84 research outputs found
Further Observations on Shapes, Inscriptions, and Functions of Neopalatial Nodules and Noduli
No full textThis paper stems from a study carried out by the author on the Neopalatial sealings housed in two Italian museums, namely the National Archaeological Museum of Florence and the National Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum “L. Pigorini” in Rome. The major aim of this project was the application of digital technologies for the virtual representation and reconstruction of Aegean sealings. Reflections on shapes, inscriptions and functions of Neopalatial sealings, which emerged from this kind of study, are here presented
The Conceptualization of Measuring and Counting in the Bronze Age Aegean
No full textThis paper examines the textual evidence for categories related to counting,
weighing and measuring commodities in the Aegean societies. On the ground of a
comparative and diachronic study, changes throughout the Middle and the Late Bronze
Age will be outlined. It will be argued that different and autonomous measurement
systems coexisted and possibly had their own internal and distinct developments until
the Mycenaean Era, when a great effort was put into reducing the range of weight and
measurement units. Moreover, the widely shared opinion that Linear B record system
implies special units of weight for wool and cloths will be questioned. Some attempts
to recognise in the archaeological record evidence for concrete counting in the Late
Bronze Age Aegean will be collected and reviewed in the last section. The final outcome
is that one–to–one counting and counters were still used when writing had been already
well established
Luoghi per lavorare, pregare, morire. Edifici e maestranze edili negli interessi delle élites micenee
No full textPlaces to work, pray and die: Buildings and Builders under the Mycenaean elites.
Mycenaean architecture is a topic widely investigated by archaeologists, from typological and/or technological and/or artistic perspectives and, more recently, from the socio-economic point of view. Nevertheless, Linear B texts had not been yet
explored with the aim of recovering information about this topic. The present study is aimed at filling this gap. It gathers and fully analyses all terms and expressions which refer to buildings (chap. I), builders (chap. III), and supplies of building materials (chap. IV) in Linear B texts. Besides the philological discussion, textual evidence is compared with the related archaeological remains. Because the vast majority of buildings mentioned in the Linear B documents is linked to the religious sphere, all Mycenaean buildings with certain or possible religious functions are collected and discussed in chap. II. Finally, chap. V collects and discusses archaeological evidence of the workforce involved in the construction of monumental structures (i.e. intended for ruling elites), such as tholos tombs, palaces, fortification walls in Cyclopean masonry, roads, bridges and dams, with the aim of detecting work phases, the different tasks required and the builders’ social make-up
Mobility to, from and within Neopalatial Crete: The Evidence from the Sealings
No full textThis paper focuses on the occurrence of sealings impressed by the same seal faces or by very similar seal faces at different archaeological sites in LM I. 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 in Crete (Knossos, Sklavokambos, Hagia Triada, Gournia, Zakros, and Chania) and outside Crete (Akrotirion 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
Wool-spinning, Bronze-working, and the Peculiarities of Mycenaean ta-ra-si-ja
No full textThis paper deals with the wool and bronze industries related to a peculiar production system termed ta-ra-si-ja on some Linear B texts. These are contrasted to the perfume industry, with the aim of outlining the peculiarities of the Mycenaean ta-ra-si-ja and the social status of smiths and weavers. For contextual and etymological reasons it is argued that the term ta-ra-si-ja /tala(n)siā/ indicates a production procedure directly organized by the central administration. This system entailed the weighing of certain amounts of wool and bronze, which would have been supplied to weavers and smiths in order to be processed into finished products, and finally returned to the Palace. The central administration also ran an important perfume industry, but in the related records the term ta-ra-si-ja never appears. In my opinion, this is because the term ta-ra-si-ja doesn't fit with the raw materials involved, i.e. olive oil and spices, which were not weighed, but measured.
The main conclusions are: 1) The word ta-ra-si-ja indicated the wool- and bronze-working, because wool and bronze were materials subjected to weight control; 2) ta-ra-si-ja work was carried out in areas peripheral to the Palace; 3) Social status and number of people involved in textile production and metalworking were directly proportional to the value of the raw materials they worked with: as wool was more common and less valuable material than bronze, so larger and more humble was the workforce involved in its manufacture. The weavers were low-social-level workers, totally dependent on the Palace, which worked at home. Instead, the smiths were autonomous and mid-social-level craftsmen, obliged to provide regular “corvée” working at the place of residence; 4) The ta-ra-si-ja involved an extensive production system. On the whole, such a system had a high economic range comparable to that of perfumed oil production, but shared among a much larger and decentralized staff, who were supplied regularly with low quantities of raw materials.
Summing up, I believe that the main characteristics of the ta-ra-si-ja work were: 1) the weight control of the materials, 2) the fact that it was a work carried out at home, but centrally managed, and 3) the extensive system of production
Contare a Haghia Triada. Le tavolette in lineare A, i documenti sigillati e il sistema economico-amministrativo nel TM IB
No full textThe volume, which has been published with the generous financial support of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), Philadelphia, offers the first comprehensive study of the Linear A archival documents from the Cretan site of Hagia Triada. The 147 clay tablets and the more than 1,000 sealings found in the excavation at the beginning of the last century and dating to the 15th century BC still constitute the largest assemblage of archival documents in the Neopalatial period and represent the fundamental starting point for any attempt of interpretation of the Minoan economy. Through a careful analysis of their textual, palaeographic and sphragistic features, as well as their respective archaeological contexts and patterns of distribution, the author tries to reconstruct the contents and functions of the individual archival deposits found both in the Villa and the rest of the settlement. A special attention in this process is paid to the roles and status of the people involved in sealing and writing practices, in an attempt to understand how much the individuals responsible for accounting also “counted” in an economic, political and social sense. Finally, the results of this analysis are compared with the Messara archaeological data, in order to draw an updated picture of the settlement dynamics in the region, with a special attention to the relationship between Hagia Triada and the Phaistos palace
Scene di prothesis e di deposizione a Creta e sul continente greco in età micenea
No full textThis paper deals with the depictions of two specific moments of the Late Bronze Age III funeral ritual: the exposure of the deceased (prothesis), and his or her subsequent deposition in the coffin.
In the body of the Aegean figurative art, such depictions are admittedly rare, both on Crete and the Mainland.
The author analyzes a total of eight images. Five are painted on four clay coffins (larnakes), the other three on pottery sherds. Among the depictions on larnakes, four have been recognized as funeral scenes since the date of their first publication, while one is interpreted as a prothesis scene here for the first time. As to the pottery, we have three sherds dating back to the LH IIIC period: on two of them we can easily recognise depictions of prothesis, while the comparison between the image painted on the third and the prothesis scenes painted on the previous two sherds is only tentative.
The paper ends with a brief account of a few similarities between Mycenaean and Geometric depictions of funeral rituals
Classification, Use and Function of Hanging Nodules in the Neopalatial Administrative Practices (Minoan Crete)
No full textClay sealings are administrative devices well attested in the Aegean during the entire Bronze Age. Their shapes, characteristics and function change through time and, at least until the last phase of the Late Bronze Age, are in part still poorly defined. As for the Neopalatial period, almost all the available material dates to LM I and is grouped in four main types, conventionally called noduli, roundels, flat-based nodules and hanging nodules. The present paper focuses on the hanging nodules, which are in turn divided into Single-hole hanging nodules (also called sting-end nodules) and Two-hole hanging nodules (also called string nodules). Since the evidence at our disposal is inconsistent, its interpretation largely depends on the way in which data have been collected. My goal here is to suggest some adjustments in the classification methodology, and to highlight possible relationships among different types of documents according to the archaeological contexts in which they have been found
Allotments of HORD and VIN to Carpenters (te-ka-ta-si) at Thebes (TH Fq 247, Gp 112, 114, 147, 175)
No full textThis paper examines the allocations of cereals and wine to carpenters recorded on the Linear B tablets from Thebes.
Firstly, the attestations of term te-ka-ta-si /tektasi/, dative plural from te-ko-to /tekton/ “carpenter”, are reviewed. Carpenters appear as recipients of HORD (barley or, more probably, wheat) on tablet Fq 247, and wine on tablets Gp 112, 114, 147 and 175. Two main reasons are presented why it is likely that they were carpenters employed in building rather than in ship construction: 1) the term seems to be attested also in two tablets from Pylos along with masons, 2) in Linear B we have another term for “ship builder”, na-u-do-mo. Secondly, I discuss the main reasons why it is likely that the supplies of HORD and wine recorded on such tablets from Thebes were provided during religious ceremonies. Thirdly, records of supplies of HORD and wine to carpenters are thoroughly analyzed with the aim of suggesting how many carpenters are recorded, how much each of them receives and what can be inferred about their social status.
The number of carpenters is never specified, but, because in Fq 247 they receive 4 sub-measures Z of HORD, we can suggest that the carpenters were either two or four. If they were four, each of them would receive HORD Z 1, i.e. 0.4 l of barely/wheat. Such an amount of barley/wheat is likely equivalent to one meal on subsistence rations. Despite the incomplete documents and the great variability in the amount of wine distributed to each individual or group in the Gp series, it is possible to infer a hierarchy of recipients based on the frequency of attestation and the amount received. Moreover, such a great variability prevents the interpretation of these distributions of wine as standard, regular payments. Since carpenters occupy the fourth position in frequency and received good amounts of wine (with a maximum of VIN 4+ in Gp147.2), a luxury item, probably during religious ceremonies, we can conclude that they enjoyed a relatively high social position in Mycenaean society and/or that people who worked for the Palace and participated at the feasts were exceptionally skilled workers
Alcune riflessioni sugli ἀνδρεῖα e sulle ἀγέλαι cretesi
No full textThe present study offers a comparative analysis of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources concerning Cretan andreia and aghelai, from the second half of the VII century B.C. to the beginning of the II century B.C. The term "andreion" indicates the institution of common meals ("syssitia"), the buildings in which they took place, and the associations ("etairiai") of citizens. "Aghelai" are associations of aristocratic boys 17-20 years old. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the function, the management and the socio-economic implications of these two social aggregation forms. From the late-archaic to the first part of the Hellenistic period, the andreia seem to have been supplied, in part, with public funds to which contributions from the perioikoi and citizens were added; in part, with the amounts that every citizen paid directly to the andreion of which he was a member. Such permeability between minor and major units of Cretan society (politai – andreia – polis) is reflected in the pedagogic organisations too. The andreion represented, in fact, the main place for the education of the paides and the reference frame for the aghelai. This system provided a military education based on the private initiative of its most illustrious citizens. The author argues that, at least in the main cities, such as Lyttos and Gortys, so many syssitia as etairiai likely took place until the III century B.C. Then the polis should have gradually assumed also the socio-economic aspects of the organisations, such as the andreia and the aghelai, which were traditionally located in a cross position between the community and the private initiative. The unification of the syssitia of the eteriai in a unique andreion of the polis is attested at the beginning of the II century B.C. In the last part of the paper, the archaeological evidence for the andreia is reviewed. At the present stage of the field research in Crete, no building is recognizable with certainty as an andreion, but we can suggest its requirements were satisfied by complexes with specialized areas, with one or more halls for male banquets distinguished from rooms for the storage and preparation of food
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