete, or did they extend into the Aegean to the North?", all interrogating the level and nature of Phoenician presence on the island. To answer these questions the author states that the study will be based mainly on data from Kommos, and more particularly, on the context of Temple B, which the author intends to compare with other Aegean temples-Aegean being understood in an extended definition since Cyprus is included. Unexpectedly, only 16 pages are dedicated to the harbour and sanctuary of Kommos, which is supposed to constitute the heart of the volume. Moreover, given the-at least-syncretic context of the Temple B of Kommos, one may be surprised that this comparison is limited to Aegean temples, without including those from the Levant, and thereby rejecting the possibility that the architecture of this building might be as, or even more, Levantine than Greek. It is all the more

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