Mycenaean Achaea, Exchange and Interaction between Greece and Italy in the Bronze Age

This paper presents a comparison of the evidence for Italo-Aegean relations between Achaia and the Argolid during the Bronze Age to Iron Age transition. It seeks to explain how these areas remained connected with Italy during the 12th-century B.C.E. crisis by drawing attention to regional trajectories in network dynamics. It is argued that, although the evidence shows some generic points of convergence at the regional scale, Italo-Aegean networks in Achaia and the Argolid
each demonstrate specific local dynamics that need to be considered.

The organization of external relations in the Late Bronze Age Aegean is poorly understood. For the Palatial period, it is generally assumed that the Mycenaean palaces fulfilled a primary role in maintaining external relations. However, this
does not explain how contacts continued after the destruction of the palaces ca. 1200 B.C.E. Drawing on network theory, this analysis starts from the position that aside from the palaces, there must have also been other highly connected nodes
(“hubs”). It is hypothesized that these nonpalatial hubs played a key role in the survival of Italo-Aegean networks during the Postpalatial period.

One of the advantages offered by network theory is that it allows one to move effectively across scales. Local dynamics affect the network structure as a whole. Conversely, a single network observed at the regional scale may comprise distinct
network communities at the local level. Therefore, to test the hypothesis of nonpalatial hubs, the nonpalatial region of Achaia and the palatial region of the Argolid are compared at different analytical scales.

In this comparison, the focus lies on the so-called Urnfield bronzes, a heterogeneous class of weapons, tools, and ornaments that first appeared in the Aegean ca. 1250 B.C.E. First, the diachronic and spatial distribution of these bronzes is
examined for each region during the Palatial and Postpalatial periods to obtain a general picture of network dynamics and to identify regional hubs. Second, selected contexts are analyzed as a means to consider the dynamics and hubs at the
local level. Third, the local and regional scales are confronted as a means to fully reconstruct Italo-Aegean networks.

This analysis indicates the importance of nonpalatial hubs for both palatial and nonpalatial regions. However, despite this correspondence, the preference for different types of Urnfield bronzes and the disparity in their distribution demonstrate
that the nonpalatial hubs in Achaia and the Argolid had their own strategies for remaining connected to Italy.

Las evidencias arqueológicas atestiguan la llegada de numerosas importaciones egeas hacia el Mediterráneo central y con ellas también de conocimientos técnicos como la producción de cerámica a torno de tipo egeo o la fabricación de objetos metálicos con la técnica de la cera perdida, entre otros. Si tenemos en cuenta que estos cambios implican una interacción estrecha entre la población local y aquella foránea, y si, como sugiere Vagnetti, esto indica la presencia estacional o permanente de extranjeros asentados entre indígenas (1998) explicar cómo se producen los cambios, el establecimiento de comerciantes foráneos y el desarrollo de unos contactos estables es difícil de interpretar si tan solo nos basamos en la evidencia arqueológica. Por ello, una visión más amplia a través de otros casos históricos y antropológicos puede ayudarnos a comprender cómo se desarrollaron las relaciones y los contactos entre comerciantes egeos y la población local.

"Mycenaean Greece and Bronze Age Italy: cooperation, trade or war?
The interactions between Italy and Greece from the late 14th to the 11th century BC are the subject of this paper. During that particular period, new bronze types such as Naue II swords, spearheads with cast socket, different implements and dress accessories belonging to the metallurgical koine spread to the Mediterranean world. Available typological research explains little and thus leaves the processes leading to the distribution of koine goods only insufficiently understood. We therefore pursue an integrated approach combining archaeometallurgical analyses with the technological and typological classification of artefacts found in different Aegean and Italian regions in order to solve the problem. As a result, a number of bronzes from late Mycenaean contexts can be identified as imports from Italy. Furthermore, our research supports the theory that the local production of Italian-type impasto pottery and the introduction of bronze types of the metallurgical koine were two related phenomena in the Late Palatial and Post-palatial Aegean societies.

key words: Naue II sword, Bronze Age, Archaeometallurgy

Kontakte zwischen dem mykenischen Griechenland und dem bronzezeitlichen Italien: Kooperation, Handel oder Krieg?
Die Interaktionen zwischen Italien und Griechenland vom 14. bis zum 11. Jahrhundert v. Chr. sind der Gegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrags. Während dieses Zeitraumes können wir die Ausbreitung spezifischer archäologischer Typen, wie etwa der Naue II-Schwerter, der Lanzenspitzen mit gegossener Tülle, verschiedener Gerätschaften oder spezieller Kleidungsaccessoires, die zur metallurgischen Koine gehören, in den Mittelmeerraum beobachten. Die Prozesse, die zur Ausbreitung dieser Urnenfelderbronzen fuhrten, können zurzeit nur teilweise erklärt werden, da die zur Verfugung stehenden typologischen Studien nur von begrenzter Aussagekraft sind. Daher wird ein interdisziplinärer Lösungsansatz vorgestellt, bei dem archäometallurgische Analysen mit der technischen und typologischen Klassifikation von Objekten, die in verschiedenen Regionen der Ägäis sowie Italiens gefunden wurden, kombiniert werden. Als ein wichtiges Ergebnis dieser Studie kann eine Reihe von Bronzeartefakten aus spatmykenischen Kontexten als Importstucke aus Italien angesprochen werden. Darüber hinaus liefern diese Forschungserkenntnisse Argumente dafür, dass die Phänomene der lokalen Produktion von Impastokeramik italienischen Typs und der Übernahme von Bronzeformen der metallurgischen Koine in den spatpalastzeitlichen und nachpalastzeitlichen Gesellschaften der Ägäis miteinander in Beziehung standen.
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"For the reconstruction of the military Mycenaean world scarcely
we possess the information extracted from diverse slats written in Linear B, as well as the remains of some pictorial representations and scanty archaeological remains extracted from warriors' diverse tombs. It is for it that the reconstruction of this important aspect inside the Mycenaean culture is not simple, and in this respect it turns out very interesting to manage to raise approximations as the one that occupies us. Across the analysis of few remains which we possess,It occupies. Across the analysis of few remains which we possess, authors of John Chadwick's taya have proposed interesting theories on the Mycenaean systems of defense and, in this case, we will try to approach each other the system that could be used in Pilo's accession."

Mycenae culture became due to its own merits, the most important one in continental Greece for more than four centuries all along the II Millennium B.C. Its commercial importance due to the fact they took advantage of the minoans exchange routes and their own economic interests made them reach far regions even in Central Mediterranean and the Near East. But all of that must’ve been difficult if they hadn’t encountered a powerful army who support their colonial and commercial adventures. Numerous Lineal B writings, pictorial and archaeological remains are witness to the importance the military world provides to those former Mycenaean. Therefore, in this article we will try to show the diverse aspects related to the Mycenaean army who supported its power in continental Greece in spite of this, neither the reforms taken in 13th century B.C. got that mycenaeans culture survival, when their settlements were destroyed.

Despite much intensive archaeological fieldwork, several regions of Greece
still have not yielded any evidence for palatial structures. It may be, therefore,
that they never gave rise to full palatial states. Rather, in regions such as
Achaia, local elites may have functioned within less-articulated organizational
orders (perhaps chiefdoms), which did not require the centralization of
economic activities. These polities existed alongside the more complex palatial
states, but it is not necessary to posit that they were subjected to or dependent
on the palaces economically or politically, although their opportunities may
have been constricted by the presence of the larger power. After the collapse
of the palatial system around 1200 b.c., some of these smaller polities seem
to have flourished in the LH IIIC period.