Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of IdentityThe impact of long-distance exchange on the developing cultures of Bronze Age Greece has been a subject of debate since Schliemann's discovery of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae. In Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity, Bryan E. Burns offers a new understanding of the effects of Mediterranean trade on Mycenaean Greece by considering the possibilities represented by the traded objects themselves in their Mycenaean contexts. A range of imported artifacts were distinguished by their precious material, uncommon style, and foreign writing, signaling their status as tangible evidence of connections beyond the Aegean. The consumption of these exotic symbols spread beyond the highest levels of society and functioned as symbols of external power sources. Burns argues that the consumption of exotic items thus enabled the formation of alternate identities and the resistance of palatial power. |
Contents
Consumer Cultures | 3 |
Exchange in the Bronze Age Mediterranean | 9 |
Assessing Individual Imports | 20 |
Acts of Consumption and the Materialization | 29 |
An Overview of Imported Objects in Mycenaean | 36 |
Internal and External Perspectives | 66 |
Imports in the Early Mycenaean Period | 73 |
Crafting Power Through Import | 105 |
Local Networks Employing Foreign Goods | 119 |
Import Consumption in Palatial Centers | 130 |
Funerary Consumption and Competition | 163 |
Individual and Communal Identities | 171 |
Late Helladic IIIA Tombs as Places of Celebration | 179 |
Continued and Concentrated Tomb Use in Late | 186 |
References | 197 |
241 | |
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Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity Bryan E. Burns No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
activity administration Aegean analysis Anatolia appear archaeological Argolid artifacts associated Athens Austin Bronze Age Building burial Cambridge carved centers central Chamber Tomb Circle citadel Cline connections consumption contexts crafting cultural deposit described developed early east eastern economic Egypt Egyptian evidence example excavations exchange exotic fact faience fig figures finds foreign fragments further glass gold Greece Greek Helladic House identified imported indicate individual interpreted ivory Knossos lapis lazuli Late Bronze Age Li`ege Linear London manufacture material meaning Mediterranean Messenia Minoan Museum Mycenae Mycenaean objects origins ornaments palace palatial perhaps period pieces plaque political possible preserved production Pylos range regional remains represent Room Schliemann scholars Shaft Grave significant similar single social Society specific status stone Studies style suggested symbols tablets texts tion Tiryns tombs trade University Press various vessels