Keynote speaker: J Bennet, University of SheffieldEndnote speaker: OTPK Dickinson, University of Durham

The University of Nottingham welcomes world-leading experts to the 2013 AHRC Conference

9-10 May 2013

Materials and Industries in the Mycenaean World

Please note this is an invitation-only evente: kalliopi.nikita@nottingham.ac.uk

The National College for School Leadership Triumph Road Nottingham NG8 1DH

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MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIES IN THE MYCENAEAN WORLD

Current Approaches to the Study of Materials and Industries in Prehistoric Greece

University of Nottingham, 9-10 May 2013

CONFERENCE ORGANISERS

Dr Kalliopi Nikita and Prof Julian Henderson, University of Nottingham

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks are owed to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding the Conference as

part of the Early Career Research Fellowship entitled From Thebes to Mycenae.

Special thanks to Dr Fanouria Dakoronia for providing the image for the conference poster: Chariot

Scene of the Crater from Kynos dated to Late Helladic IIIC.

VENUE

The National College for School Leadership (Room 7a),

Triumph Road

Nottingham NG8 1DH

Telephone: 01159829297

CONTACT AND ENQUIRIES

Email: kalliopi.nikita@nottingham.ac.uk

Phone number: 07979626000

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Bennet, John, University of Sheffield, UK

PARTICIPANTS

Alberti, Maria Emanuela, University of Sheffield, UK

Aulsebrook, Stephanie, University of Cambridge, UK

Dakoronia, Fanouria, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece

Day, Peter M., University of Sheffield, UK

Gilstrap, William, University of Sheffield, UK

Harding, Anthony F., University of Exeter, UK

Henderson, Julian, University of Nottingham, UK

Jones, Richard, University of Glasgow, UK

Kardamaki, Elina, University of Heidelberg, Germany

Kassianidou, Lina, University of Cyprus, Cyprus

Kavouras, Panayotis, Wood Anatomy and Technology Laboratory, Forest Research Institute, Athens, Greece

Kaza, Konstantina, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece

Kilikoglou, Vassilis, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR Demokritos, Athens, Greece

KonstantinidI-Syviridi, Eleni, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

Kounouclas, Petros, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece

Lolos, Yannos, University of Ioannina, Greece

Marabea, Christina, University of Ioannina, Greece

Maragoudaki, Elena, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece

Nightingale, Georg, University of Salzburg, Austria

Nikita, Kalliopi, University of Nottingham, UK

Pliatiska, Vassiliki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece

Shelton, Kim, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Strack, Sara, University of Leicester, UK

Tzonou-Herbst, Ioulia, American School of Classical Studies, Athens

Whitbread, Ian, University of Leicester, UK

ENDNOTE SPEAKER

Dickinson, Oliver P. T. K., University of Durham, UK,

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LIST OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………….. 1

Venue……………………………………………………………………………………………… 1

Contact and Enquiries…………………………………………………………………................ 1

Participants……………………………………………………………………………………….. 2

List of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………... 3

Introduction (Nikita, K.)………………………………………………………………………….. 4

1. The Aim of Our Meeting……………………………………………………………………….. 4

2. The Mycenaean Context………………………………………………………………………... 4

3. Materials and Industries………………………………………………………………………… 5

4. Methodological Approaches……………………………………………………………………. 5

5. Our Major Challenges………………………………………………………………................... 6

a. Evidential Sources………………………………………………………………………………. 6

b. Technology……………………………………………………………………………................ 7

c. Trade……………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

d. Values…………………………………………………………………………………................ 6

6. Our Contribution…………………………………………………………………....................... 8

Programme……………………………………………………………………………………….. 9

Thursday 9 May 2013………………………………………………………………....................... 9

Friday 10 May 2013……………………………………………………………………………….. 10

Keynote Speaker (Bennet, J.) 11

Procurement, Process, Production: Materials and Industries in the Mycenaean World from Textual and Archaeological Perspectives.........................................................................................

11

Invited Speakers 12

Session 1 12

Petsas House and Pottery: Workshop Demographics and Production Strategies in a Settlement Context (Shelton, K.)……………………………………………………………………………….

12

Coil and Throw. Hybrid Production Techniques in Mycenaean Palatial and Post-Palatial Ceramic Manufacture (Strack, S.)…………………………………………………….....................

13

Session 2 13

Ceramic Consumption at Kanakia: Making Choices in the Late Mycenaean Saronic Gulf (Day, P. M., Gilstrap, W., Kilikoglou, V., Marabea, C., Lolos,Y...............................................................

13

Pottery Production at the Late Mycenaean Site of Alimos, Attica (Gilstrap, W. Day, P. M., 13

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Kaza, K., Kardamaki, E.)…………………………………………………………………………..

Session 3 14

Insights into the Mycenaean Pictorial Vase Painting Technique: An Assessment of the Evidence from Mycenae (Pliatiska, V.)………………………………………………………………………

14

Purpose(s) of Manufacture and Meaning(s) of Mycenaean Figures and Figurines through Use-lives and Discard Patterns (Tzonou-Herbst I.)……………………………………………………..

14

Session 4 15

Cypriot Copper for the Mycenaean World (Kassianidou, L.)……………………………………... 15

Standards of Standardisation: the Relationships between Crafting, Consumption and Decoration on Mycenaean Metal Vessels (Aulsebrook, S.)…………………………………………………….

16

Session 5 16

Hidden “Treasures” in the Storeroom of the Prehistoric Collection at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Konstantinid-Syviridi, E.)……………………………………..

16

The Mycenaean Scribes and the Craftsmen (Nightingale, G.)……………………………………. 17

Appraising the Manufacturing Capacity of the Mycenaean Glass Industry through the Production of Blue Glass (Nikita, K.)……………………………………………………………...

17

Session 6 18

Bow Drill: The First Mechanized Woodworking Tool (Maragoudaki, E. and Kavouras, P.)……………………………………………………………………………..................................

18

Reconstructing Mycenaean Shipbuilding through Ceramic Production and Iconography: The Evidence from Kynos (Dakoronia, F. and Kounouclas, P.)……………………………………….

19

Session 7 19

Mycenaean Workshop Installation at Kontopigado Alimou, Attica (Kaza, K.)…………………... 19

Mycenaean textile industry: production tools and specialization issues (Alberti, M. E.)…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

20

Endnote Speaker (Dickinson, O.P.T.K.)

20

Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………………………. 20

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INTRODUCTION

Kalliopi Nikita

1. THE AIM OF OUR MEETING

Our meeting aims to foster debate and exchange between diverse and competing methodological approaches in archaeology by exploring the various ways in which recent advances in the study of Mycenaean materials and industries enable the development of future research agendas in Archaeology. The event brings together a wide range of hitherto largely isolated initiatives in the archaeology of Mycenaean materials and industries, and our primary endeavour is to answer important questions on Mycenaean materials and industries, whilst also showcasing emerging research approaches to the prehistory of Greece and of the broader Mediterranean.

2. THE MYCENAEAN CONTEXT

From the advent of the Mycenaean society, the establishment and high-point of the palaces, through to the years of palatial crisis and their final collapse, the Mycenaean world underwent a series of societal transformations (some of which outstanding, others more mundane) and remained throughout a culturally dynamic entity. Similarly, the Mycenaeanisation that characterised the broader Aegean, Crete and Cyprus, was a gradual process that differed greatly in extent and degree, and at specific points throughout the Late Bronze Age.

A question that immediately stands out in the study of Mycenaean materials and industries is the role and influence of the palaces in technological developments and aesthetic perceptions. It is quite likely that various social manifestations and practices beyond the purely material and technological, such as burial customs and religious practices, may have been influenced or even constrained by close palatial control and patronage. The palatial crisis also had an impact on the pace of technological developments and production rates, and certain industries saw interruptions as a result of the final collapse of palatial administration. However, it should also be noted that the palaces (even at their high peak) were not the epicentre of the Mycenaean society, nor were far-off sites negligible social agents of technological developments in materials and crafts. In this sense, then, the rise of the post-palatial Mycenaean society reveals continuities and transformations in production technologies that point to industries that had been operating beyond palatial administration even during the thriving times of palatial industries.

From our point of view, the Shaft Grave period and the appearance of prominent elites that needed to display their new prominence with prestigious items and luxury materials can be best understood within the context of what may have been perceived either as aesthetically attractive or even as technologically advanced. The Early and Middle Bronze Ages in the Aegean represent crucial stages in technological advances during that time, and thus constitute an area of great interest in tracing developments of specific production technologies and processes of industrial specialization of the subsequent Mycenaean era. However, as a variety of archaeological evidence shows, it would be overly simplistic to presume that all production technologies manifestly follow the timeline of historical evolution of the Mycenaean world. On the contrary, as the research presented in this meeting plenty shows that materials and industries follow developments that in many cases are independent of the mainstream Mycenaean historical sequence, and this is to be one of our focal points of discussion.

3. MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIES A wide range of materials and industries is considered from a variety of research approaches. Leading international experts will focus on organic and inorganic materials, ceramics, metals, pigments, glass and vitreous materials, natural stones, textiles, wood, bone, and ivory. The main production

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technologies and industrial sectors discussed are pottery and other work in fired clay, painted frescoes and pictorial vases, metallurgy (including weaponry), jewellery, ship-building, furniture-making and the blending of perfumed oils. Also of central importance are the roles and uses of materials and artefacts, their mobility and exchange, and the transfer of technologies – knowledge or performance – throughout and beyond the Mycenaean world. Economy and technology, salient synergistic components in cultural processes, saw characteristic fluctuations throughout the Mycenaean era, principally linked to materials and artefacts, their making and use. Cognitive traditions, aesthetic perceptions and trends are indivisible components in the development of decorative principles; but artistic creations are not necessarily dictated – although influenced – by technology. Accordingly, the remit of our dialogue covers issues arising from very simple handicrafts and minimally mechanised activities through to highly sophisticated and organised manufacturing or construction enterprises.

4. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

A study of ‘Materials and Industries in the Mycenaean World’ is not intended to be simply an outline of production technologies of specific materials; it will include a careful assessment of the methods applied to their study, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the research avenues they might open up. State-of-the-art studies on Mycenaean materials and industries are based on an affluent array of methodologies – both investigative and interpretative. Consequently, our discussions will focus on approaches drawn from a variety of disciplines with different – even conflicting – theoretical backgrounds and exploratory techniques. Hence, we will make use of methods, techniques and themes, such as artefactual analysis, contextual analysis, spatial analysis, textual analysis, iconography, archaeometry, experimental archaeology, chaîne opératoire, technological choices, and cross-craft interaction. At the same time, our methodological assessments will be guided by other specific themes, including the Mycenaean cultural context, artefact characteristics, natural environment, material properties and the array of human actions and perceptions connected with designing and organising technological production. These provide the guiding themes of our assessment. Through the study of Mycenaean materials and industries – both in a synchronic and diachronic perspective – we hope to identify not only distinct local traditions but also temporal variations in the roles and uses given to particular production technologies. By considering the advantages, potential and limitations of specific research methods and techniques, we propose not only to reflect on the progress that has been made so far, but also to revisit and reconsider previous interpretations of the archaeological record in the light of recent advances in investigative and interpretative methods.

5. OUR MAJOR CHALLENGES

The study of materials and industries raises major challenges for the prehistorian. Difficulties arise at the outset about the archaeological evidence itself, and are subsequently compounded by questions regarding how changes in technology, trade, and values can be traced and understood through archaeological research. The Mycenaean archaeologist is further faced by the specific cultural idiosyncrasies imposed by the Mycenaean context. a. Evidential sources Evidence for Mycenaean crafts and industries has been mainly derived from archaeological discoveries and Linear B documents. The tablets explicitly record some of the products of Mycenaean palatial industries and provide indirect information about others. Neither do they make straightforward mention of technology (be it knowledge or performance thereof) nor of the process of trade, both of which are vital components for a successful craft or industrial operation. Consequently, archaeological discoveries form our main source of information about industries, including workshops and the waste from craft activities, seasonal or permanent industrial installations, and movable equipment and tools. Non-industrial contexts such as cemeteries and burials, as well as cultic sites and

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religious contexts, also offer significant information about some types of materials and artefacts, especially if these occur mainly or solely in such contexts. However, the links between the various arts and crafts, whether technological or artistic, are not easily discernible in the archaeological record. The emerging picture of such environments is typically diffuse  and murky, often rather confused, even puzzling. It is thus necessary to apply or develop approaches suitable to overcome limitations and resolve problems arising from evidential sources. b. Technology Appraising the nature and measuring the pace of technological advances are major problems in the study of early crafts and industries, and it is fair to say that they in fact offer more challenges than merely tracing and reconstructing them. The incompleteness of archaeological data, and the scarcity and obscurity of written records, make it especially difficult to identify certifiable technological developments, and thus much is left to speculation. By exploring the degree to which technological awareness, rather than performance, was an integral element of palatial administration, and possibly of Mycenaean social order, we hope to investigate specific hypotheses regarding technological insufficiency, economic vulnerability and dependence on foreign technologies and economies. Of crucial significance to addressing these issues is the study of natural environmental settings, their wealth and limitations, forms of energy in use, the accessibility of materials, and the exploitability and sustainability of resources. Equally relevant here is the wider cultural, social, political and economic context in which technological developments gained momentum. It is quite possible, for example, that close control of industrial activities during the peak period of palatial control derived from the need for a mechanism to overcome resource constraints in the broader Aegean, and give extra support to supply chains. As a result, palatial administrative practices may well have provided some sort of control, if not outright constraints, on the development of technical skills, workshop independence, artistic autonomy and aesthetic preferences, which may in turn have been reflected in various forms of societal conservatism. c. Trade Trading activity constitutes a leading sector of the economy, and in that sense it has been a typical and unavoidable focal point of several studies to varying degrees. However, even after more recent thorough reviews, there is still a tendency in archaeology to minimize the role of trade as a vital form of cultural encounter, and to explain the range of cultural differences or affinities under the wide umbrella of an only vaguely conceived "exchange". We hope to overcome this tendency by focusing variously on the question of how best to investigate, illustrate and interpret purposes, modes and routes of trade, not only with respect to systematic commerce, but also the less regular and sporadic exchange of products. In our view, Mycenaean trade is best understood in the context of the well-developed and prosperous agriculture-based economy of the palaces. As a mechanism for procurement, supply, distribution, and exchange, Mycenaean trade is set within broader social circumstances and relationships, internal (inter- or even intra-site) or external (international), in the latter case facilitated by diplomatic conventions. Strictly speaking, no clear references are made to the process of trade in the Linear B documents despite the explicit mentions of goods coming into and going out of the palaces, and the archaeological evidence for a lively degree of exchange of goods. In particular, there is an odd absence of references in the tablets to long distance trade, associated with accessing foreign materials and skills, neither is mention made of officials in charge of such trade. However, we also know that reciprocal trade – either in bulk or as gift exchange – had an international character throughout the Mediterranean, the Near East and Europe, serving as the means to obtain not only common commodities but also luxuries and exotica, whether orientalia or occidentalia. Our proposal, then, is to refocus attention on social factors and structures that determine and underlie those trade practices that are closely associated with developments of materials, artefacts and their production technologies, in a bid to deepen our understanding of these. d. Values On what criteria were early materials and artefacts characterised as being precious, luxurious or prestigious, as being highly creative products or of having an aesthetic value? To answer this question is particularly challenging when looking at a pre-monetary and pre-literate society, like the

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Mycenaean society. Traditionally, and largely on the basis of empirical judgements, such qualities have been attributed to the products of highly sophisticated and specialised technologies, such as items of exotic origin or elaborately decorated, usually found in assemblages of comparable items, occurring in the same context. However, it is common practice in prehistoric archaeology, including that devoted to Mycenaean culture, either to adopt an ad hoc ascription of such qualities, or to follow exclusively the suggestions of a hazy symbolism. Consequently, such attributions are typically lacking in rigour or in the use of sound theoretical principles, and offer little assistance when investigating the values that may have underpinned specific technological choices and aesthetic preferences. Equally, even more, perplexing can be our attempts to understand the range of values of earlier societies by drawing analogies and extrapolating evaluating systems from modern cultures and economic structures. Overcoming these challenges may seem nearly impossible. However, cross-cultural comparisons and in-depth studies of materials and industries (particularly those whose operation requires access to certain economic assets) within their archaeological context offer a promising way to estimate (in general) the amount of labour invested in the making of goods and/or the effort invested in the exchange of goods, that can ultimately arrive at some measure of its desirability in Mycenaean society. 6. OUR CONTRIBUTION Despite the above challenges, it is our goal to deepen our understanding of technological development in prehistoric societies by examining the degree to which Mycenaean technology contributed to the inheritance received from earlier production technologies, as well as whether these provided a strong basis for its genesis and growth. Mycenaean industries and use of materials reflected a legacy inherited from the Early and Middle Bronze Ages of the broader Aegean, as well as being exposed to foreign influences through trade and exchange. Whether the material technologies of the Mycenaean world, which came to form an integral segment of the increasingly interconnected Late Bronze Age Mediterranean and to extend its contact into other parts of Europe, became influential within contemporary and subsequent cultural contexts is also worthy of investigation. Our approaches rely principally on a wide range of methods for analysing materials and industries, in attempting to trace the evolutionary processes of production technologies against an overall cross-cultural background. This will enable us to determine whether the seemingly slow progress observable in prehistoric technologies was the result of strongly conservative attitudes, or reflects control and patronage by a central administration. In turn, this will help us to investigate further the intentions, choices, limitations, and experimentations of prehistoric craftspeople, and how these were subject to varied technological and cultural influences. Moreover, by identifying the beneficiaries of material production technologies, i.e. those who received their products, we will be in a better position to understand the wider role and use of those products in a prehistoric society. Ultimately, we hope to provide further insights into the relationships between technology experts and/or leaders and beneficiaries in early societies, especially in societies that were pre-monetary, had obscure writing systems, and have preserved fragmentary written records.

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PROGRAMME

THURSDAY 9 MAY 2013

KEYNOTE John Bennet 10:00 – 10:50 Procurement, Process, Production: Materials and Industries in the Mycenaean World

from Textual and Archaeological Perspectives 10:50 – 11:10 Coffee Break SESSION 1 Chair - Ian Whitbread 11:10 – 11:40 Kim Shelton Petsas House and Pottery: Workshop Demographics and Production Strategies in a

Settlement Context 11:40 – 12:10 Sara Strack Coil and Throw. Hybrid Production Techniques in Mycenaean Palatial and Post-

Palatial Ceramic Manufacture 12:10 – 12:30 Discussion 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch SESSION 2 Chair - Richard Jones 13:30 – 14:00 Peter M. Day, William Gilstrap, Vassilis Kilikoglou, Christina Marabea, Yannos

Lolos Ceramic Consumption at Kanakia: Making Choices in the Late Mycenaean Saronic

Gulf 14:00 – 14:30 William Gilstrap, Peter M. Day, Konstantina Kaza, Elina Kardamaki Pottery Production at the Late Mycenaean Site of Alimos, Attica 14:30 – 14:50 Discussion SESSION 3 Chair - Oliver Dickinson 14:50 – 15:20 Vassiliki Pliatsika Insights into the Mycenaean Pictorial Vase Painting Technique: An Assessment of the

Evidence from Mycenae 15:20 – 15:50 Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst Purpose(s) of Manufacture and Meaning(s) of Mycenaean Figures and Figurines

through Use-lives and Discard Patterns 15:50 – 16:10 Discussion 16:10 – 16:30 Coffee Break SESSION 4 Chair - Anthony F. Harding16:30 – 17:00 Lina Kassianidou Cypriot Copper for the Mycenaean World 17:00 – 17:30 Stephanie Aulsebrook Standards of Standardisation: The Relationships between Crafting, Consumption and

Decoration on Mycenaean Metal Vessels 17:30 – 17:50 Discussion 19:00 – 21:00 Dinner

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FRIDAY 10 MAY 2013 SESSION 6 Chair - Julian Henderson 09:30 - 10:00 Eleni Konstandinidi-Syvridi Hidden “Treasures” in the Storeroom of the Prehistoric Collection at the National

Archaeological Museum, Athens 10:00 – 10:30 Georg Nightingale The Mycenaean Scribes and the Craftsmen 10:30 – 11:00 Kalliopi Nikita Appraising the manufacturing capacity of the Mycenaean glass industry through

the production of blue glass 11:00 – 11:20 Discussion 11:20 – 11:40 Coffee Break SESSION 7 Chair - Kalliopi Nikita11:40 – 12:10 Elena Maragoudaki and Panayotis Kavouras Bow Drill: The First Mechanized Woodworking Tool 12:10 – 12:40 Fanouria Dakoronia and Petros Kounouclas Reconstructing Mycenaean Ship-building through Ceramic Production and

Iconography: The Evidence from Kynos 12:40 – 13:00 Discussion 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch SESSION 8 Chair - John Bennet 14:00 – 14:30 Konstantina Kaza A Mycenaean Workshop Installation at Kontopigado Alimou, Attica 14:30 – 15:00 Maria Emanuela Alberti Mycenaean Textile Industry: Production Tools and Specialization Issues 15:00 – 15:20 Discussion ENDNOTE Oliver Dickinson 15:20 – 15:30 Concluding Remarks 15:30 – 16:30 Refreshments

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Procurement, Process, Production: Materials and Industries in the Mycenaean World from Textual and Archaeological Perspectives

John Bennet, University of Sheffield, d.j.bennet@sheffield.ac.uk

Texts have the potential to shed light on materials and products rarely preserved in the Aegean archaeological record; they can also offer insights into the modes of production and the quantities of personnel involved and of materials or products. However, texts are not ubiquitous (or even widespread) in the Mycenaean world and the Linear B documents offer a perspective that is selective, both in their focus on palatial interests and in their choice of which aspects were singled out for recording. Moreover, the Linear B documents, by virtue of their accidental preservation, are effectively synchronic documents relating to a ‘moment’ in archaeological time, whereas archaeological data offer a diachronic, if not necessarily continuous, chronological sequence.

In this paper I argue that both sets of data — archaeological and textual — are essential to a more complete and nuanced understanding of materials and industries in the Mycenaean world. Combination and comparison, however, is not straightforward: while some elements are easily ‘matched’, in other cases the relationship can appear tense, even contradictory. I approach several ‘industries’ from the point of view of the processes involved — from procurement to distribution — and where the textual records are helpful, obscure or plain silent. Adopting a historical perspective, I argue that we can begin to understand how Mycenaean palatial authorities developed interests in managing them in different ways, depending on the processes involved and the relative novelty of the industry. I contrast those industries where activity was broadly distributed across the landscape and monitored in detail with those focused on the centres themselves, mentioned in a more tangential or laconic manner, if at all. Finally, I suggest certain products were uniquely ‘palatial’, defined by material, mode of manufacture, or by their composite nature (‘assembly’, rather than ‘production’). In the latter case, examination of one set of texts from Pylos sheds light on a Mycenaean administrator’s ‘emic’ appreciation of a set of high-status products reflecting multiple crafting activities.

INVITED SPEAKERS

SESSION 1

Petsas House and pottery: workshop demographics and production strategies in a settlement context

Kim Shelton, University of California, Berkeley, sheltonk@berkeley.edu

Using material from a decade of the Greek Archaeological Society's excavation at Mycenae in the structure known as "Petsas House", together with evidence from the 1950s excavation, a reconstruction is proposed for the demographics of a workshop and storage facility in the settlement of Mycenae by examining the architectural make-up and artefact remains.

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The complex structure, built and destroyed during the Late Helladic IIIA period, is comprised of habitation, industrial, and storage areas. From among the mass of destruction debris, impressive architectural remains, and piles of pottery, I examine the individual Mycenaean at work and at home within a late 14th-century B.C. settlement and workshop context. I discuss evidence for the use of the structure as a home by generations of family members, as an industrial installation by master potters and painters as well as their assistants, and as a ceramics market for the home, the tomb, the elite, and for export.

Examined are the creation and organization of space for a multi-use and multi-task structure, and especially the technical details of the ceramic craft that provide information for modes of production, organization of inventory, and individual elements of style. Based on the evidence for both mass production and the resulting standardization together with characteristic elements of personal choice and artistic flair, I analyze the relationship of the individual to the settlement, to the palace and its centralized administration, and to the world of trade, all within the social dimensions of pottery production.

Coil and Throw. Hybrid production techniques in Mycenaean palatial and post-palatial ceramic manufacture

Sara Strack, University of Leicester, ss614@leicester.ac.uk

Received wisdom regarding the introduction of the potters’ wheel in the Aegean during the Middle Bronze Age, the use of rotary kinetic energy in pot manufacture, and the organized production of Mycenaean-style pottery in specialized workshops, is increasingly being questioned. Technological studies, using a wide range of analytical techniques from macroscopy to X-radiography, petrography, SEM, etc., are demonstrating, on the one hand, that pottery production in the Mycenaean world and its periphery was rather diverse, and on the other hand that the hallmarks of specialist production, such as the use of the wheel or high firing temperatures in a well-controlled atmosphere, cannot be applied uncritically to Mycenaean pottery production.

In this paper, I will first examine evidence for the use of hybrid construction techniques, that is, the deployment of elements of hand-building and wheel-shaping in the same production series. Using specific case studies, the scope for identifying these hybrid techniques will be investigated, together with an attempt at defining specific production sequences of Mycenaean pottery of the palatial and post-palatial period. In a second step, the prevalence of particular ceramic chaînes-opératoires will be evaluated both spatially and diachronically. Third, this evidence will be used to highlighting the role of modes of production and organization of manufacture in the resilience of local/regional potting traditions in the period following the end of the Mycenaean palatial era.

SESSION 2

Ceramic Consumption at Kanakia: making choices in the Late Mycenaean Saronic Gulf

Peter M. Day, University of Sheffield, p.m.day@sheffield.ac.uk William Gilstrap, University of Sheffield, w.gilstrap@sheffield.ac.uk Vassilis Kilikoglou, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, Athens Christina Marabea, University of Ioannina Yannos Lolos, University of Ioannina

An integrated programme of macroscopic, chemical and petrographic analysis, conducted on ceramic material from the Late Helladic harbour town of Kanakia on Salamina, has shown that almost all the pottery assemblage from its dual acropolis was imported. With its two natural harbours and close

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proximity to both Attica and Corinthia, Kanakia is set in a prime location to establish economic ties with many of the important regions in central Mycenaean Greece. Primary amongst these are the nearby Mycenaean centres of Corinth, Mycenae and Athens. The size of the buildings, and the wealth of imported goods found atop the acropoleis, suggest that the residents of Kanakia exploited their prominent place along the trade routes in the Saronic Gulf to their benefit. In plain terms, Kanakia can be seen as an active consumer of goods imported from neighbouring lands and beyond.

In a period where political and economic power has often been measured by material and textual evidence for the centralised control and distribution of raw materials and finished products, Kanakia and its related sites in the Saronic Gulf offer enticing new evidence. Its inhabitants were knowledgeable consumers, making choices between a wealth of available ceramic goods, sometimes between similar pottery, in terms of style or affordance, from different craft centres. The pottery comes from nearby Attica, Aegina, Corinthia, the Argolid and even Crete.

In the case of some pottery centres, much is now known about the location and scale of craft practice, in some places thought to be on an industrial scale. It is within this world that settlements and individuals consume the products of surrounding centres, according to a range of choices.

With pottery distributions having been used to surmise the spatial reach of competing Mycenaean administrations, this new research provides the possibility of re-thinking the extent of movement of goods, including ceramics, most likely beyond immediate elite control. Different sorts of ceramic goods seems to have complementary distributions, while others overlap. It is this complex world of goods which offers insights into traditions and scale of craft production, into a landscape created from choice and practice, in what has previously been understood as “palatially controlled economy”. At the same time, Kanakia raises the possibility of new understandings of the relative importance on a variety of levels of Athens, Corinth and the Mycenaean centres of the Argolid.

Pottery Production at the Late Mycenaean site of Alimos, Attica

William D. Gilstrap, University of Sheffield, w.gilstrap@sheffield.ac.uk Peter M. Day, University of Sheffield, p.m.day@sheffield.ac.uk Konstantina Kaza, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, conkapa@yahoo.com Elina Kardamaki, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, University of Heidelberg, elkardamaki@yahoo.gr

Recent excavations at the site of Kontopigado in Alimos, Attica have uncovered a craft production site on a grand scale, five km from the Mycenaean settlement around the Acropolis of Athens. Dating to the end of the Mycenaean period in Attica, Late Helladic IIIB to Late Helladic IIIC early, the industrial installation at Alimos is one of the largest of its kind. In addition to an area of rock cut features, which may represent the processing of flax, the area of the settlement contains highly vitrified, over-fired ceramic kiln wasters, part of a potter’s wheel and perhaps the fragment from kiln lining, indicating the presence of ceramic manufacture.

The repertoire of pottery produced at the site has been characterised in terms of its shape, style and surface modification, along with its choice and manipulation of raw material, forming and firing. A range of plain and painted wares was produced, including table wares and a range of cooking and kitchen ware. In addition, a study of pottery consumed at the site brought to light imports from the nearby island of Aegina and Crete.

Study by thin section petrography and SEM have allowed a reconstruction of the technology used in the pottery’s production. Fabric for table wares, storage and cooking are all distinguished by different technological choices and in particular different clay recipes for the range of available raw materials. The nature of the Alimos cooking pottery is of interest not only because it co-exists at the site with the familiar cooking vessels produced at Aegina, but also because it perhaps reflects a difference in the type of cuisine it serves.

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A comparative study according to macroscopic fabric and thin-section petrography has indicated that the ceramics produced at Alimos are distributed widely in Attica, and around the Saronic Gulf. By observing patterns of distribution, we may be able to witness different choices made in the consumption of ceramics in varying social contexts, and thus illuminating the scale of production at Alimos.

Such a synthesis of production, patterns of distribution and consumption enables us to start examining the character of everyday acts of craft production, as well the relationship between a large-scale production centre, those who use its vessels, and the politico-economic landscape in which they exist.

SESSION 3

Insights into the Mycenaean pictorial vase painting technique: an assessment of the evidence from Mycenae

Vassiliki Pliatsika, Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, iphemedea@yahoo.com

Owing to a standardised iconographic repertoire, pictorial painting was not only a very distinctive style of Mycenaean pottery but also subject to experimentations and innovations (as revealed by unique decorative elements and particular painting manners). Earlier research has concentrated on style and iconography, on attributing specific works to individual painters and on the distribution of Mycenaean pictorial pottery in Cyprus and the Near East, whilst neutron activation analyses suggest that the Argolid was the main production centre. This paper addresses the question of the technical challenges encountered by the Mycenaean pictorial vase painters in their specialized industry, and the ways they devised to face them. The overall aim is to elucidate an issue – technical challenges - which has not yet attracted proper scholarly attention through the systematic examination of the pictorial pottery from Mycenae.

Solid pottery evidence allows us to consider the technical matters associated with the construction of a figurative scene on a Mycenaean vase, and more specifically the interrelationship amongst vessel form, available space and intended decoration, as well as the conceptualisation and execution of structurally complex compositions. A wealth of information regarding the earliest experimentations can be obtained from the analysis of ‘exceptional’ works, such as those done by children, naturalistic depictions beyond the standard conventions, determined endeavours to introduce polychromy and inventive tricks to achieve the third dimension. Mistakes, modifications, even erasures and the use of pottery painting tools of high accuracy are assessed, and help us in gaining useful insights into the painting process.

The analysis and assessment of the evidence for the pictorial vase painting technique leads to the appreciation of the skill and experience of painters in problem-solving and decision-making. It further illuminates the sophistication of the Mycenaean pictorial vase painting industry within the context of a well-established, but constantly evolving, Mycenaean painting tradition.

Purpose(s) of Manufacture and Meaning(s) of Mycenaean Figures and Figurines through Use-lives and Discard Patterns

Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, itzonou.corinth@ascsa.edu.gr

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Use-lives and discard patterns of Mycenaean figurines and figures are analyzed in order to infer intent and meaning behind their manufacture and use. Detailed contextual, spatial and artifactual, investigation of archaeological assemblages containing the objects shows distinct differences in their deposition and consequently in the ways they were perceived by the people who made them and used them.

Figures were excavated predominantly in primary deposits. Most of them were found in rooms with platforms, standing on them or in close proximity to them, or stored in areas associated with such rooms. It follows that figures have been uncovered and were thus employed in very structured, patterned and specific locations. Figurines on the other hand appear in a variety of use and discard deposits. They were buried with the dead, and those deposits are structured. The bulk of the figurines, however, were recycled as completely different objects or were outright discarded by their owners after their initial meaning and the purpose of their manufacture was no longer valid. Their deposition in household trash, in construction debris, terrace fills and mud-brick deposits, is random and un-patterned. No figures have been excavated in any of these types of contexts. No figures were used in Mycenaean houses or were deposited with the dead. Figures were rare, figurines ubiquitous. How figures were employed can help us infer the purpose of their manufacture. Figurines on the other hand had such a varied use-life that their purpose in manufacture is no longer easily traceable.

The diverse use-lives and discard patterns of these two types of artefacts underline the distinction between the private, ordinary and everyday on the one hand, and, on the other, the public and exceptional, the sacred and profane in Mycenaean life.

SESSION 4

Cypriot copper for the Mycenaean world

Lina Kassianidou, University of Cyprus, v.kassianidou@ucy.ac.cy

It is well known that some of the Cycladic islands once had rich copper ore deposits which were extensively exploited in the Early Bronze Age. A recent study, however, has shown that these deposits may have been exhausted by the Late Bronze Age. Where then did copper for the Aegean in this period come from? Although some have argued that copper was extracted from Laurion, a rich metalliferous area which is better known for its silver bearing lead ore deposits, the debate is still open. Cyprus is in fact a much better candidate. Even today the island is considered to be one of the richest countries in copper per surface area in the world and in Antiquity it was such an important source for the metal that in the 1st century AD Pliny the Elder stated that copper metal was discovered on Cyprus. We now know that this is not correct, nevertheless, the statement illuminates the importance of Cypriot copper even at the dawn of the first millennium AD when the Roman Empire ruled over so many other important mining regions.

The production and trade of Cypriot copper on a large scale in fact begins in the Late Bronze Age. During the 13th century which roughly corresponds to the LCIIC period, the copper industry reaches its zenith. That the copper industry is booming is clearly seen by the fact that all excavated LCIIC sites have produced a wealth of archaeo-metallurgical finds. Furthermore, both the archaeological and the textual evidence show that in this period Cyprus was one of the main sources of copper for the Eastern Mediterranean. The discovery in some Mycenaean sites of oxhide ingots and oxhide ingot fragments which according to the Lead Isotope Analysis are consistent with a Cypriot provenance seems to support the idea that Cyprus was also an important copper source for the Mycenaean world. The plethora of Mycenaean pottery on the island indicates that the trade relations between Cyprus and the Aegean were tight in this period. The scope of this paper is to investigate the trade of Cypriot copper and the role it played for the Mycenaean bronze industry.

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Standards of Standardisation: the Relationships between Crafting, Consumption and Decoration on Mycenaean Metal Vessels

Stephanie Aulsebrook, University of Cambridge, sja46@cam.ac.uk

Although the best known decorated metal vessels include examples such as the gold cups from the tholos at Vapheio with scenes of bull-catching, or the silver conical rhyton with siege iconography from the shaft graves at Mycenae, vessels in a wide range of shapes and materials were decorated. In contrast to these famous specimens, their ornamentation could be highly standardised in motif and location on the vessel. The exact form of this standardisation is often connected to the shape and material of the vessels. The intention of my paper is to demonstrate how this standardisation in metal vessel decoration was structured and question why multiple approaches to decoration for this group of objects existed in the Mycenaean world.

Standardisation can be viewed from the perspective of both production and consumption. It is often characterised as a technique employed by specialists in the search for greater efficiency. The ability to produce standardisation at this level of detail for metal vessels is linked to some extent to the use of casting, which makes the process of creating repeated motifs much simpler than on stone or ceramic. Yet the relationship between the use of casting in metal vessels and their mode of decoration is not so simple, and decisions on crafting techniques, ornament and shape were closely bound together to produce different types of standardisation in decoration.

However, vessels with standardised decoration had to be desired and accepted by their consumers as well. This issue will be explored by investigating the particular case study of the lekane, a shape that was developed relatively late in Mycenaean societies and has differing levels of standardisation for its shape, size, material and decoration. It is hypothesised that one form of ornament standardisation, which increased in frequency over time, is linked to the establishment of metal vessel dining sets in a wider range of households than previously possible.

SESSION 5

Hidden ‘treasures’ in the storeroom of the Prehistoric Collection at the National Archaeological Museum

Eleni Konstantinidi-Syvridi, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, ekonstant09@gmail.com

The paper aims to present new evidence on gold-working techniques applied in the Mycenaean times, as seen on jewellery and minor arts pieces currently kept in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The specific pieces have been selected from the storerooms of the Museum and they include broken, malformed, semi-worked or accidents/experiments of manufacture, on the basis of two criteria: first, absence of any previous conservation or cleaning with modern means (therefore we have at our disposal the authentic surface), and secondly, preservation/indication of tool traces (and, in a few cases, of textile imprints).

Those pieces, condemned to remain hidden in the storerooms, unseen by the public, can provide invaluable information on a variety of techniques and stages of manufacture. The least known technique of all, that had nevertheless numerous applications during the Mycenaean times, is coating various materials with gold foil: among others items, the paper focuses on gold coated bone “buttons” from Mycenae Grave Circle A (16th cent. BC), impressed with curvilinear designs, some of which preserve traces of organic glue between the layers of gold and bone, as well as on the fragment of a bone sword pommel from a tomb in Midea, Argolid (15th cent. BC), where gold foil seems to have

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been applied in the form of minute bands “nailed” into the bone, in order to give the impression of a mosaic, not visible with naked eye.

The examination of the selected artefacts through magnification or X-ray image at the Laboratories of the Museum provide evidence on the advanced technological skills of the Mycenaean craftsmen and help us further reconstruct gold working techniques of the period.

The Mycenaean scribes and the craftsmen

Georg Nightingale, University of Salzburg, Fachbereich Altertumswissenschaften, Georg.Nightingale@sbg.ac.at

When we want to know more about the craftsmen in Late Bronze Age Greece two sets of evidence are available. On the one hand there are the archaeological finds, workshops as well as the products of these craftsmen; on the other hand there are the texts of the Linear B-tablets. Both sets of evidence allow an indirect view only on the craftsmen. The main problem with the texts is the purpose they were written for. The scribes (and the palace official directing them) were above all interested in the running of the palace system. Mostly this meant to keep a check on incoming goods and objects produced by craftsmen and on raw materials and food rations being handed out to ensure the further working of the palace system. The result of these characteristics of the texts is that only a part of the Mycenaean crafts are visible. Though, the quantity of the information available for Late Bronze Age Greece still surpasses what we know about crafts and craftsmen in most of the first millennium BC Greece. Around the example of the production of glass and faïence beads and of related crafts the available information will be discussed and compared with levels of technology (which can be deduced from the objects themselves). It will be tried to assess the impact of technology on the Mycenaean society and to what extent technology was important for the palace system, or to what extent it was used by the palatial system for its aims. Glass and faïence are especially interesting as potentially the palatial administration was able to control the import or local production of the raw materials, the production and the nature of the objects, and of the distribution or restriction of distribution of the beads and other objects. Thus glass and faïence were presumably the palace’s own luxury material which it totally controlled.

Appraising the manufacturing capacity of the Mycenaean glass industry through the production of blue glass

Kalliopi Nikita, University of Nottingham, kalliopi.nikita@nottingham.ac.uk

This paper aims to appraise the manufacturing capacity of the Mycenaean glass industry. Scientific examination and contextual analysis of blue glass are used as means of understanding production tasks and purposes, standardisation, specialisation, and inadequacies. The context of investigation comprises jewellery workshops of the palace at Thebes as well as cemeteries at Thebes and the northern Mycenaean periphery. Compositional and isotopic analysis were used to examine moulded relief plaques and simple common beads of dark blue and turquoise glass covering the period from the Early Mycenaean to the Post-palatial times. Copper and cobalt blue glasses are compared with the published analyses for Late Bronze Age Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Italian glasses.

The absence (as yet) of any recognised remains of glass making and the obscurity of glass-working areas are the main obstacles for determining whether this industry involved the primary or secondary production of glass. I propose to make some progress on this issue by modelling the development of blue glass industry from a secondary to a primary mode of production in the transition from LH IIIB:1 to IIIB:2 on the basis of evidence from palatial Thebes. The main bulk of the typical Mycenaean blue glass ornaments fall into the well-established plant-ash technology of the mid-second millennium BC.

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Characteristic variations in the contents of plant-ash glasses from Thebes of a LH IIIB date suggest the use of local halophytes. The isotopic ratios of strontium and neodymium confirm the importation of plant-ash glass from Mesopotamia and Egypt. A wide range of mineral sources were detected in typical Mycenaean cobalt blue glasses.

The infrequent occurrence of non-blue glasses in Mycenaean contexts suggests either a restricted supply from alien glass industries or a technological inadequacy for making non-blue glass ornaments, or simply an aesthetic indifference to non-blues. Based on the overall archaeological evidence, I suggest that the Mycenaean predilection for blue glass ornaments led to the increased standardisation of blue glass production, which was in turn facilitated by the existence of a well-established technological tradition suitable for fulfilling specific purposes and aesthetic preferences. The use of particular techniques (winding and mostly moulding) in the making of blue glass ornaments strongly supports the view that the Mycenaean glass industry underwent standardization and, thus, a move towards mass production, accompanied by exceptional craft specialization (as seen in the cases of enamelling and gold-wrapping).

SESSION 6

Bow drill: the first mechanized woodworking tool

Elena Maragoudaki , Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, emaragoudaki@yahoo.com

Panayiotis Kavouras, Wood Anatomy and Technology Laboratory, Forest Research Institute, Athens,

The bow drill can be regarded as the first step in the mechanization of woodworking. There is a wide range of written, pictorial and archaeological evidence for its utilisation in furniture making and shipbuilding, although in most cases only the bronze drill bit has survived and its shape is unclear due to extensive wear. Moreover, given the perishable nature of wood, the wooden components have not been preserved. As a result, important questions about the function, evolution and the degree of specialisation of the bow drill remain as yet unanswered.

This paper offers an approach to these questions based on the evaluation of the Late Bronze Age woodworking bow drill, and by making use of qualitative (hole side quality, boring accuracy, hole shape), quantitative (drill bit penetration speed) and ergonomic criteria (user fatigue). Careful examination of the extant archaeological evidence included a detailed collection and recording of data and its further classification, which in turn allowed proposed reconstructions of certain drill types. The overall datasets provided the basis for undertaking experimentation by reconstructing the drill, and testing its working performance in the drilling operation for shipbuilding and furniture making. Two simulated cases are presented, compared and discussed in this paper, namely the peg locked tenons of the hull of the Uluburun shipwreck (regarded as a breakthrough, as far as the hull construction is concerned), and the wooden table from the Shaft grave V of the Circle A at Mycenae (MN 890), the only surviving sample of Mycenaean wooden furniture.

The study demonstrates that - owing to its unique mechanical properties - the bow drill played a significant role in woodworking, as one of the most fundamental tools for the pegged mortise-and-tenon joinery technique. The chief mechanical characteristics of the bow drill that made it an efficient woodworking tool suitable for massive production, were the advanced diamond-shaped drill bit (which could be sharpened alternatively on each side so as to cut while pulling) combined with a user-friendly angled bow (which offered a smooth reciprocating drill bit movement).

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Reconstructing Mycenaean Ship-Building through Ceramic Production and Iconography: The Evidence from Kynos

Fanouria Dakoronia, Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, Fanouria@mycosmos.gr

Petros Kounouclas, Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, pkounouclas@hotmail.com

The ship-building and sailing ability of the Mycenaeans used to be disputed by various scholars until the relevant evidence from Kynos appeared and made both undeniable.

The current paper aims to reconstruct Mycenaean ship-building by following an affluently contextual approach based on a careful examination of ceramic production and iconography as this is offered through the rich evidence of Kynos.

The settlement of Kynos in Eastern Lokris has yielded abundant and unique Late Helladic IIIC middle pictorial pottery. This pottery evidences a wide range of representations of distinctive topics associated with maritime activities. The iconography of Kynos’ pictorial pottery has provided a great wealth of information about ship-building technology such as types of vessels, methods of construction, means of propulsion, and equipment. Clay boat models offer further corroborative evidence for ship-building. That the people at Kynos were well-aware of how to make use of advanced ship-building techniques is shown not only by the aforementioned evidence but also by a wide array of several other finds such as bronze tools, lead laminae, stone weights and anchors.

A careful evaluation and comparative study of the overall evidence from Kynos reveals that the Mycenaeans were aware of sophisticated ship-building principles and techniques. They built distinctive types of vessels suitable to various activities (i.e. war-ship, fishing boats, merchant-men, and transport-ship) a fact that helped them to exploit the resources of the sea. As the ancient textual sources inform us (such as Linear B tablets, Homeric poems, Thucydides), they were also engaged with naval conflicts and piracy.

The evidence from Kynos makes a significant contribution to our understanding about ship-building technology and it further helps us gain useful insight into how ship-building can be reconstructed given the scarcity of actual ship remains dating to the Mycenaean era.

SESSION 7

A Mycenaean Workshop Installation at Kontopigado Alimou, Attica

Konstantina Kaza, Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports, conkapa@yahoo.com

Recent rescue excavations in Alimos, Attica, have revealed important remains from the Mycenaean period. Two locations have been excavated in the Kontopigado area, which is located in the north-eastern part of the municipality of Alimos, c. 5km south of the centre of Athens. Three excavations in plots along Vouliagmeni Avenue uncovered building remains belonging to an extensive settlement, and a further investigation in advance of the construction of the “Alimos” Metro station has brought to light a workshop area 300m south of the settlement.

The latter installation, mainly cut into the rock, comprises a very substantial area for the processing of materials. Its date is firmly Mycenaean, from the LH III B2 to the early LH IIIC, in an area which later sees Classical activity (namely, in the late fourth century). The availability of plentiful supplies of water from the wells which give the site its name explains the location of the craft activities that took place here. These, along with water provided by the numerous torrents descending from the

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nearby mountain of Hymettos, provided a copious supply to the rock cut channels that featured in the craft activity.

Covering an estimated 3000 m2, the site consists of a system of broad channels, approximately 1.5m in width and c. 30-50cm deep, arranged parallel to each other, joined by cuttings and rock-cut basins which interconnect the channels. The whole design of the installation seems to be based on ensuring a continuous flow of water, although it should be noted that its borders were not found within the confines of this extensive excavation. There was also an area of flat rock which appears to have been used as a surface for hammering or crushing material with stones.

While our study of this area is still on-going, it is suggested that this newly discovered large workshop was dedicated to the working of flax, with the area used to process the fibres in flowing water, known as ‘stream retting’. The fibres thus separated from the woody part of the plant, would have been used to manufacture linen products.

The siting of such a large production area, in close proximity to the pottery production centre and a settlement, but only 5 km from the substantial Mycenaean settlement around the Athenian Acropolis, in turn raises questions regarding the links of such an installation with Mycenaean administration.

Mycenaean textile industry: production tools and specialization issues

Maria Emanuela Alberti, University of Sheffield, m.alberti@sheffield.ac.uk

Mycenaean textile production is well-known from Linear B sources, but far less from actual archaeological evidence. In recent times, especially thanks to the activity of the Centre for Textile Research of Copenhagen, the knowledge on the topic has increased, though the amount of published materials remains limited. It is nowadays clear how the Mycenaean material record is generally different from both the Middle Helladic and the Minoan one, suggesting some form of discontinuity and isolation (?) of the local technological development. Equally puzzling is the poor attestation of loom-weights proper in the published records, in comparison with the large amount of spindle-whorls of various types – a feature that seems to change only in the last part of the palatial phase, with the recurrent adoption of the so-called “spool-shaped” loom-weights, a Mediterranean-wide phenomenon.

It has to be kept in mind that the dimensions and weight of spindle-whorls and loom-weights can provide important indications on the types of threads that were spinned, and the types of textiles that were woven at one place. It is thus highly significant that Mycenaean spindle-whorls occur in a wide range of materials, shapes and dimensions, suggesting the actual manufacture of threads (and thus possibly textiles) of different types, in agreement with what emerges from the textual evidence. Unfortunately, the data provided from other categories of textile tools (such as loom-weights, weaver’s points, etc) are globally less numerous and so less informative.

On this ground, some study cases from Thebes, Tiryns and Nichoria will be illustrated, looking for possible specialized assemblages (workshops?). As for Thebes, the results of a collective international project that took place last year (Mycenaean Textiles. Texts and Contexts: The Evidence from the Kadmeia of Thebes, 9th Ephorate P.C.A. – Θ’ Εφορεία Π.Κ.Α,; CTR - Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen; CNRS, UMR 7041, Nanterre) seem to confirm in some cases such kind of specialization.

ENDNOTE SPEAKER

Concluding Remarks

Oliver TPK Dickinson, otpkdickinson@googlemail.com