IISEMG - Investigate Intermediate Structures in the Economy of Mycenaean Greece (1400 - 1200 BCE) through Archaeological and Textual Data
Maria Emanuela Alberti
Marie Sklowdoska Curie IEF Fellowship - FP 7
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield
People – Marie Curie Action
Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)
Call: FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
Marie Curie IEF Fellow:
Dr. Maria Emanuela Alberti
Scientist in Charge:
Prof. John Bennet
The nature and organisation
of the Mycenaean citadels
"Je ne souhaite pas discuter ici l’organisation de l’agglomération de Mycènes, mais sa nature même. (Darcque 2005b, 27) »
What was the nature of the main Mycenaean settlements? Were they normal towns with common dwellings or palatial organisms for the administration of a wider territory?
These are the questions raised by the most recent scholarship that the project answers.
The critical review of the material and textual evidence from the two main Mycenaean sites of Thebes and Mycenae allows a reconstruction of the global economic and functional organisation of the two sites
In the framework of the long-standing debate on the structure of the Mycenaean economy (Greece, c. 1400 – 1200 BC) (e.g. Killen & Voutsaki 2001; Rougemont 2009; Galaty et alii 2011; Parkinson et alii 2013), the program aims to study the economic organisation of the Mycenaean citadels as a whole, with special focus of the recently identified “Intermediate Units” (Darcque 2005).
An integrated approach is used, combining the evidence from both archaeological documentation and written sources of the period (Linear B texts). The intent is to overcome the traditional divide between studies that deal separately with the archaeological evidence or with the administrative texts.
Mycenae: Circle A and 'Ivory Houses' from the citadel
(photo M.E. Alberti)
Essential bibliography:
Alberti et alii 2012 - M.E. Alberti, M.E., V. Aravantinos, M. Del Freo, Y. Fappas, A. Papadaki & F. Rougemont. 2012., “Textile Production in Mycenaean Thebes. A First Overview”, in M.-L. Nosch & R. Laffineur (eds.), Kosmos. Jewellery, Adornment and Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age, 13th International Aegean Conference, University of Copenhagen, 19-22 April 2010 (Aegaeum 33), Liège 2012, 87-105.
Bendall 2003 -, L.M. Bendall,2003. “A Reconsideration of the Northeastern Building at Pylos: Evidence for a Mycenaean Redistributive Center”, AJA 107/2 (2003),:181-232.
Bennet 2007 –, J. Bennet2007., “The Aegean Bronze Age”, in I. Morris, R. Saller & W. Scheidel (eds), The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge 2007, 175-210.
Clancier et alii 2005 – Ph. Clancier, Ph., F. Joannès, P. Rouillard, A. Tenu (éds.) 2005., Autour de Polanyi. Vocabulaires, théories et modalités des échanges, Paris 2005.
Darcque 2005 – P. Darcque, P. 2005. L’habitat mycénien. Formes et functions de l’espace bâti en Grèce continentale à la fin du IIe millénaire avant J.-C. (BEFAR 319), Paris 2005.
Finley 1957 - M.L. Finley, M.L. 1957. “The Mycenaean Tablets and Economic History”, in Economic History Review 10, 1957,: 128-141.
Galaty & Parkinson 1999 - M.L. Galaty, M.L. & W.A. Parkinson (eds.)
, Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces. New Interpretations of an Old Idea (The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles Monograph 41), Los Angeles 1999.
Galaty & Parkinson 2007 - M.L. Galaty & W.A. Parkinson (eds.),. Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces II (The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles Monograph 60), Los Angeles 2007.
Killen 2008 - J.T. Killen, J.T. 2008. “Mycenaean Economy”, in Y. Duhoux & A. Morpurgo Davies (eds.), A Companion to Linear B. Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World, vol. 1 (BCILL 120), Louvain-la-Neuve 2008, 159-200.
Nakassis et alii 2011 – D. Nakassis, D., W.A. Parkinson & M.L. Galaty (eds.) 2011, . “Redistribution in Aegean Palatial Societies”, Forum, AJA 115 (2011),: 177-244.
Polanyi 1957 –K. Polanyi, K. 1957. “The economy as an Instituted Process”, in K. Polanyi, C.M. Arsensberg, & H.W. Pearson (eds.), Trade and Markets in the Early Empires. Economies in History and Theory, New York 1957, 243-270.
Shelmerdine 1997 – C. Shelmerdine, C.W. 1997. “Workshops and Record Keeping in the Myceanean World”, in R. Laffineur & Ph.P. Betancourt (eds.), TEXNH. Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age, Proceedings of the 6th International Aegean Conference, Philadelphia 18-21 April 1996 (Aegaeum 16), Liège 1997, II, 387-389.
Shelmerdine 1999 – C. Shelmerdine, C.W. 1999. “A Comparative Look at Mycenaean Administration(s)”, in S. Deger Jalkotzy, S. Hiller & O. Panagl (eds.), Floreant Studia Mycenaea. Akten des X. internationalen mykenologischen Colloquiums in Salzburg vom 1-5 mai 1995, WienVienna 1999, II, 556-576.
Tournavitou 1995 – I. Tournavitou, I. 1995. The ‘Ivory Houses’ at Mycenae (BSA Suppl. 24), London 1995.
Voutsaki & Killen 2001 - S. Voutsaki, S. & J. Killen (eds.) 2001., Economy and Politics in the Mycenaean Palace States. Proceedings of a Conference held on 1-3 July 1999 in the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge (Cambridge Philological Society Suppl. 27), Cambridge 2001.