Aegean Late Bronze Age

More than 30 years ago the American anthropologist-archaeologist William Adams wrote a seminal article on the interpretation of material culture change in ancient Nubia entitled ‘Invasion, Diffusion, Evolution?’ (1968). In it the author laid bare the inadequacies of invoking population movement to explain changes that could just as easily be attributed to cultural diffusion or evolution. A decade later Adams co-authored another article that took an even dimmer view of ‘migrationism’ (Adams, van Gerven and Levy 1978). In this latter article the authors offered up the Philistines as an example of a ‘historical migration’ – that is, a migration known from texts or through philology, but largely indiscernible through excavation. Although many of their points are well taken, the case of the Philistines should have been exempted from this sweeping criticism of the migrationist tendencies of culture-history. In addition to the textual evidence that attests to the movement and settlement of Philistines and other Sea Peoples along the Levantine coast, there is a burgeoning corpus of supportive archaeological data. Indeed, the Philistines, based on extensive excavations at three of their capital cities (i.e., Ashdod, Ashkelon and Tel Miqne-Ekron),  provide a superb case study of migration from an archaeological perspective.
The main purpose of this paper, however, is not to address Adams’ passing dismissal of the Philistine migration as an archaeologically observable event; but, rather, to counter the more focused and sustained revisionist thinking of the past decade regarding the Sea Peoples phenomenon. First, though, it is necessary to present a brief history of how the Philistines and their fellow Sea Peoples have been regarded over the past 150 years.

During the Minoan Neopalatial period (ca. 1700-1450 BCE) female figures are depicted in visual art sitting on rocks and stepped cult structures, both of which may be symbolic representations of mountains. Trees are also depicted in conjunction with rocks and stepped altars, sometimes replacing the female figure, and suggesting a tree-and-mountain combination. These scenes echo a tradition in the iconography of Syro-Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt of an association betweenand even the interchangeability of-trees, or more broadly vegetation, and female figures. While the Minoan female figures are unidentified, the east Mediterranean examples are associated with known goddesses. This paper suggests that, along with cult structures, Cretan Neopalatial female garments also belong to this tree-and-mountain symbolic visual language. Not only do abstract mountain forms appear on female garments, but the combination of female torso and elaborate skirt forms a silhouette that evokes the cult scenes in which women sit on rocks and stepped altars and platforms. Examination of the decoration, structure, and shape of Minoan Neopalatial garments as depicted in glyptic, wall painting, and three dimensions, will demonstrate their suitability for incorporation into the classification of landscape epiphany.

Forthcoming April 2017

http://upers.kuleuven.be/en/book/9789462701052

Chapters by:
Simon Jusseret (The University of Texas at Austin, Université catholique de Louvain)
Manuel Sintubin (KU Leuven)
Jan Driessen (Université catholique de Louvain)
Susan E. Hough (U.S. Geological Survey)
James P. McCalpin (GEO-HAZ Consulting Inc.)
Christoph Grützner (RWTH Aachen University, University of Cambridge)
Thomas Wiatr (RWTH Aachen University, German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy)
Charalampos Fassoulas (Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete)
Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos (National Observatory of Athens)
Jack Mason (RWTH Aachen University)
Klaus Reicherter (RWTH Aachen University)
Clairy Palyvou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Eleftheria Tsakanika (National Technical University of Athens)
Jeffrey S. Soles (University of North Carolina – Greensboro)
Floyd W. McCoy (University of Hawaii – Windward)
Rhonda Suka (Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii)
Colin F. Macdonald (The British School at Athens)
Tim Cunningham (Université catholique de Louvain)

The Indus Script hieroglyphs and Meluhha rebus renderings of these cylinder seals are:

1. ḍāng 'mountain range'; ḍang 'hill range' rebus: dhangar 'blacksmith' PLUS loa = a species of fig tree, ficus glomerata, the fruit of ficus glomerata (Santali) Rebus: Rebus: lo ‘iron’(Assamese, Bengali); loa ‘iron’ (Gypsy)  lauha = made of copper or iron (Gr.S'r.); metal, iron (Skt.); lōhakāra = coppersmith, ironsmith (Pali); lōhāra = blacksmith (Pt.); lohal.a (Or.); lōha = metal, esp. copper or bronze (Pali); copper (VS.); loho, lō = metal, ore, iron (Si.)  lōhá ʻ red, copper -- coloured ʼ ŚrS., ʻ made of copper ʼ ŚBr., m.n. ʻ copper ʼ VS., ʻ iron ʼ MBh.[*rudh -- ]  Pa. lōha -- m. ʻ metal, esp. copper or bronze ʼ; Pk. lōha -- m. ʻ iron ʼ,Gy. pal. li°, lihi, obl. elhás, as. loa JGLS new ser. ii 258; Wg. (Lumsden) "loa" ʻ steel ʼ; Kho. loh ʻ copper ʼ; S. lohu m. ʻ iron ʼ, L. lohā m., awāṇ.lōˋā, P. lohā m. (→ K.rām.  lohā),WPah.bhad. lɔ̃u n., bhal. l&ogravetilde; n.,pāḍ. jaun. lōh, paṅ. luhā, cur. cam. lohā,Ku. luwā, N. lohu, °hā, A. lo,B. lo, no, Or. lohā, luhā,Mth. loh, Bhoj. lohā, Aw.lakh.lōh, . loh, lohā m.,G. M. loh n.; Si. loho, lō ʻmetal, ore, iron ʼ; Md. ratu -- lō ʻ copper ʼ. *lōhala -- , *lōhila --, *lōhiṣṭha -- , lōhī -- , laúha -- ; lōhakāra -- , *lōhaghaṭa -- , *lōhaśālā-- , *lōhahaṭṭika -- , *lōhōpaskara -- ; vartalōha -- . Addenda: lōhá --: WPah.kṭg. (kc.) lóɔ ʻ iron ʼ, J. lohā m.,Garh. loho; Md. lō ʻ metal ʼ.†*lōhaphāla -- or†*lōhahala -- . (CDIAL 11158)lōhakāra m. ʻ iron -- worker ʼ, °rī -- f., °raka -- m. lex., lauhakāra -- m. Hit. [lōhá -- ,kāra -- 1]  Pa. lōhakāra --m. ʻ coppersmith, ironsmith ʼ; Pk. lōhāra -- m. ʻ blacksmithʼ, S. luhā̆ru m., L. lohār m., °rī f.,awāṇ. luhār, P. WPah.khaś. bhal. luhār m.,Ku. lwār, N. B. lohār, Or. lohaḷa, Bi.Bhoj.Aw.lakh. lohār, H. lohār, luh° m.,G. lavār m., M. lohār m.; Si. lōvaru ʻcoppersmith ʼ. Addenda: lōhakāra-- : WPah.kṭg. (kc.) lhwāˋr m. ʻ blacksmith ʼ, lhwàri f.ʻ his wife ʼ, Garh. lwār m. (CDIAL 11159)

2. The lion signifies  siṁhá m. ʻ lion ʼ, siṁhīˊ -- f. RV.Pa. sīha -- m. ʻ lion ʼ, sīhī -- f., Dhp. siha m., Pk. siṁha -- , siṁgha -- , sīha -- m., sīhī -- f.; Wg. sī ʻ tiger ʼ; K. sah, süh m. ʻ tiger, leopard ʼ; P. sī˜h, sihã̄ m. ʻ lion ʼ, bhaṭ. sīh ʻ leopard ʼ; WPah.khaś. sīˋ ʻ leopard ʼ, cur. jaun. sīh ʻ lion ʼ; Ku. syū̃, syū ʻ tiger ʼ; Mth. sī˜h ʻ lion ʼ, H. sī˜gh, sīh m., OG. sīha m.; -- Si. sī, siha ← Pa. -- L. śĩh, khet. śī ʻ tiger ʼ with ś -- from Pers. lw. śer ʻ tiger ʼ. -- Pa. sīhinī<-> f. ʻ lioness ʼ; K. sīmiñ f. ʻ tigress, leopard ʼ; P. sīhaṇī f. ʻ tigress ʼ; WPah.bhal. se_hiṇi f. ʻ leopard withcubs ʼ, jaun. sī˜haṇ ʻ tigress ʼ; H. sĩghnī f. ʻ lioness ʼ.Addenda: siṁhá -- : WPah.kṭg. sīˊ m. ʻ lion, leopard, brave man ʼ, sĩˊəṇ, sī˜ṇ (with high level tone) f. ʻ lioness ʼ (also sī˜ṇ Him.I 214 misprint with i?).(CDIAL 13384) Rebus: சிங்கச்சுவணம் ciṅka-c-cuvaṇam , n. prob. siṃhala + svarṇa. A kind of superior gold; ஒருவகை உயர்தரப் பொன். தீதுதீர் சிறப்பிற் சிங்கச் சுவணமென் றோசைபோகிய வொண்பொன் (பெருங். வத்தவ. 11, 23).


3. Bull-man anthropomorph: Six locks of hair: bhaṭa ‘six’ (G.); rebus: bhaṭa ‘furnace’ (Santali) PLUS Ku. ḍã̄go ʻ lean (e.g. of oxen) ʼ; N. ḍã̄go ʻ male (of animals) ʼ; N. ḍĩgo, ḍiṅo ʻ abusive word for a cow ʼ; L. (Shahpur) ḍhag̠g̠ā ʻ small weak ox ʼ, ḍhag̠g̠ī f. ʻ cow ʼ, S. ḍhiṅgaru m. ʻ lean emaciated beast ʼ.ḍagga -- 3 ʻ cattle ʼ. 2. †*ḍhagga -- 2. [Cf. *ḍaṅgara -- 1, *daṅgara -- ]1. WPah.kṭg. ḍɔggɔ m. ʻ a head of cattle ʼ, ḍɔgge m.pl. ʻ cattle ʼ, sat. (LSI ix 4, 667) ḍōgai ʻ cattle ʼ.2. S.kcch. ḍhago m. ʻ ox ʼ, L(Shahpur) ḍhaggā m. ʻ small weak ox ʼ, ḍhaggī f. ʻ cow ʼ, Garh. ḍhã̄gu ʻ old bull ʼ.(CDIAL 5524) *ḍaṅgara1 ʻ cattle ʼ. 2. *daṅgara -- . [Same as ḍaṅ- gara -- 2 s.v. *ḍagga -- 2 as a pejorative term for cattle]
1. K. ḍangur m. ʻ bullock ʼ, L. ḍaṅgur, (Ju.) ḍ̠ãgar m. ʻ horned cattle ʼ; P. ḍaṅgar m. ʻ cattle ʼ, Or. ḍaṅgara; Bi. ḍã̄gar ʻ old worn -- out beast, dead cattle ʼ, dhūr ḍã̄gar ʻ cattle in general ʼ; Bhoj. ḍāṅgar ʻ cattle ʼ; H. ḍã̄gar, ḍã̄grā m. ʻ horned cattle ʼ.2. H. dã̄gar m. = prec.(CDIAL 5526) Rebus: thakur, dhangar 'anthropomorph bull-man' N. ḍāṅro ʻ term of contempt for a blacksmith ʼ,Or. dhāṅgaṛ ʻ young servant, herdsman, name of a Santal tribe ʼ, dhāṅgaṛā ʻ unmarried youth ʼ, ˚ṛī ʻ unmarried girl ʼ, dhāṅgarā ʻ youth, man ʼ; H. dhaṅgar m. ʻ herdsman ʼ, dhã̄gaṛ, ˚ar m. ʻ a non -- Aryan tribe in the Vindhyas, digger of wells and tanks ʼ; M. dhã̄gaḍ ʻ rude, loutish ʼ, f. ʻ hoyden ʼ.(CDIAL 5524)  ṭhakkura m. ʻ idol, deity (cf. ḍhakkārī -- ), ʼ lex., ʻ title ʼ Rājat. [Dis- cussion with lit. by W. Wüst RM 3, 13 ff. Prob. orig. a tribal name EWA i 459, which Wüst considers nonAryan borrowing of śākvará -- : very doubtful]Pk. ṭhakkura -- m. ʻ Rajput, chief man of a village ʼ; Kho. (Lor.) takur ʻ barber ʼ (= ṭ˚ ← Ind.?), Sh. ṭhăkŭr m.; K. ṭhôkur m. ʻ idol ʼ ( ← Ind.?); S. ṭhakuru m. ʻ fakir, term of address between fathers of a husband and wife ʼ; P. ṭhākar m. ʻ landholder ʼ, ludh. ṭhaukar m. ʻ lord ʼ; Ku. ṭhākur m. ʻ master, title of a Rajput ʼ; N. ṭhākur ʻ term of address from slave to master ʼ (f. ṭhakurāni), ṭhakuri ʻ a clan of Chetris ʼ (f. ṭhakurni); A. ṭhākur ʻ a Brahman ʼ, ṭhākurānī ʻ goddess ʼ; B. ṭhākurāni, ṭhākrān, ˚run ʻ honoured lady, goddess ʼ; Or. ṭhākura ʻ term of address to a Brahman, god, idol ʼ, ṭhākurāṇī ʻ goddess ʼ; Bi. ṭhākur ʻ barber ʼ; Mth. ṭhākur ʻ blacksmith ʼ; Bhoj. Aw.lakh. ṭhākur ʻ lord, master ʼ; H. ṭhākur m. ʻ master, landlord, god, idol ʼ, ṭhākurāin, ṭhā̆kurānī f. ʻ mistress, goddess ʼ; G. ṭhākor, ˚kar m. ʻ member of a clan of Rajputs ʼ, ṭhakrāṇī f. ʻ his wife ʼ, ṭhākor ʻ god, idol ʼ; M. ṭhākur m. ʻ jungle tribe in North Konkan, family priest, god, idol ʼ; Si. mald. "tacourou" ʻ title added to names of noblemen ʼ (HJ 915) prob. ← Ind.Addenda: ṭhakkura -- : Garh. ṭhākur ʻ master ʼ; A. ṭhākur also ʻ idol ʼ (CDIAL 5488)

4. -- Anzu (Sumerian), Simorg (Persian), Śyena (R̥gveda),'falcon, thunderbolt' associated with metalwork-- aśan, ahan 'falcon' rebus: ahan 'iron' P آهن āhan, s.m. (9th) Iron. Sing. and Pl. آهن ګر āhan gar, s.m. (5th) A smith, a blacksmith (Pashto)

5.Wings (e.g., winged lion): kambha 'wing' rebus: kammaṭa'mint, coiner, coinage'.



A18065: shell, Early Dynastic period (2600–2300 BCE); bull-like men are restraining two lions, who are attacking a goat... and between these bullmen are birds of prey!  (Oriental Institute, Chicago)

Bull-man wrestling with a lion. Terracotta relief, first half of the 2nd millennium BCE.
Height: 10.2 cm (4 in); Width: 7.2 cm (2.8 in); Depth: 1.3 cm (0.5 in) Louvre Museum AO 12449

Date de création/fabrication : Isin-Larsa (?) (1e moitié IIe mill (?)) et 1ère dynastie de Babylone (?) (-2004 - -1763 et -1894 - -1595) Lieu de découverte : Eshnunna = Tell Asmar (?)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fight_between_lion_and_man-bull-AO_12449-IMG_0646-black.jpg

(From a cylinder-seal in theBritish Museum, No. 89,308.)
Dimensions: 2315 x 1079 px | 39.2 x 18.3 cm | 15.4 x 7.2 inches |.

The institution of feasting in the Bronze Age Aegean, as in much of the world, has been the subject of considerable recent scholarship, with a broad consensus that feasts provided a locus for the negotiation and performance of sociopolitical and religious hierarchies. Despite the publication of numerous edited volumes, monographs, and journal articles on the subject, the relationship between feasting and gender has been explored only minimally. In the very few cases where gender has been discussed in the context of feasting, the assumption or argument has been that women were excluded from public feasting activities, with the implication that women were excluded from a critical venue for the creation and reinforcement of social and political status. While iconographic evidence for Mycenaean women feasting is almost nonexistent (and indeed, iconographic evidence for anyone at all feasting may also be, insofar as we have no images of anyone in the Bronze Age Aegean eating), there are a few hints that at least elite women and probably most or all women were present at some prehistoric feasts. Comparable public feasts in both the contemporaneous Near Eastern world and in later Greek contexts often included women, including in feasts honoring some of the same divinities whom Linear B tablets tell us were worshipped in the Late Bronze Age. The Ta tablets from Pylos, representing the paraphernalia for a feast, include footstools, which are iconographically and archaeologically associated with women; this suggests that women did indeed participate. The presence of lower status women who attended feasts is more difficult to identify, but the vast quantities of food and wine known to have been provided suggest that access must have been broadly inclusive.

This paper focuses on the occurrence of sealings impressed by the same seal faces or by very similar seal faces at different archaeological sites in the Late Minoan I period. Sealings are small clay lumps impressed one or more times with one or more seal faces, and at times inscribed with Linear A signs. Such a sealing system was aimed at controlling the mobilization of resources and goods. The existence of a dense network of inter-regional trade in the Neopalatial Period is indeed well documented by the overall archaeological evidence. Since impressions left on clay nodules by the same seals or by very similar seals occur on different types of sealing found at different sites on Crete (Knossos, Sklavokambos, Hagia Triada, Gournia, Zakros, and Chania) and outside Crete (Akrotiri on the island of Thera), we can argue that the inter-regional trade was, at least in part, managed by one or more central administrations. The aim of this paper is to clarify this last point and address the issue of whether or not we can infer the existence of diplomatic and legal bonds between the Knossos Palace and the other main Aegean settlements from the sealings.

"Ex oriente nigri: "Captain of the Blacks" and the Fabrication of the Minoan Culture

The fabrication of the Minoan culture is the specifically modern phenomenon, closely linked to the imperial and colonial conquest and appropriation of Ancient Greece. The Greek war of independence created an arena in which Europe could take part in the fight for its cradle. In the postcolonial key, the paper situates the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" into the context of the fabrication of the Minoan culture and the colonial narratives inscribed into it. In the beginning of the 20th century, this colonial past of the notion, known today as the Minoan culture, played a major role in the definition of the European past, present and future. The Minoan culture, as a colonial discursive formation in archaeology, has remained in the framework of the culture-histori-cal paradigm, but beyond it as well. The paper argues that the reconstructionof the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" in the works of Arthur Evans is the consequence of the colonial racism, putting the emphasis on the colour of the skin as a racial/ ethnic category. The interpretation that the dark-skinned figures are of the African origin has rarely been questioned, but rather perpetuated as a given.

Key words: Minoan culture, racism, "Captain of the Blacks", Egypt,colonialism, post-colonial perspective"

Eight Indus Script inscriptions show a person seated in kamaṭha penance; rebus कामठा kāmaṭhā 'workshop'
Eight Indus Script inscriptions which show a person seated in kamaṭha penance are:
1. Ganweriwala tablet
2. m453 Mohenjo-daro seal
3. m1181 Mohenjo-daro seal
4. m305 Mohenjo-daro seal
5. m2033 Mohenjo-daro seal
6. h489, h1971 Harappa tablet
7. m304 Mohenjo-daro seal
8.. h176 Harappa tablet

The article is devoted to significance of metallurgy of bronze, delivering of copper and tin into Aegean and consumption of bronze in Mycenaean centers of the Late Bronze Age. Metallurgy of bronze was vital for the formation and development of Mycenaean society. Excavations of shipwrecks in Uluburun and at Cape Gelidonya showed that Cyprus was the main source of copper supplies to Aegean. However, there were also sources of this metal in Lavrion in Greece, the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia, in Israel and in Sardinia. It was generally believed that Mycenaeans held a monopoly on maritime commerce in the Eastern
Mediterranean but it was not correct. The discoveries in Uluburun and Cape Gelidonya shipwrecks led to conclusion that ships were Near Eastern in origin or perhaps Cypriot. The scale of supplies allows us
to consider it as a real trade in metals. In the mainland Greece, bronze objects were produced in various palace workshops, which are well known from the excavations of Kadmeia - the acropolis of Thebes. Most
of the bronze was involved in the production of offensive and defensive equipment. In the process of analyzing of archaeological material from Thebes and literary sources, the educational function of the objects made of bronze, such as tripods, was also revealed. Bronze object served as a mediator of relations between a man and the past.

Beside their contested functions, wall brackets present an interesting subject for discussion on trade and exchange of ideas and innovations during the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Because these artefacts are considered most typical for Late Bronze Age Cyprus and because of their assumed religious use, it has been proposed that they were brought by “Cypriotes" living abroad in the Levant or Aegean. Within this discussion a unique wall bracket from Kandia in the Argolid in southern Greece sheds further light. This contribution represents a small token of gratitude to Susan Sherratt for her kind support and enlightening scholarship. -
This paper is a draft. The published version has a few very minor changes (spelling, word changes/additions). For quotation please refer to the paper published in "Athyrmata. Critical essays on the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean in honour of E. Susan Sherratt, Y. Galanakis, T. Wilkinson, J. Bennet (eds.),  (Oxford 2014), 187-195.

The wreck of the Uluburun offers the possibility of understanding the dynamics of trade in the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. In the first part of the paper, the approaches that have been proposed about the destination, function and origin of the vessel are analysed. Secondly, the small objects that were transported and which tend to be “forgotten” are examined. The study of these objects can provide answers to dynamics and commercial interests or policies, the exchange of ideas and shared manifestations of devoutness in the Eastern Mediterranean that can be considered in some respects as a cultural koiné at the end of the Bronze Age.

in S. Cappel, U. Günkel-Maschek, and D. Panagiotopoulos (eds.), Minoan Archaeology: Perspectives for the 21st Century, 2015.

The Bronze Age settlement of Papadiokampos is located in the coastal plain west of the Trachilos peninsula near Siteia in eastern Crete. It was discovered by Chrysa Sofianou of the 24th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture and is the focus of her ongoing research program. Assistant in mapping the Late Minoan harbor town has been provided by the Publication Team of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete. Topographic mapping of the site has revealed building remains that stretch for approximately 250 m along the coast, the majority of which are situated several meters above sea level along the cliff.

Ground Penetrating Radar, or GPR, was systematically used in all four areas of the site before excavation (Areas A, B, C and D). It has proven instrumental in the location and identification of subsurface features, such as the ground plans of House A.1 at the western edge of the Late Minoan I settlement and House B.1 located 100 m to the east. In both cases, the subsurface features detected by the radar match precisely with the excavated finds. Equally important, excavation in Areas A, B and D proved that the voids observed by the radar were open spaces, thus eliminating the need for further excavation in those specific areas.

This course presents a broad survey of historical forces at work over the past 6,000 years, examining the manners in which human societies have organized themselves along categories of race, ethnicity, class, and gender to meet the challenges of the increasing human population and its demands on natural resources: thus, it examines continuity and change in societies over time, in different places, and among various peoples.

The performance of Mycenaean funerary rites involved a number of different settings. Some of these are clear from the evidence (tomb, cemetery); others may be inferred (place of preparation and perhaps exposition of the corpse; the processional route from there to the cemetery). This paper examines the affordances of these arenas for funerary ritual as evidenced in material, architectural and landscape traces, and emphasises the importance of the procession as an essential structuring element of Mycenaean funerals.

Using the concepts of fields of discourse and fields of action as developed by Barrett and Robb, this paper considers several such related fields in the course of the Mycenaean funerary cycle: laying out the dead, readying the tomb, the procession, burial, and other interventions in the tomb.

Processions were the means by which the lead organisers of the funeral most fully engaged with the broader community, and conversely the means by which individuals or groups could engage with the funerary process, demonstrating or testing their acknowledged or claimed place in the network of relationships formed around the funeral. Processions to the grave were profoundly public in nature, open to participation through observation and perhaps by joining in, in contrast to subsequent activities at the graveside, which often exhibited a more controlled accessibility. There is a structural tension in the ordering of processions between their open nature and their potential for rigorous hierarchy. Taking time to progress, with a starting point, route, waypoints and endpoint, processions embrace multiple spatio-temporal nodes and scales at which different elements or groups may be separately addressed or assert themselves. The procession is a composite act of ordered and reordered movement, conducted in reference to and structured by the topography through which it passed on its route.

Mycenaean funerary architecture promoted specific enabling and restraining conditions in respect of individual and group movement. The tomb encouraged particular types of movement and group sizes, thus shaping the tempo and scale of activities, and marking a disjuncture with the immediately preceding phase of the procession. In contrast with the procession, the rites in the tomb were conducted in a restricted space with carefully negotiated means of access. Material conditions were also markedly different from the previous phases of the funeral: within the tomb, funerary rites were conducted in a space dominated by the material detritus of past funerary activity. A significant aspect of interment was the production of a funerary context derived both from the material utilised in the preparatory and processional phases, and from material already present in the chamber.

The appearance of the brailed rig and loose-footed sail at the end of the Late Bronze Age revolutionized seafaring in the eastern Mediterranean. In the first visual representation of a naval battle in the Egyptian records, the battle at Medinet Habu, both Egyptian and ‘Sea Peoples’ ships are portrayed as employing this new rig on warships which are nearly identical in structure and design. This fact suggests some level of previous contact between the invading mariners and those responsible for designing and constructing Egypt’s ships of war. This paper examines the evidence for the development of the brailed rig in the eastern Mediterranean, and explores the possibility that the Šrdn of the Sea, one of the ‘Sea Peoples’ who appeared in “battleships in the midst of the sea” off of the Egyptian coast a century earlier, may have played an integral role in the transference of that technology to the Egyptians.

The presence of imported and locally produced Mycenaean pottery in western Anatolia has long caught the attention of scholars and various explanatory models have been proposed to explain the apparent attractiveness of the pottery. In most cases, however, emphasis is placed on the (stylistic) differences between Mycenaean pottery and the various local plain wares, and it is assumed that these differences were actively recognised by local communities and exploited in the formation of social identities. This paper, however, pilots a different approach that focuses not on the stylistic differences between Mycenaean pottery and the various Anatolian wares but on the (perceived) common ground(s) between them and argues that the attractiveness of Mycenaean and previously Minoan pottery lay not so much in its cultural origins or its ‘foreignness’ but rather in its potential to fit in with existing local material assemblages and enhance a sense of communality among cosmopolitan communities.

The Flotilla fresco -as the best-preserved element- of the miniature frieze program in room five of the West House building in the Akrotiri excavation site, Santorini, Greece, has been analyzed with quantitative perspective methods and with respect to a localization of the landscapes depicted. Many depicted features could be identified and matched within the still existing topography, providing scale information. A virtual 3D model has been constructed accordingly and integrated into today´s topography of the island, regarding the latest geological findings.  While the previously suspected location of the arrival town -as being actually the excavation site- is strongly supported, here the departure town is located on a round island, surrounded by a round lagoon in the north-western part of today´s caldera.  The fresco view is towards the south-east from an elevated viewpoint south of the modern town Oia. The flotilla departs there and passes along the west coast of the island to turn east towards the Akrotiri embayment on the south shore. The Battle fresco on the north-west wall of the room is localized in the same region near Cape Perivola, but with a fresco view towards north-east. Informed form this localization, the preferred theme interpretation is that of an important festival there lasting several days, related to calendric cycles, initiation and leadership rejuvenation and including enacted games, human and livestock sacrifices, and religious rituals.  The model has been tentatively extended to the southern caldera regions, not visible in both frescos, but based upon a speculative localization of the River fresco and informed from landscape features in the Xeste 3 frescos. No definitive landmarks are identifiable though and hence this extension remains speculative.  A scrutinization of Plato´s Atlantis tales, after peeling out realistic topographic information, allows a surprisingly fitting match to the independently established virtual model (Part 2).

This paper describes new approaches to the documentation and publication of texts in the Greek Bronze Age through discussion of the authors’ ongoing project to study and publish the Linear B documents from the ‘Palace of Nestor’ at Pylos in southwestern Greece. Recent developments move in two dis-tinct directions. The first, digitisation, involves the production of digital models to represent the texts, using both computational photography and three-dimensional modelling. The second, the study of the texts as material culture, involves examining the physical properties of the texts and associated uninscribed documents. Traditional print-based editions are limited in the amount of data they can present, and the use of static images and text requires the user to rely on the authority of the editor, the illustrator, and even the photographer. Digital models, on the other hand, provide a dynamic and interactive environment in which users can work with the texts at a level of resolution that approximates autopsy. That is, they place less emphasis on editorial interpretations and interventions and put more primary data directly into the hands of users. The digital models thus decentre editorial authority by easing scholarly access  to material.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO PINPOINT A CENTRALIZATION POLICY CARRIED OUT BY THE HITITE KINGDOM IN THE UPPER FIRAT REGION INCLUDING MALITIYA TOWN?
We attempted to answer this question in our study by a close examination of Hittite cuneiform texts. Our study is concerned with whether the centralization process carried out by the Hittite Kingdom was valid only for the Central Anatolian Plateau or whether it is also possible to speak of a network of settlement and control which was a natural result of the centralization process in the Upper Euphrates region. This region would also include the town of Malitiya and the study is concerned with whether this network of settlement and control also imbued small centers and agricultural villages with a certain functional autonomy or whether administrative and religious functions were centered instead around large towns.

SUMMARY: Lecture 19-a provides an overview on the city of Troy, the Trojan War, and other aspects of this settlement, its peoples, and their role in the Late Bronze Age and later periods. This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the materials were extracted (see syllabus), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  The lecture summarizes the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), adding in other data, and furnishing numerous images to clarify information encountered within the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture alongside some of the key sources used for compiling the ppt.  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made, and my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources. REVISED: April 2024, some text and images, and diverse re-formatting and editing, plus new sources added at end.

In three occasions Egyptian texts give us extracts of the language of the Keftiw: a school writing tablet with personal names, an inscription with place names, and a papyrus with two magical spells! The information that we can extract, although puny, could help us in our attempt to approach the Keftiw language and its nature. All difficulties of interpretation
have to be analysed and each step has to be taken cautiously.

Abstract: Literary and archaeological research of Homeric Greece continues to deepen and offers new possibilities for supplementing the mosaic of information. This study has considered and discussed some
cases of houses of the Early Greece, when the direct knowledge of environments that constitute the living
space is more noticeable, especially through the echo of the rhapsodic tradition expressed in the Homeric poems. The first written works of Greek literature became the basis of the then education and knowledge. Some salient passages, taken above all the Odyssey and limited to the descriptions of domestic space, are presented. The main attention is paid to the geographic area that goes from the Greek peninsula to the insular areas up to the island of Crete

Marks incised or painted on Eastern Mediterranean pottery from the Late Bronze Age – generically known as «potmarks» – have been extensively studied in the past two decades. Incised markings have also appeared on ingots and other metallic supports, although these have arguably received less attention. It has long been clear that some of these marks consist of signs drawn from existing writing systems, with Cypro-Minoan playing a special role, and this has contributed to scholars’ research on the relationship between marks and script. However, many unknowns remain. An old and significant problem relates to difficulties in assessing which marks can be securely identified with Cypro-Minoan signs, stemming from the lack of a detailed palaeographical study of the script’s signary. Recent advances in our knowledge of Cypro-Minoan, especially with regards to the palaeographic variation and identity of its signs, now enable us to better understand which marks are extracted from that writing system and which are not. With a special focus on ingot- and potmarks from the Eastern Mediterranean and Sardinia, this article discusses methods for distinguishing Cypro-Minoan marks from non-Cypro-Minoan marks. It is argued that a greater number of marks can now be securely identified with signs of the Cypro-Minoan script. In a second stage, findings are compared with other parameters, such as vessel shapes and functions, find-spots and places of import, and methods (incised or painted) and timings (before or after firing or casting) of the marks. This re-evaluation reveals no significant distribution patterns, suggesting that many different marking systems might have been in use or that the choice of Cypro-Minoan signs used as marks was not very systematic. In our conclusions, we discuss the implications of these results for our knowledge of the dynamics of Bronze Age Cypriot society.