Mycenaean pottery

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.

The appearance of Aegean-style IIIC pottery at Tarsus occured at a time of unrest and of movement of peoples resulting in part from the collapse of the Mycenaean palaces on the Greek mainland. Mycenaean Late Helladic IIIB pottery exports from mainland Greece to Cyprus and the Levant disappeared and were gradually replaced by local imitations. Eventually Aegean-style IIIC pottery appeared in the East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface, in Cyprus and at various sites on the southern coast of Turkey and in the Levant. It was not exported from the Greek mainland, but seems to have been locally made at each site. A first series of neutron activation analysis (NAA) was carried out on pottery from Tarsus to determine how much of the Aegean-style 12th-century BC pottery was locally produced, how much was imported and, if imported, from whence it came. The favourable results of this first analysis gave rise to a second NAA of more Aegean-style pottery from Tarsus, bringing the total number of pieces analysed to 67. It has confirmed the local production of the pottery; the chemical group TarA is the dominant local group at Tarsus, comprising a third of the samples. A smaller group, TarB, may also be local. The analysis revealed a large number of Aegean-style IIIC imports from Cyprus from several different sites; these make up a quarter of the samples. There are a few imports from other areas, including the East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface. Influence from both Cyprus and the Interface can also be seen at Tarsus in the use of some shapes and motifs. A comparison with 12th-century BC imports identified by NAA at the site of Tell Kazel (ancient Simyra) in Syria directly east of Cyprus shows imports from the same two areas. Özet Tarsus'ta Ege tipi (Hellas) IIIC seramiğin ortaya çıkması, kısmen Yunan anakarasındaki Miken saraylarının çöküşü sonucu ortaya çıkan kargaşalı ve halkların göç ettiği bir dönemde meydana gelmiştir. Yunan anakarasından Kıbrıs'a ve Levant'a ihraç edilen Miken Geç Hellas IIIB seramiği kaybolmuş ve gitgide yerel taklitleriyle değiştirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Doğu Ege-Batı Anadolu bağlantısında, Kıbrıs'ta, Türkiye'nin güney kıyısındaki çeşitli yerleşimlerde ve Levant'ta Ege tipi IIIC seramiği ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu seramik, Yunan anakarasından ihraç edilmemiş, ancak her yerleşimde yerel olarak üretilmiş görünmektedir. Ege tipi M.Ö. 12. yüzyıla ait seramiklerin ne kadarının yerel olarak üretildiğini, ne kadarının ithal edildiğini ve ithal edildiyse nereden geldiğini belirlemek için Tarsus'taki seramikler üzerinde ilk nötron aktivasyon analizi serisi (NAA) gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu ilk analizin olumlu sonuçları, Tarsus'dan daha fazla Ege tipi seramiğin ikinci bir NAA analizine yol açmış ve analiz edilen toplam parça sayısı 67'ye yükselmiştir. Bu analizler seramiğin yerel üretimini doğrulamıştır; TarA kimyasal grubu Tarsus'ta baskın yerel grup olup, örneklerin üçte birini oluşturmaktadır. Daha küçük bir grup olan TarB grubu da yerel olabilir. Analiz, Kıbrıs'tan birçok farklı yerleşimden Ege tipi IIIC seramiği ithalatının çok sayıda olduğunu ortaya koymuştur; bunlar örneklerin dörtte birini oluşturmaktadır. Doğu Ege-Batı Anadolu bölgesi de dahil olmak üzere diğer bölgelerden birkaç ithal seramik vardır. Tarsus'ta bazı şekil ve motiflerin kullanımında hem Doğu Ege-Batı Anadolu bölgesi hem de Kıbrıs etkileri görülebilmektedir. Hemen Kıbrıs'ın doğusunda yer alan Suriye'deki Tell Kazel'de (eski Simyra) NAA ile tespit edilen M.Ö. 12. Yüzyıl ithal seramiklerle yapılan bir karşılaştırma da, aynı iki bölgeden yapılan ithalatı göstermektedir. Anatolian Studies (2018): page 1 of 24

MARONI, in the Larnaca district of southeast Cyprus, was one of several Lat cemetery sites investigated by the British Museum towards the end of the ninetee with the support of the Turner Bequest. Considerable quantities of Mycenaean discovered, including numerous vases decorated with pictorial scenes. The fragments of one pictorial vase decorated with fish are discussed here, and full for the first time with both photographs and drawings. Less common than the scenes of chariot processions and plump birds, depictions of fish have received little attention. Thus a short discussion of the fish motif within the context of the early Mycenaean pictorial repertoire is appropriate.

The site of Iasos is located on a small promontory (perhaps in origin an island) in the innermost part of the Gulf of Mandalya, almost halfway between Miletus and Halicarnassus. Excavations at the site were started in 1960 by late prof. Doro Levi and have been going on until 2014. Over this long period, prehistoric remains dating to Late Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age, Late Middle Bronze/Late Bronze I, and Late Bronze III were discovered. In the present paper the evidence for the LB III period is discussed on the base of pottery as later occupation resulted in the total destruction of the LB III settlement and its stratigraphy. The Iasos pottery falls into two main classes: 1) canonical Mycenaean pottery, possibly imported from the Greek Mainland; 2) locally made pottery made in distinctive fabric(s) with a high content of mica and matt paint. Canonical Mycenaean pottery, which accounts for no more than 1.5 % of the whole ceramic assemblage, makes its appearance in LH (IIB)-IIIA: 1 and is well documented through to LH IIIB: 1. No pottery stylistically assignable to LH IIIB: 2 has been observed among the extant material. Local pottery includes imitations of Mycenaean as well as Anatolian shapes. The site was abandoned/destroyed (?) sometimes during the LB IIIC period. The evidence for the survival of the settlement in the "Dark Age" between the latest LB III finds and the appearance of the earliest Geometric tombs, now dated to the Middle Geometric period, is still largely elusive.