I graduated in Mediterranean archaeology and protection of cultural heritage, finishing studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in 2016, and entering the PhD program at the same university. In 2023 I defended a PhD thesis entitled "Mycenaean Palatial Towns. Comparative and Contextual Analysis". My research on Late Bronze Age urbanization in Greece was funded by a grant from the National Science Centre, Poland. Currently I'm conducting a post-doc on Mycenaeanization of Thessaly. Supervisors: Prof. Bartłomiej Lis Address: Al. Solidarności 105 00-140 Warsaw, Poland
Sympozjum Egejskie: Papers in Aegean Archaeology 4, 2023
The appearance of the palaces in Mycenaean settlement networks led to their urbanisation through ... more The appearance of the palaces in Mycenaean settlement networks led to their urbanisation through the development of palatial towns, i.e. settlements consisting of the palace and a surrounding lower town. We discuss the case study of the palatial town of Mycenae and attempt to propose a revised reconstruction of its history. Analysing the occupational history of all the known buildings and the evolution of the funerary landscape, we discuss Mycenae as an urbanised site and focus on a set of functional and social relationships within it. The approach, which is based on comparative urbanism and relational archaeology, allowed us to recognise features that seem to be characteristic of a Mycenaean palatial town. Mycenae's key features at the time were: a) the division of the settlement into three zones: the Citadel, the Inner Cult and Burial Zone and the Lower Town; b) the mixing of residential and funerary zones, including the presence of elite tombs in the centre of the settlement; c) the social and economic dominance of the Palace over the community; d) the presence of multi-functional building complexes; e) the prevalence of gradually developed single-family residences outside the palatial zone; f) urban planning closely associated with the needs of local authorities.
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.136586 under this same license.
In this paper, we focus on the entanglement of the LBA town of Mycenae, and discuss the history o... more In this paper, we focus on the entanglement of the LBA town of Mycenae, and discuss the history of the settlement, from the earliest beginnings (EH-MH), through the formation (LH I-IIIA1) and functioning (LH IIIA2-B) of the palatial town, to its gradual decomposition (LH IIIC), focusing mostly on LH IIIA2 and LH IIIB phases. Building from the relational archaeology, we discuss Mycenae of this period as an urbanized settlement and focus on a set of functional and social relations within the site. Despite the unique status of Mycenae, the features that seem to be characteristic of a Mycenaean palatial town (consisting of a palace, a central authority occupying the elite core of the settlement, and a lower town) can be clearly recognized. Those are: a) division of the settlement between the palatial zone and the lower town, b) social and economic dominance of the palace over the community , c) prevalence of single-family multi-room houses outside the palatial zone, and d) mixing of residential and funerary zones, and especially presence of elite tombs in the centre of the settlement.
Communication Uneven. Acceptance of and Resistance to Foreign Influences in the Connected Ancient Mediterranean. Aegis 20, 2020
Urbanization, as a social process can be defined in a systematic and relational way, in which it... more Urbanization, as a social process can be defined in a systematic and relational way, in which it occurs within a closed system, and focuses on development of functional and structural differences between various settlements.Such processes took place in the Mycenaean culture, developing in the Aegean in the second millennium BC (ca. 1700 – 1050 BC), as it faced a gradual centralization of administration and economy around the palaces, which led to distinction of their role in the settlement network and development of lower towns. Palace together with the settlement surrounding it, creates an entity that can be called a palatial town, with internal structural, functional and social divisions and playing a key role in the regional settlement network. Analysis of two of the known Mycenaean palatial towns - Mycenae in the Argolid, and Pylos in the Messenia, shows their local unique character in comparison with Near Eastern and Minoan centers, as well as a certain degree of connection especially to the Cretan palatial settlements. Acceptance of multiple Minoan cultural traits by the Mycenaean elite, included superficial transfer of the palatial social and economic system, which was however shaped according to local conditions, possibilities and needs. This led to a formation of a specific, small scale urban centers heavily dominated by the elite residences and funerary architecture. Communication with the Minoan culture from the beginning affected development of the Mycenaean society, also influencing its final shape during the palatial period. However this cycle of contacts goes beyond a simple center-periphery model, what is shown by both Mycenaeans active role in reshaping observed patterns as well as their ultimate domination over Crete.
No (e)scape? Towards a Relational Archaeology of Man, Nature, and Thing in the Aegean Bronze Age, 2019
The article discusses the idea of a Mycenaean palatial town. This new term refers to a system con... more 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 paper is available through Propyleum, an open access platform of the University Library of Heidelberg: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/4412/.
This paper focuses on pottery acquisition strategies at the Mycenaean palace at Pylos, analysing ... more This paper focuses on pottery acquisition strategies at the Mycenaean palace at Pylos, analysing mostly the final period of its existence. By the 13 th century BC the palace at Pylos, after 300 years of development, was a complex, bureaucratic, administrative, and industrialized institution. The strategy of the pottery acquisition by the palace is demonstrated to be a network of co-dependence between the palace, the 'royal' potter and other contracted manufacturers. They were specialized craftsmen who cooperated with the palace under different conditions. The pottery industry was affected by a hierarchy of producers directed by the palace, as the 'royal' potter supported the king in fulfilling his duties and enjoyed special privileges. Underlying the model is the use of the theory of entanglement. Outlining the wide web of dependences between things and humans involved in the Pylian pottery industry reflects the internal complexity and gradual evolution of the system.
Western Anatolia was one of the peripheral zones of Mycenaean culture, whose artifacts appeared i... more Western Anatolia was one of the peripheral zones of Mycenaean culture, whose artifacts appeared in the region for the first time in the early fourteenth century BC (LH III A1 period). Over the next 200 years, Mycenaeans developed in the region a network of trade and cultural influences, and finally a settlement network. The distinctive pottery, tombs, buildings and other elements of the Mycenaean material culture appear in a number of sites, mainly in the south-western part of Anatolia. The correct interpretation of the archaeological data from these areas needs to refer also to the problems of interethnic and intercultural relations and interpenetration of cultures. Processes such as acculturation, hybridization or assimilation have had a major influence on the presence of Mycenaean culture in Western Anatolia. Another important issue is the problem of Ahhiyawa, kingdom known from the archives of the Hittite and today commonly identified with the Mycenaean civilization or sometimes, in a broader context, with all the areas controlled or populated by Mycenaeans. In this context, historical sources confirm the presence of Mycenaean Greeks in Anatolia and the expansion of their settlement network. However, Mycenaean settlement zone in the region was rather narrow, limited to the coast and centered around the Gulf of İzmir, and within the crucial, one-hundred kilometer long stretch of land between the estuary of the Meander and the Bodrum peninsula.
This poster was prepared for International Open Workshop Socio Environmental Dynamics over the La... more This poster was prepared for International Open Workshop Socio Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes V, Kiel (Germany) 20-24.03.2017. It presents part of a research for my MA thesis.
Pottery from Mycenaean palace at Pylos in Messenia was first published by excavators – Carl W. Blegen and Marion Rawson in 1966 (Blegen and Rawson 1966). Vessels from palatial ceramic assemblage were since then analyzed multiple times. However, in the last years we could observe a significant progress in examining and reinterpreting material from various pantries. This was possible mostly thanks to Hora Apotheke Reorganization Project, focused on reanalyzing and publishing artifacts excavated by Blegen (Lis 2016, see Stocker and Davis 2014 for summary). Those new interpretations are centered around functional analysis of assemblages from different parts of the palace. I would like to gather those sources together to present a broader analysis of function and use for all parts of the palatial pottery assemblage, together with spatial and contextual linking them together, using theory of entanglement (Hodder 2012).
This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annu... more This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona in 2018. The specific aim of both the session and this volume was to measure acceptance of, and resistance to, outside influences within Mediterranean coastal settlements and their immediate hinterlands, with an open time range, but with a particular focus on the processes not reflecting simple commercial routes, but taking place at an intercultural level, in situations of developed connectedness. Following a general discussion of the theoretical and long-lasting facets of the discussion on communication, and of some of the reasons for its unevenness, the contributions in the volume give a wide and stimulating view of the ongoing debate about Mediterranean interaction and communication. The papers' timespan is large: from the Late Neolithic of Crete, in the 5th-4th millennium BCE, to the Macedonian conquest of Thrace, in the 4th century BCE. Most contributions, however, focus on the Middle to Late Bronze Ages, as this is a phase of particularly intense communication, which matches the interests and connections of the editors. The geographic frame extends from the Central Mediterranean to Thrace, Cyprus and the Levant, with an important focus on Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Other papers, more than specific areas, instead discuss the figures of some of the actors of the intra-Mediterranean interregional communication, and the nuances of their roles: warriors and merchants. https://www.i6doc.com/fr/book/?gcoi=28001104706670
The Late Bronze Age palatial town of Mycenae went through a long formative process, to reach a mo... more The Late Bronze Age palatial town of Mycenae went through a long formative process, to reach a more stable settlement pattern in the second part of the Late Helladic IIIA phase (ca. 1410-1300 BC), when its acropolis was fortified for the first time. Together with the construction of the first palace it led to establishing the citadel - an elite palatial zone, separated from the lower town. This area concentrated most of the archaeological research on the site for the last 150 years, and its history has often been equated with that of the entire settlement. However, multiple traces of the Late Bronze Age occupation were uncovered outside the walls of the citadel, since the 1950s, currently reaching the number of 20 identifiable buildings. This paper presents a summary of an analysis of each of those contexts, based on a study of their architecture, finds, and stratigraphical sequences. It serves as a basis for an attempt to reconstruct the history and organization of the lower town of Mycenae during the palatial and post-palatial period of the Mycenaean era. In the same time, a careful restudy of the buildings of the lower town allows me to formulate some more general thoughts on the Late Helladic domestic architecture, as well as on the economic and social organization of the community of Late Bronze Age Mycenae.
Sympozjum Egejskie: Papers in Aegean Archaeology 4, 2023
The appearance of the palaces in Mycenaean settlement networks led to their urbanisation through ... more The appearance of the palaces in Mycenaean settlement networks led to their urbanisation through the development of palatial towns, i.e. settlements consisting of the palace and a surrounding lower town. We discuss the case study of the palatial town of Mycenae and attempt to propose a revised reconstruction of its history. Analysing the occupational history of all the known buildings and the evolution of the funerary landscape, we discuss Mycenae as an urbanised site and focus on a set of functional and social relationships within it. The approach, which is based on comparative urbanism and relational archaeology, allowed us to recognise features that seem to be characteristic of a Mycenaean palatial town. Mycenae's key features at the time were: a) the division of the settlement into three zones: the Citadel, the Inner Cult and Burial Zone and the Lower Town; b) the mixing of residential and funerary zones, including the presence of elite tombs in the centre of the settlement; c) the social and economic dominance of the Palace over the community; d) the presence of multi-functional building complexes; e) the prevalence of gradually developed single-family residences outside the palatial zone; f) urban planning closely associated with the needs of local authorities.
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.136586 under this same license.
In this paper, we focus on the entanglement of the LBA town of Mycenae, and discuss the history o... more In this paper, we focus on the entanglement of the LBA town of Mycenae, and discuss the history of the settlement, from the earliest beginnings (EH-MH), through the formation (LH I-IIIA1) and functioning (LH IIIA2-B) of the palatial town, to its gradual decomposition (LH IIIC), focusing mostly on LH IIIA2 and LH IIIB phases. Building from the relational archaeology, we discuss Mycenae of this period as an urbanized settlement and focus on a set of functional and social relations within the site. Despite the unique status of Mycenae, the features that seem to be characteristic of a Mycenaean palatial town (consisting of a palace, a central authority occupying the elite core of the settlement, and a lower town) can be clearly recognized. Those are: a) division of the settlement between the palatial zone and the lower town, b) social and economic dominance of the palace over the community , c) prevalence of single-family multi-room houses outside the palatial zone, and d) mixing of residential and funerary zones, and especially presence of elite tombs in the centre of the settlement.
Communication Uneven. Acceptance of and Resistance to Foreign Influences in the Connected Ancient Mediterranean. Aegis 20, 2020
Urbanization, as a social process can be defined in a systematic and relational way, in which it... more Urbanization, as a social process can be defined in a systematic and relational way, in which it occurs within a closed system, and focuses on development of functional and structural differences between various settlements.Such processes took place in the Mycenaean culture, developing in the Aegean in the second millennium BC (ca. 1700 – 1050 BC), as it faced a gradual centralization of administration and economy around the palaces, which led to distinction of their role in the settlement network and development of lower towns. Palace together with the settlement surrounding it, creates an entity that can be called a palatial town, with internal structural, functional and social divisions and playing a key role in the regional settlement network. Analysis of two of the known Mycenaean palatial towns - Mycenae in the Argolid, and Pylos in the Messenia, shows their local unique character in comparison with Near Eastern and Minoan centers, as well as a certain degree of connection especially to the Cretan palatial settlements. Acceptance of multiple Minoan cultural traits by the Mycenaean elite, included superficial transfer of the palatial social and economic system, which was however shaped according to local conditions, possibilities and needs. This led to a formation of a specific, small scale urban centers heavily dominated by the elite residences and funerary architecture. Communication with the Minoan culture from the beginning affected development of the Mycenaean society, also influencing its final shape during the palatial period. However this cycle of contacts goes beyond a simple center-periphery model, what is shown by both Mycenaeans active role in reshaping observed patterns as well as their ultimate domination over Crete.
No (e)scape? Towards a Relational Archaeology of Man, Nature, and Thing in the Aegean Bronze Age, 2019
The article discusses the idea of a Mycenaean palatial town. This new term refers to a system con... more 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 paper is available through Propyleum, an open access platform of the University Library of Heidelberg: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/4412/.
This paper focuses on pottery acquisition strategies at the Mycenaean palace at Pylos, analysing ... more This paper focuses on pottery acquisition strategies at the Mycenaean palace at Pylos, analysing mostly the final period of its existence. By the 13 th century BC the palace at Pylos, after 300 years of development, was a complex, bureaucratic, administrative, and industrialized institution. The strategy of the pottery acquisition by the palace is demonstrated to be a network of co-dependence between the palace, the 'royal' potter and other contracted manufacturers. They were specialized craftsmen who cooperated with the palace under different conditions. The pottery industry was affected by a hierarchy of producers directed by the palace, as the 'royal' potter supported the king in fulfilling his duties and enjoyed special privileges. Underlying the model is the use of the theory of entanglement. Outlining the wide web of dependences between things and humans involved in the Pylian pottery industry reflects the internal complexity and gradual evolution of the system.
Western Anatolia was one of the peripheral zones of Mycenaean culture, whose artifacts appeared i... more Western Anatolia was one of the peripheral zones of Mycenaean culture, whose artifacts appeared in the region for the first time in the early fourteenth century BC (LH III A1 period). Over the next 200 years, Mycenaeans developed in the region a network of trade and cultural influences, and finally a settlement network. The distinctive pottery, tombs, buildings and other elements of the Mycenaean material culture appear in a number of sites, mainly in the south-western part of Anatolia. The correct interpretation of the archaeological data from these areas needs to refer also to the problems of interethnic and intercultural relations and interpenetration of cultures. Processes such as acculturation, hybridization or assimilation have had a major influence on the presence of Mycenaean culture in Western Anatolia. Another important issue is the problem of Ahhiyawa, kingdom known from the archives of the Hittite and today commonly identified with the Mycenaean civilization or sometimes, in a broader context, with all the areas controlled or populated by Mycenaeans. In this context, historical sources confirm the presence of Mycenaean Greeks in Anatolia and the expansion of their settlement network. However, Mycenaean settlement zone in the region was rather narrow, limited to the coast and centered around the Gulf of İzmir, and within the crucial, one-hundred kilometer long stretch of land between the estuary of the Meander and the Bodrum peninsula.
This poster was prepared for International Open Workshop Socio Environmental Dynamics over the La... more This poster was prepared for International Open Workshop Socio Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes V, Kiel (Germany) 20-24.03.2017. It presents part of a research for my MA thesis.
Pottery from Mycenaean palace at Pylos in Messenia was first published by excavators – Carl W. Blegen and Marion Rawson in 1966 (Blegen and Rawson 1966). Vessels from palatial ceramic assemblage were since then analyzed multiple times. However, in the last years we could observe a significant progress in examining and reinterpreting material from various pantries. This was possible mostly thanks to Hora Apotheke Reorganization Project, focused on reanalyzing and publishing artifacts excavated by Blegen (Lis 2016, see Stocker and Davis 2014 for summary). Those new interpretations are centered around functional analysis of assemblages from different parts of the palace. I would like to gather those sources together to present a broader analysis of function and use for all parts of the palatial pottery assemblage, together with spatial and contextual linking them together, using theory of entanglement (Hodder 2012).
This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annu... more This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona in 2018. The specific aim of both the session and this volume was to measure acceptance of, and resistance to, outside influences within Mediterranean coastal settlements and their immediate hinterlands, with an open time range, but with a particular focus on the processes not reflecting simple commercial routes, but taking place at an intercultural level, in situations of developed connectedness. Following a general discussion of the theoretical and long-lasting facets of the discussion on communication, and of some of the reasons for its unevenness, the contributions in the volume give a wide and stimulating view of the ongoing debate about Mediterranean interaction and communication. The papers' timespan is large: from the Late Neolithic of Crete, in the 5th-4th millennium BCE, to the Macedonian conquest of Thrace, in the 4th century BCE. Most contributions, however, focus on the Middle to Late Bronze Ages, as this is a phase of particularly intense communication, which matches the interests and connections of the editors. The geographic frame extends from the Central Mediterranean to Thrace, Cyprus and the Levant, with an important focus on Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Other papers, more than specific areas, instead discuss the figures of some of the actors of the intra-Mediterranean interregional communication, and the nuances of their roles: warriors and merchants. https://www.i6doc.com/fr/book/?gcoi=28001104706670
The Late Bronze Age palatial town of Mycenae went through a long formative process, to reach a mo... more The Late Bronze Age palatial town of Mycenae went through a long formative process, to reach a more stable settlement pattern in the second part of the Late Helladic IIIA phase (ca. 1410-1300 BC), when its acropolis was fortified for the first time. Together with the construction of the first palace it led to establishing the citadel - an elite palatial zone, separated from the lower town. This area concentrated most of the archaeological research on the site for the last 150 years, and its history has often been equated with that of the entire settlement. However, multiple traces of the Late Bronze Age occupation were uncovered outside the walls of the citadel, since the 1950s, currently reaching the number of 20 identifiable buildings. This paper presents a summary of an analysis of each of those contexts, based on a study of their architecture, finds, and stratigraphical sequences. It serves as a basis for an attempt to reconstruct the history and organization of the lower town of Mycenae during the palatial and post-palatial period of the Mycenaean era. In the same time, a careful restudy of the buildings of the lower town allows me to formulate some more general thoughts on the Late Helladic domestic architecture, as well as on the economic and social organization of the community of Late Bronze Age Mycenae.
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Papers by Piotr Zeman
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.136586 under this same license.
The paper is available through Propyleum, an open access platform of the University Library of Heidelberg: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/4412/.
Posters by Piotr Zeman
Pottery from Mycenaean palace at Pylos in Messenia was first published by excavators – Carl W. Blegen and Marion Rawson in 1966 (Blegen and Rawson 1966). Vessels from palatial ceramic assemblage were since then analyzed multiple times. However, in the last years we could observe a significant progress in examining and reinterpreting material from various pantries. This was possible mostly thanks to Hora Apotheke Reorganization Project, focused on reanalyzing and publishing artifacts excavated by Blegen (Lis 2016, see Stocker and Davis 2014 for summary). Those new interpretations are centered around functional analysis of assemblages from different parts of the palace. I would like to gather those sources together to present a broader analysis of function and use for all parts of the palatial pottery assemblage, together with spatial and contextual linking them together, using theory of entanglement (Hodder 2012).
Books by Piotr Zeman
https://www.i6doc.com/fr/book/?gcoi=28001104706670
Talks by Piotr Zeman
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.136586 under this same license.
The paper is available through Propyleum, an open access platform of the University Library of Heidelberg: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/4412/.
Pottery from Mycenaean palace at Pylos in Messenia was first published by excavators – Carl W. Blegen and Marion Rawson in 1966 (Blegen and Rawson 1966). Vessels from palatial ceramic assemblage were since then analyzed multiple times. However, in the last years we could observe a significant progress in examining and reinterpreting material from various pantries. This was possible mostly thanks to Hora Apotheke Reorganization Project, focused on reanalyzing and publishing artifacts excavated by Blegen (Lis 2016, see Stocker and Davis 2014 for summary). Those new interpretations are centered around functional analysis of assemblages from different parts of the palace. I would like to gather those sources together to present a broader analysis of function and use for all parts of the palatial pottery assemblage, together with spatial and contextual linking them together, using theory of entanglement (Hodder 2012).
https://www.i6doc.com/fr/book/?gcoi=28001104706670