Minoan and Mycenaean economy and administration

The ‘Textiles and Seals’ research project investigates the multiple and complex relationships between textile production, the iconography of seals and sealing practices in Bronze Age Greece. These relations can be traced today in the wide-ranging evidence, comprising textile imprints on the underside of and inside seal-impressed lumps of clay, seal-impressed textile tools (especially loom weights) and textile production-related motifs in the Aegean seals imagery. The main research questions that are posed by this project, aim to explain the use of textiles in sealing practices and the use of seals in the administration of textile production, as well as the meaning and diachronic frequency of references to textile production that appear in the iconography of Aegean glyptic.
In order to facilitate the achievement of these tasks, an Open Access data base has been designed specifically for this project through the services of the Digital Humanities Laboratory of the University of Warsaw. In this paper, I will briefly demonstrate the structure of this data base and the possibilities of its search engine. Although the data entry has not yet been finished, this new comparative approach to investigate the relationships between different kinds of evidence, i.e. the imagery of seals, textile imprints and seal-impressed textile tools, has already proved to be a powerful tool. It offers new interpretations based on a large number of records and, until now, unexplored combinations of various data.

This is the first comprehensive study of the largest Linear A documentary archive discovered thus far. It was found at Hagia Triada, in South-central Crete, and dated to the Late Minoan IB period, which corresponds to roughly the mid-16th century B.C. (according to the “High Chronology), or mid-15th century B.C. (according to the “Low Chronology”).
It includes 147 written clay tablets and more than 1,000 sealings of various types. Their functions and original mechanisms of interaction are reconstructed through an extensive commentary on their archaeological contexts, their physical, textual, palaeographic and/or glyptic characteristics, and their patterns of distribution.
A new classification of Linear A tablets is also suggested.
Textual and archaeological data are then compared, in order to trace an updated picture of the settlement dynamics in the region and investigate the relationship between the Palace of Phaistos and the Villa of Hagia Triada.
Since the individuals responsible for accounting also “counted” in an economic, political and social sense, agency issues, such as the roles and status of the people involved in sealing and writing practices, are also addressed throughout the book.

The Griffin Warrior Ring No. 2 is a gold Minoan-style engraved signet ring from Pylos dating to the Late Helladic IIA (1580–1490 BCE). The ring’s bezel depicts a seascape with a columnar tree shrine flanked by palm trees situated on a rocky outcrop. Five elaborately dressed female figures stand on either side of the shrine. The tree shrine features a net pattern in the space between its stone or brick piers. It is proposed that this represents a fishing net and that the structure is a sea altar dedicated to an unnamed Minoan tree goddess akin to the Levantine Asherah. The ring’s hoop is decorated with cockle shells, further emphasising its marine theme. It will be argued that the iconography alludes to marine food resources, practical and luxury textile fibres, sea trade, transculturality and cult, and is testament to the importance of the sea in the Aegean Bronze Age.

This paper analyses all the possible Linear B terms which can contain the root of alphabetic Greek *ξένϝος: “Foreigner, Guest, Host”: the adjective ke-se-nu-wi-ja, which appears in three tablets: KN Ld(1) 573.b, 574.b and 585.b, and its variant spelling ke-se-ne-wi-ja, recorded on KN Ld(1) 649.b, all of them in hand 116 and qualifying pa-we-a cloth; the adjective ke-se-ni-wi-jo, which occurs on the olive oil tablet PY Fr 1231.2, in hand 2; the personal name ke-se-nu-wo, appearing on the broken tablet PY Cn 286.1, in hand 1, which is included in a series recording cattle, and also two other problematic terms, often neglected in these studies: the form ]nu-wi-jo, on tablet PY Fr 1255, written by Class ii, which could be completed ke-se]nu-wi-jo, and the strange ze-ne-si-wi-jo, probably a personal name on tablet KN M(1) 720. The aim of my paper is to detail the use of this stem in Mycenaean Greek.

This handbook, which is the fruit of the collaboration of a group of specialists from various universities and research centres in Italy and abroad, aims at providing an updated overview of Mycenaean epigraphy. It contains an introduction to the writing and language of the Mycenaean texts and a detailed analysis of the main Linear B documents.

The second edition contains bibliographic updates and comments both on new  inscriptions and the most significant epigraphic, philological and paleographic contributions appeared after 2016.

In this chapter I discuss the role of the sea, and maritime trade in particular, in the rise of the city of Mycenae and the formation of what could be called a Mycenaean ‘Great Kingdom’ in the late 17th to 14th century bc. By focusing on Mycenaean activity in three ‘maritime worlds’ (one within the Aegean world itself, namely the Saronic Gulf – a so- called small world- , and two within the wider eastern Mediterranean, namely the eastern trade routes to Hittite Anatolia, and the route south to Egypt), I will argue that it was Mycenae’s ability to dominate the small world of the Saronic Gulf that enabled it to extend its territorial claims beyond the Argolid, which in turn led to a Mycenaean presence in Anatolia and the formation of what one could call a Mycenaean Great Kingdom.

The article discusses the idea of a Mycenaean palatial town. This new term refers to a system constructed from two entangled entities – the palace and the lower town. With the use of relative definition of urbanization, it can be understood as an urbanized center within an urbanized regional settlement network. In the paper the Mycenaean site of Dimini in Thessaly is used as a case study to analyze those phenomena. Its development is presented and discussed together with its internal and external relations, in the context of peripheral zones of Mycenaean culture and the process of Mycenaeanisation that occurs in Late Bronze Age Thessaly. A new understanding of specific form of palatial town of Dimini is proposed, as it can be a result of not only regional variability inside the Mycenaean culture, but also of still ongoing processes of competition between the local Mycenaean elites.

The populations of the islands of the Western String—Thera, Melos, and Kea—were small enough that it is difficult to see how some of their residents could have amassed sufficient wealth from strictly intra-island resources to have supported the affluence reflected in some of their architecture, frescoes, and high-value imports present on the islands. The Western String port-town hypothesis offers an explanation which is formalized in a model of local production, provision of shipping or port services, a trade account, and a capital account. The model predicts that the islands could have earned substantial wealth through the export of these port services to much larger populations on Crete and the Mainland, providing a mechanism for acquiring the observed affluence. As a less observable, corollary prediction, the model shows that the provision of port services would have taken labor from agriculture, requiring agricultural imports, incidentally diversifying the islands’ food supplies. The model’s observable predictions are tested with changes at Ayia Irini and Phylakopi following the Thera volcanic eruption and ensuing disruptions on Crete and are found to be roughly in accord with available evidence.

Juan Piquero Rodríguez donne une analyse exhaustive du lexique mycénien dans l’état actuel de la recherche et établit une comparaison entre les termes mycéniens attestés et les expressions correspondantes au premier millénaire. Le but consiste à déterminer quel lexique s’est conservé et dans quelle mesure, et lequel a disparu. Son travail complète une carence dans les études de lexicographie grecque, puisque, en raison du caractère syllabique du système d’écriture de la langue mycénienne et les problèmes intrinsèques à son interprétation, le lexique mycénien conservé dans le grec alphabétique n’a pas été analysé avec suffisamment d’attention dans les dictionnaires généraux de grec. La lemmatisation alphabétique de cette étude répond au besoin de créer un instrument de travail facilitant la connaissance du lexique mycénien à travers le grec alphabétique et permettant l’accès à ce vocabulaire aux lecteurs qui n’ont pas la possibilité d’approfondir leurs recherches, en l’absence de travaux actualisés, systématiques et critiques sur la question.

http://www.deboccard.com/gb/category/15811-Produit-9782913667587.html

Die Arbeit analysiert den mykenischen Einfluss auf Kreta von SM IIIA1 bis SM IIIB2 (1400–1200 v. Chr.), wobei sich die Untersuchung vor allem auf Keramik und Figurinen konzentriert. Nur ein geringer Teil der end- und postpalatialen Keramik kann durch naturwissenschaftliche Methoden als mykenisches Importmaterial angesprochen werden, während eine große Anzahl durch stilistische Analysen zugeordnet werden muss. Im Rahmen eines umfangreichen Katalogs wurden diese Einschätzungen überprüft. In der anschließenden Analyse der mykenischen Importe konnten chronologische sowie regionale Schwerpunkte sowohl in Hinblick auf die Anzahl an Gefäßen als auch hinsichtlich der Präferenz gewisser Gefäßformen festgestellt werden. Die Untersuchung der Fundkontexte bezüglich der Frage nach dem Wohlstand der Benutzer der Importgefäße ergab eine relativ heterogene Personengruppe. Die mykenischen Gefäße dürften in den Gräbern von einer „Mittelschicht“ als Prestigeobjekte genutzt worden sein. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit widmet sich der mykenischen Beeinflussung im lokal erzeugten Keramikmaterial, wobei auf Imitationen mykenischer Gefäße, Formübernahmen und hybride Gefäße, die eine Mischung an minoischen und mykenischen Merkmalen aufweisen, eingegangen wird. Insgesamt kann für die mykenischen Importe sowie die mykenisierenden und hybriden Gefäße gezeigt werden, dass der mykenische Einfluss stark mit der Entfernung zur Küste abnimmt und sich speziell auf küstennahe Zentralorte konzentrierte. Das Landesinnere Kretas blieb von diesen Entwicklungen hingegen weitgehend unberührt. Die Frage nach mykenischen Zuwanderern kommt u. a. einerseits in der Besprechung der auf Kreta gefundenen Kochtöpfe sowie der mykenischen und mykenisierenden Figurinen zur Sprache. Die äußerst geringe Anzahl in beiden Fundgattungen lässt auf keine größeren Immigrationsbewegungen schließen. Die historische Interpretation arbeitet die an der Keramik und den Figurinen abzulesenden Handelswege heraus, verortet die Ergebnisse im Forschungsdiskurs und versucht sich an deren Einbettung in den geschichtlichen Kontext. Durch die Arbeit kann gezeigt werden, dass für die SM IIIA–IIIB-Periode auf Kreta nicht von einer homogenen „Mykenisierung“ der ganzen Insel auszugehen ist, sondern der festländische Einfluss sich auf gewisse Regionen beschränkte.

Clay textile tools, e.g. spindle whorls and loom weights, constitute the most abundant archaeological evidence for studies of textile production in Bronze Age Greece. Their shape, weight and parameters resulting from the geometry of their forms, indicate what range of products may have been produced using them. Though the threads and fabrics produced with them have disappeared, study of these tools allows inference on their parameters (e.g. were they fine or coarse, weft- or warp-faced, or balanced). At the same time, the distribution of various forms of textile tools that are classified as specific tool types, has been analysed with regard to the transmission of textile knowledge and skills, and the socio-cultural processes that were possibly associated with these transfers.
The practice of seal-impressing and marking certain textile tools, specifically loom weights, although attested throughout the entire Bronze Age, has until now not attracted more focused scholarly attention. In this paper, an overview of the observed practices is presented and an attempt is made to adopt a more systematic approach to investigating this phenomenon. Middle Bronze Age Malia, Crete, will be a case study for presenting the prospects and limitations of our understanding of the practice of impressing seals on the textile tools. The research presented here results from the project ‘Textiles and Seals. Relations between Textile Production and Seals and Sealing Practices in Bronze Age Greece’ (NCN SONATA 13, UMO-2017/26/D/HS3/00145), that I am currently leading at the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw.

For a long time, the emergence of Aegean states was explained in terms of general evolutionist models based on evidence from a handful of major palatial sites. Recently, however, a growing emphasis on regional diversity has demonstrated the importance of specific models for understanding the multiple pathways to social complexity. It is becoming increasingly clear that static neoevolutionary types do not reflect the fluid and dynamic character of human societies and that top-down explanatory models based on top-tier centers are biased and incomplete. In this article, a detailed historical modeling of the Mycenaean state of Pylos based on new data from the systematic excavation of Iklaina tests the current model and proposes that the Pylian state, as it is known to us from Linear B tablets, was not integrated until an advanced phase of the Late Helladic IIIB period. This analysis suggests that for most of the Mycenaean period both Iklaina and Ano Englianos were primary centers following parallel trajectories and functioning as capitals of independent micropolities. A late date for the unification of the Pylian state could account for its partly decentralized character, the duplication of administrative structures, and the instability that may have contributed to its collapse.

Riassunto e revisione degli appunti e ricerche pluriennali sul disco di Phaistòs e i geroglifici cretesi.
- Nel labirinto: il disco di Festo. Rapporto di "fine secolo" sui geroglifici cretesi (febbraio 1992; 1 luglio 1992)
- Leiroperge. La funzione determinativa del "trattino obliquo", l'identificazione delle vocali e dei nomi propri nella scrittura geroglifica di Festòs (8 maggio 1973)

Resinated wine and resinated drinks in Prehistoric Aegean:
data, hypotheses, and interpretations

Pines and trees or shrubs of the Pistacia genus are the main sources of natural resins in the Aegean and Mediterranean world. The uses of resins in Aegean prehistory are known through archaeometric research that it started in the mid-80s when approximately 150 Canaanite jars were recovered from the shipwreck of Antifellos, mostly known as the Ulu Burun shipwreck, off the NW coast of Asia Minor, most of which contained traces of resins and mainly resinated wine as proposed recently. An exhibition held at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens (1999) entitled ‘Minoans and Mycenaeans: Flavours of Their Time’ promoted significantly the archaeometric research towards prehistoric diet in the Aegean world. One of the topics earned from these projects is the strong evidence that resinated wine was consumed in Aegean from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age. Resins from pines and trees of the Pistacia genus were mixed with wine throughout the Aegean Bronze Age, a practice that was associated with wine storage, as well as taste. Resin acted as a preservative substance in wine, a strong shield against bacteria that could turn it to vinegar. Additionally, the resin’s strong scent reduced the acidic taste and smell, so common in prehistoric wines.
Based on current data two types of resinated wine were consumed in the prehistoric Aegean: ‘the classic Minoan and Mycenaean retsina’ produced by resin filled in wine and the ‘retsina cocktails’, alcoholic drinks made from retsina and various herbs, honey, barley beer and other additives. In Aegean communities resinated wine and resinated cocktails were consumed during communal feasts, in ritual context, in cemeteries and in everyday life as archaeometric and archaeological data testified. The consumption of resinated wine helped to strengthen social cohesion, the light inebriation contributed to soften social stress and antagonism, the negotiation of various social roles was simpler during a communal feast where the community consumed wine and other wine cocktails. Still, the resinated wine should have been one of the drinks offered in the context of hosting members of other communities. The offer of exquisite and unique retsina and resinated cocktails flavoured with herbs and other additives could be part of the formal ceremonial reception and hospitality of high status guests in the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces and mansions. In such an environment, wine became a tool for manipulating political and social relations and influences, shaping inter- and intra- hierarchical structures. Also, resinous drinks may have been used in medicine, as we know from archaeological and ethnographic sources that the therapeutic properties of resins (stimulating, aphrodisiac, antiseptic, suitable for dental care, stomach etc.) treatments have been used in various eras and cultures.
Regarding the trade of resinated wine/cocktails and raw resins from Aegean to Eastern Mediterranean sites (emporia) and vice versa we can assume that ‘Aegean retsina’ was transported mainly in stirrup jars to Cyprus, Egypt, Asia Minor and Syro-Palestinian coasts.  In the same context, Canaanite amphoras filled with resinated wine and other resinated beverages and raw resin were transported to Crete and Mainland Greece. Within this environment the exchange of ideas and recipes for the preparation of resinated wine and resinated beverages has to be considered more than likely. The production, consumption and distribution of resinated cocktails with exquisite and unique ingredients and ‘exotic’ flavours, as well as the imitation of foreign habits, were part of wealth management strategies that developed by leadership groups to impose and legitimize their power. In other words, resinous wine should have been one of the tools by which wealth was transformed into power. Simultaneously, the trading of retsina and resinated cocktails in the 2nd millennium BC was an 'international' case, in the sense that it involved a wide network of wine production centers, the supply of additional ingredients such as resins and various herbs (domestic and foreign) and the production of vessels for storing and transporting it, many ports and people who spoke different languages, believed in other gods, had different attitudes, served other masters; finally, what was associated with them was wine with or without resin.

Аннотация. Статья о исследовании сосудов на фреске из захоронения Рихмера, приближенного фараона Тутмоса III и сопоставлении этих сосудов с сосудами из Дании ,Микен , бронзового века., деревянным ковшом с Урала эпохи бронзового века, находками из России эпохи железного века и русскими традиционными ковшами из дерева. Ключевые слова. Тутмос III, Рихмер, Крит , Микены, ковши, рукоятки ковшей в виде головы коня и утки, деревянные ковши из России, Abstract. Article on research vessels in the fresco of the burial of Rihmer, a confidant of the Pharaoh Thutmose III and comparison of these vessels with vessels from Denmark ,Mycenae , the bronze age. wooden bucket from the Urals bronze age finds from Russia's era of the iron age and Russian traditional ladles made of wood .