Introduction

Reinhard Jung – Eleftheria Kardamaki (eds.) Synchronizing the Destructions of the Mycenaean Palaces ÖSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE DENKSCHRIFTEN, 546. BAND AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Austrian Archaeological Institute Department Prehistory & West Asian / Northeast African Archaeology Mykenische Studien Volume 36 Series Editors: Reinhard Jung – Michaela Zavadil Publications Coordinator: Ulrike Schuh Reinhard Jung – Eleftheria Kardamaki (eds.) Synchronizing the Destructions of the Mycenaean Palaces Accepted by the Publication Committee of the Division of Humanities and the Social Sciences of the Austrian Academy of Sciences: Michael Alram, Andre Gingrich, Hermann Hunger, Sigrid Jalkotzy-Deger, Renate Pillinger, Franz Rainer, Oliver Jens Schmitt, Danuta Shanzer, Peter Wiesinger, Waldemar Zacharasiewicz Published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 890-Z This publication is licenced – unless otherwise indicated – under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate any modifications. Cover illustration: Tiryns, citadel, as seen from the west (photo © R. Jung) This publication was subject to international and anonymous peer review. Peer review is an essential part of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press evaluation process. Before any book can be accepted for publication, it is assessed by international specialists and ultimately must be approved by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Publication Committee. The paper used in this publication is DIN EN ISO 9706 certified and meets the requirements for permanent archiving of written cultural property. Some rights reserved. ISBN: 978-3-7001-8877-3 Copyright © Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2022 English language editing: Nicola Wood Layout: Crossdesign, Graz Printing: Prime Rate, Budapest https://epub.oeaw.ac.at/8877-3 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at Made in Europe Table of Contents Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Reinhard Jung – Michaela Zavadil Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Reinhard Jung – Eleftheria Kardamaki Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Kim Shelton On Shaky Ground: Petsas House and Destruction at Mycenae in LH IIIA2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Soňa Wirghová Turning Points in the Ceramic Sequence of the Northern Tip of the Lower Citadel at Tiryns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Eleni Andrikou Kadmeia, Thebes: The Pottery from a Storeroom Destroyed at the End of the Mycenaean Palatial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Salvatore Vitale – Sharon R. Stocker – Jack L. Davis The Destructions of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos and Its LH IIIA Predecessor as a Methodological Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Cynthia W. Shelmerdine Pottery and Stratigraphy at Iklaina in the 14th–13th Centuries BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Adamantia Vasilogamvrou – Eleftheria Kardamaki – Nektarios Karadimas The Destruction at the Palace of Ayios Vasileios and Its Synchronisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Vasco Hachtmann – Sofia Voutsaki The Ayios Vasileios North Cemetery in the Palatial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Jeremy B. Rutter LM IIIB Ceramic Regionalism and Chronological Correlations with LH IIIB–C Phases on the Greek Mainland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Joseph Maran The Demise of the Mycenaean Palaces: The Need for an Interpretative Reset . . . . . . . . . . 231 Reinhard Jung Synchronizing Palace Destructions in the Eastern Mediterranean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Introduction Reinhard Jung 1 – Eleftheria Kardamaki 2 The Mycenaean palaces, using an archaic form of Greek written with the Linear B script for administrative purposes, stood at the head of the earliest states or state on the European continent – following, of course, the centuries-older palatial systems of Protopalatial and Neopalatial Crete.3 Four of those palaces have been excavated to their full preserved extent: the ones at Mycenae and Tiryns in the Argolid – the first to be found in the second half of the 19th century CE – a third one at Knossos in northern central Crete,4 and the fourth at Ano Englianos, Mycenaean Pylos, in Messenia. The palatial complex of Thebes in Boiotia is only partially uncovered to date, while at Chania, Mycenaean Kydonia, in western Crete and at Ayios Vasileios in Laconia we currently know only a very small portion of what must have been their most imposing buildings and centers of administration. Two fragmentary Linear B tablets from the Kastro-Palia quarter in Volos suggest there might have been a palace building close by, which would then be the first in Thessaly.5 Scholarly discussion has suggested the previous existence of palaces for other sites as well, namely for Midea in the Argolid6 and for the acropolis of Athens in Attica.7 Finally, there is a similar suggestion for Orchomenos in Boiotia.8 The Boiotian citadel of Glas, larger than any other Mycenaean fortification, is a separate case.9 It does house buildings of high architectonic quality, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria; e-mail: Reinhard.Jung@oeaw.ac.at. Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria; e-mail: Eleftheria.Kardamaki@oeaw.ac.at. For an overview of different approaches in their explanation see Driessen et al. 2002. In this case, however, the Mycenaean palace administration was using a centuries-old building, which had been remodeled after LM IB and adapted to the new system, though many of the late additions have been removed by the excavators (Macdonald 2010, 539–540). Further inland, at Dimini, the building complexes called ‘Megaron A’ and ‘Megaron B’ by their excavator apparently did not have a function analogous to that of the palaces at Tiryns or Pylos (Adrimi-Sismani 2014, 856–857). The highest terrace of the citadel hill shows leveled rock, but the 1940s excavations uncovered only scant traces of some building there (Demakopoulou 2007, 67, 77, fig. 6). The acropolis of Midea is among the Aegean sites that yielded evidence of inscribed administrative documents, i.e. a clay nodule with the inscription o-pa me-ka-ro-de a₃-so-ni-jo (see Demakopoulou – Divari-Valakou 2002, 52–54; Flouda 2010, 58, fig. 1). For a concise summary of the evidence for reconstructing the changing role Athens may have played in Mycenaean Attica see Ruppenstein 2010, 25–32. For an update on the Mycenaean fortifications preserved on the acropolis see Sioumpara 2018. A dump excavated on top of and close to the Northeast Ascent of the Mycenaean acropolis of Athens seems to represent destruction debris originating from the acropolis itself (personal communication Jeremy Rutter). The related pottery dates to LH IIIC Early 1 (Broneer 1933; Gauß 2003, 98–102). Arguments put forward to support the existence of a Mycenaean palace at Orchomenos include a fresco-decorated building at the foot of the acropolis hill (Spyropoulos 2015, stressing the iconographic and stylistic links to the Tirynthian palace frescos) and the exquisite and huge tholos tomb (‘Treasury of Minyas’) paralleling only the Atreus tholos in many respects (Eder 2009, 26–28). Throughout his architectural analysis, Klaus Kilian implies that the ‘Residenzen Pylos, Tiryns, Mykene, Glas’ were of equal rank (Kilian 1987, 21, 28). By contrast, its excavator Spyros Iakovidis denied the palatial character of the so-called Melathron of Glas and explains it convincingly as the seat of two functionaries subordinate to Orchomenos (Iakovidis 2007, 211). The buildings in the citadel were destroyed by fire (Iakovidis 1989; Iakovidis 1998). For the most recent research at Glas see Kountouri 2020a; Kountouri 2020b; Kountouri 2021. Based on the published evidence, a LH IIIB2 Early (LH IIIB Developed) destruction date has been proposed (Vitale 2018, 155, 170), while certain characteristics such as Group A deep bowls with Podzuweit’s decoration type 6.1 and running 12 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki but their layout and installations differ greatly from the palace complexes at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.10 More importantly, we must note that none of the last four sites mentioned yielded any Linear B tablets, which may of course be due to preservation issues. Finally, the find of one Linear B tablet fragment at Iklaina in Messenia became the first instance in which such a document was found kilometers away from the nearest palace. Therefore, it gave a new historical dimension to the realm of Pylian palatial administration and added an important aspect for the reconstruction of Mycenaean scribal practice in general.11 Regarding chronology, we know that the Mycenaean palace system was of more limited duration than the preceding Minoan administrative systems taken together, but how long did it last precisely? When did the system start and when exactly did it come to an end? It is even more difficult to answer the question of which palaces existed simultaneously and if so, whether they went through parallel historical stages visible in their stratigraphic sequences from foundation, through destructions and rebuildings to the final abandonment. In view of this state of affairs, we organized a workshop to put into perspective the latest results of research at each palace site in comparison with older data. The workshop with the title ‘Synchronizing the Destructions of the Mycenaean Palaces’ took place on November 8th and 9th 2018 at the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. As was the case during the workshop, the proceedings of this volume focus on those sites which are securely identified as Mycenaean palace centers by the presence of monumental buildings and Linear B archives. In addition, it includes several papers, which discuss interregional issues of archaeological and historical synchronisms. Vivid debates about the exact dates of the intermediate and final destructions of the various palatial complexes are by no means a new phenomenon in our research history. A prominent example is the controversy about the end of the Mycenaean palace of Knossos, unfolding since the 1960s and still not ended. The scholarly discussions produced chronological discrepancies amounting to more than 100 years between the proposed dates for part or all of the archive assemblages in the building – from LM II or early LM IIIA1,12 LM IIIA2 (Early),13 LM IIIA2 (Late)14 to sometime in LM IIIB.15 Although research in the past decades nuanced early views and there seems to be growing agreement about the repeated occurrence of destructions affecting the palace and its Linear B archives,16 the question of when the building complex ceased to be an administrative center with Linear B bureaucracy, remains acute. In the meantime, the Linear B tablets found at Chania (see below) added another important aspect to the debate, i.e. the question of whether the two Mycenaean palaces of Knossos and Chania coexisted or if Chania followed 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 spirals (from several buildings, Iakovidis 1989, 48, fig. 10; Iakovidis 1998, 29, 47, pls. 19α1–2; 34α1), a spouted basin FT 302 with monochrome interior (Iakovidis 1989, 102, pl. 36β), a cup FT 215 with monochrome interior (Iakovidis 1998, 95, pl. 56α; shape very similar to Vitale 2018, 165, fig. 8.9c) and a deep bowl of Group C (monochrome interior, rim band of medium width [according to Kardamaki 2015, 84–86], Iakovidis 1998, 45, pl. 33α5–6) and a painted askos FT 295 (Kountouri 2020a, 213–214, 236, fig. 29, with a good parallel from Thebes, MCC plot, Andrikou, this volume) may suggest an even later date in LH IIIB Final (LH IIIB2 Late). Once pottery statistics and more drawings are available, one will be able to decide between these diverging proposals. For a comparison see Kilian 1987. There is, for instance, no evidence to suggest that the polythyron hall of the Melathron at Glas had been provided with a throne and a central hearth (Iakovidis 2007, 210, 217, fig. 6). For a recent discussion on the possible variability of architectural layouts among the mainland palaces (be it a chronological variability or a regional one or both) see Maran – Thaler 2017, 84. Due to the large courtyard and huge stoas, Ayios Vasileios could be such a case without the characteristic tripartite throne room, but further excavation may change that impression. For a discussion on the architecture of Ayios Vasileios see Vasilogamvrou et al. 2021. Shelmerdine 2015, 249–251, fig. 5. See also Shelmerdine, this volume. Driessen 2000, 218 (with earlier bibliography). He is now advocating a series of three destructions (LM II/IIIA1, LM IIIA2, LM IIIB1) with Linear B tablets belonging to each of them, see most recently Driessen – Mouthuy 2022. Popham 1970; Popham 1988. Macdonald 2010, 540. Hallager 1977 (with older bibliography). For a concise summary of the research history see Driessen 2008, 70–72. Introduction 13 Knossos in time as the main administrative center for a larger part of the island. Strong paleographic similarities between the LM IIIB1 tablets from Chania and certain tablets from Knossos provide arguments for either a direct synchronism or the existence of only a small chronological distance between some of the scribes working at those two sites.17 Similar issues also surfaced for the Mycenaean palaces on the Greek mainland, but they became viral somewhat later. Since the 1960s different destruction horizons and subsequent settlement phases have been identified at Mycenae. Tiryns followed in the late 1960s and mainly in the 1970s and 80s with yet another sequence of destruction and rebuilding activities. Leaving aside for a moment the most important, but also most difficult problem of determining the reasons for those destructions (for which see the contribution by Joseph Maran with preceding bibliography), chronological debates involving Mycenae and Tiryns focused more on buildings outside the palaces rather than on the central parts of the citadels with the palaces themselves. Regarding the key contexts of these discussions, at Mycenae these were the Petsas House,18 the Ivory Houses19 and the so-called Perseia Trench L20 all located outside the citadel, while inside the citadel, on its western slope, several buildings including the Cult Center became important reference points.21 Regarding Tiryns during the Palace period, the intensively excavated habitation area of the Lower Citadel was most important for that research.22 The path that the chronological discourse took is, of course, due to the early excavation dates of the two Argive palaces and the lack of a detailed presentation of pottery contexts in the relevant publications by Christos Tsountas23 and Heinrich Schliemann24 respectively. However, at both sites, one can partially balance these shortcomings by making use of pottery assemblages stratified at places more or less directly linked to the palace cores. In the case of Mycenae, we have the Artisans’ Quarter and the House of Columns, both of which probably formed part of the east wing of the palace.25 They show evidence of fire destruction, but the related pottery assemblages remain largely unpublished.26 Until the final publication of these assemblages it remains a hypothesis that the last LH IIIB fire destruction detected in the houses on the lower west slope inside the citadel27 is contemporaneous with the final palace destruction. Outside the citadel, the House of the Tripod Tomb28 and the Plakes House29 were destroyed, though not by fire. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Driessen – Langohr 2007, 179–180, fig. 16.2; Driessen 2008, 71 (with earlier bibliography). Papadimitriou – Petsas 1951; French 1965, 171–174, fig. 5; Shelton, this volume. Verdelis 1964, 166, pls. 120–123; French 1967. French 1969. Wardle 1969; Wardle 1973; Mountjoy 1976. For the stratigraphy see Damm-Meinhardt 2015; for the pottery sequence see Podzuweit 2007 and Wirghová, this volume. He reported having found huge quantities of pottery in the palace – i.e. in the throne room and its adjacent rooms – but did not illustrate any of it (Tsountas 1888, 78; cf. also Tsountas 1887). Alan Wace and Winifred Lamb, returning to this central area of the palace some decades later, barely encountered any floor deposits with in situ pottery, of which they illustrated almost nothing (Wace – Lamb 1921/1923). For a summary of the evidence see Iakovidis 1986, 236–237. Schliemann does illustrate single ceramic vessels from the Tirynthian Upper Citadel with their relative depths, but he gives no room assignations. He mainly refers to pictorial and other painted fine ware vessels, but also depicts a coarse ware baking tray (Schliemann 1885, 90–92, 103–104, 107–108, 115–116, 120–125, 127–143, pls. 14–15, 17b; 20c–d; 21b; 22a, c; 23b; 27a–c). Iakovidis – French 2003, 14 and plan ʻMycenae Citadel 8ʼ. Some photos of selected sherds and vessels are given in Georgios Mylonas’ excavation reports, see Mylonas 1966; Mylonas 1967, 87–94, pl. 105; Mylonas 1968, 103–105, pl. 90α; also Iakovidis 1986, 237–239, pls. 18c; 19e. Moore – Taylour 1999, 35, 43–44; French – Taylour 2007, 8, 12, 31–35; E. B. French in: French – Stockhammer 2009, 182, tab. 3; 185–195; French 2011, 1. Onassoglou 1995. Iakovidis 2013. The destruction of the Plakes House, ascribed to an earthquake, has been synchronized with the Phase VII (LH IIIB Middle) destruction inside the citadel (French 2002, 10, fig. 1; 68). However, the reportedly numerous deep bowls with monochrome interior (Iakovidis 2013; only two are illustrated: Iakovidis 2013, pls. 41α1; 41β) and the presence of various rosette deep bowls (Iakovidis 2013, pl. 44β) as well as deep bowls A with Podzuweit’s decoration type 6.1 (Iakovidis 2013, 37, 44, 107, pls. 13α3–4; 14α7; 37.1) suggest a later date, probably LH IIIB Final. 14 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki This destruction was preceded by an earlier one, which again affected many buildings inside and outside the citadel of Mycenae and happened in LH IIIB Middle. So far, we do not have sufficient stratigraphic evidence from the palace itself to decide whether it was affected by the same destruction. The LH IIIB Middle destruction horizon at Mycenae did not affect all locations in the same way. Panagia House I, for instance, shows a clear collapse stratum, but fire traces are locally very restricted.30 By contrast, the group of houses often called the Ivory Houses (i.e. the West House, the House of Sphinxes, the House of the Oil Merchant and the House of Shields) suffered complete destruction by fire, which led to the abandonment of those houses.31 Scholars usually ascribe the LH IIIB Middle destruction horizon at Mycenae to an earthquake.32 For the assessment of the ceramic inventory stored and used in the palace of Tiryns, there are the secondary deposits of the Epichosis33 and the Western Staircase Dumps,34 whose huge published assemblages constitute valuable chronological evidence in that they link the burnt destruction of the Upper Citadel to the continuous vertical stratigraphy of the Lower Citadel, for which pottery statistics are available. Thebes presents a completely different situation, as the present-day town is situated directly on top of the citadel, thus inhibiting extensive excavations of the Mycenaean architecture.35 It also causes significant difficulties for the identification of those structures that did indeed belong to the palace as opposed to those that may have been administrative buildings or dwellings of the ruling class in the vicinity of the palace36 – similar to Petsas House or the Ivory Houses at Mycenae. The splendid Theban evidence is the fruit of many decades of research starting with the partial excavation of a palatial complex decorated with frescos and yielding a series of coarse ware stirrup jars, some of which were painted with Linear B inscriptions. Its excavator, Antonios Keramopoullos, named this complex ‘House of Kadmos’.37 The study of the aforementioned Cretan stirrup jars by Jacques Raison38 initiated a long debate around the chronology of the Theban palace, which expanded when more buildings were unearthed and Linear B tablets were added to the picture at different excavation sites. The orientation of the excavated building parts scattered across the city plateau played a prominent part in the older debates. In the meantime, some of the excavated pottery assemblages were thoroughly published,39 while others still await presentation to the public. 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Ione Mylonas Shear ascribed the scattered ashes on the floor of Room 5, the only one with a substantial floor deposit of pottery vessels (Mylonas Shear 1987, 18, pls. 26.38; 27.15; figs. 12.63, 68; 14.81; 15.99; 16.113–114), to the hearth in the center of the room and noted that the pots are unburnt. The skeleton of a woman found underneath stones and with a crushed skull in the doorway between Room 5 and Room 3 is interpreted as an earthquake victim (Mylonas Shear 1987, 16–19, 154–155, pls. 4B; 5B). Tournavitou 1995, 298–299. Mylonas Shear 1987, 154–155; French 2002, 10, fig. 1. Citing contradictory evidence and leaving the decision open: Tournavitou 1995, 298–299. Verdelis et al. 1966; Voigtländer 2003; Kardamaki 2009, 307–321. The ‛Krater of the Shield Bearers’ is a perfect illustration for the direct connection between the palace inventory and the sherds of the Epichosis Dump; for the restoration of joined fragments found by Schliemann inside the palace with others from the Epichosis see Schliemann 1885, 103–104, pl. 14; Slenczka 1974, 47–48 cat. no. 101, pl. 1.1a–b; Demakopoulou 1990, 360–362 cat. no. 341; Sakellarakis 1992, 26–28 cat. no. 12). The burnt fresco fragments inside the Epichosis (Verdelis 1959, 5, 7–8, fig. 16) prove that this inventory belonged to the last palace phase that burnt down. To be precise, the lower of the two stratigraphic packages, called ‘Zone 2’ (Kardamaki 2009; Kardamaki 2015). Again, there are a lot of fragments from the palace frescos in these layers (Maran et al. 2015) proving that this material originates from the arson of the palace. For an overview see Dakouri-Hild 2010, 696–702, fig. 52.2. Cf. Aravantinos 2015, 23, fig. 3; Aravantinos 2020, 155–165, drawings 1–5. The main part of Keramopoullos’ excavation is published in Keramopoullos 1909; later excavations followed with brief reports. For a new analysis of all the evidence available today see Dakouri-Hild 2001; Dakouri-Hild 2006. Raison 1968, 4–117. These are the ceramic finds from the following excavation sites: the House of Kadmos or Old Kadmeion at Pindar St. (Raison 1968, 4–117; Dakouri-Hild 2001), the Kordatzis plot at 14 Oedipus St. (two pottery groups not stratigraphically related to a building and therefore not included in Tab. 1 of the present study [Symeonoglou 1973, 16–19, 23–43, pls. 27–63] and the floor deposit of Room B, a jewelry workshop [Symeonoglou Introduction 15 Summing up the scholarly discussion, the study of the pottery from the different buildings on the Theban citadel hill revealed yet another sequence of destructions occurring during the mature and late periods of the Mycenaean Palace age. By contrast, Pylos seemed to be a rather clear-cut case. There is a fully exposed palace building with its final stage destroyed in an intense conflagration and with lots of pots left in situ on the floors. The detailed publication of the floor deposits constitutes a clear advantage in comparison to the palaces of Mycenae and Tiryns. However, as it is characterized by the scarcity of painted wares and several typological peculiarities of the pots, the character of this destruction deposit inside the palace of Pylos once more caused a discussion about the correct date of a final destruction event. Published opinions differed less than for Knossos, but also amounted to some 50 years or so.40 A few years ago, a research team working on the processing and interpretation of excavation evidence and artifacts uncovered by Dimitrios Theocharis from 1956 to 1961 on the Kastro-Palia tell site in the city center of Volos identified two Linear B tablet fragments among the pottery finds stored in two boxes.41 Unfortunately, the sherds stored with these first tablets from Thessaly do not seem to represent closed find contexts, and the only contextual information the box labels provide point to three different excavation trenches opened by Theocharis on the northern and western slopes of the tell.42 The Linear B documents should thus relate to some scribal office working at Palia, be it inside a Mycenaean palace proper or at the seat of some palatial functionary.43 In view of the absence of stratigraphical information, one cannot proceed to any chronological discussion of that administration and the fire that put an end to it, to judge from the burnt state of the tablet fragments.44 Finally, the most recent discovery and excavation at Ayios Vasileios in the Eurotas Valley provides us for the first time with a Mycenaean palace complex in Laconia. It also poses once again a new challenge for establishing interregional synchronisms among the different palaces and their administrative regions across Greece. Pottery studies provide the backbone for establishing chronological order at each individual site as well as for superregional synchronization. Therefore, the assessment of ceramic chronologies is the main focus of the present volume. The different authors reexamine previous theories with a special focus on (1) pottery studies, (2) the correlation of significant historical events, particularly the destruction horizons, and (3) the historical conclusions we can draw from these results. Although the focus is on destruction assemblages, the chronological framework of this book also includes stratigraphic evidence for the establishment and major expansion phases of the palaces.45 Our discussions stop at or after the earliest Post-palatial phase and thus extend from 40 41 42 43 44 45 1973, 15–16, pl. 18, fig. 29.1; 19, fig. 30.4; 20, fig. 31.2; 21, fig. 32; 22, fig. 33]), the Workshop in 29 Pindar St. (Demakopoulou 1974), the Sotiriou-Dougekou plot at Epaminondas St. with its Linear B archive (Spyropoulos 1975 [pottery illustrated only by means of photos]), and the stretch underneath Pelopidas St. itself between the Douloglou and Zengini side streets with another Linear B archive (Andrikou 2006) and finally the plot of the Municipal Conference Center at 1 Loukas Bellos St. (Andrikou, this volume). Mervyn Popham and Christian Podzuweit opted for much earlier dates (first half of LH IIIB) than the one offered by the excavators in their final publication (Popham 1991; Podzuweit 2007, 241–248), while Penelope Mountjoy, by restudying the painted pottery found on the floors, put forward an argument for a date (Transitional LH IIIB2/ LH IIIC Early) in alignment with the excavators’ view (Mountjoy 1997). Skafida et al. 2012. Skafida et al. 2012, 60, 67, fig. 2; 70, fig. 8; Skafida et al. 2018, 73, drawings 1–2. Skafida et al. 2012, 64–65. Huge quantities of Palace-period Mycenaean pottery including hundreds of unpainted carinated and conical kylikes come from these trenches (Skafida et al. 2018, 56, 70–72, fig. 10), and the last Mycenaean settlement phase finished in a conflagration (Skafida et al. 2018, 74–75), but there is no additional evidence corroborating a connection of this conflagration with the tablets (Skafida et al. 2012, 60 n. 28). See the contributions by Hachtmann – Voutsaki, Vitale et al. and Shelmerdine in this volume. 16 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki approximately 1450 to 1180 BCE. During most of this period, one may search for the existence of parallel developments, but a closer look may also reveal regional differences between various palatial sites. Of course, these differences also found expression in pottery production. A precise correlation between the local sequences of the different palaces still represents a major desideratum. The authors of the individual contributions address the following issues: • The character and extent of destruction events • The existence of major destructions prior to 1200 BCE and their impact • The synchronization of each specific site with other palatial sites in terms of chronological correlation between (1) the different building phases and (2) destruction horizon(s) • The development of the pottery at each palace during the 14th–13th centuries BCE, also seen in terms of differences and similarities with other regions • Historical implications resulting from the chronological sequence of events The papers assembled in this volume reflect a wide methodological spectrum of current Mycenaean pottery research, which is due to a multitude of factors. First of all, the different research histories outlined above have, of course, a decisive impact on the individual approaches. In the Argolid, research has reached a phase in which a quantitative fine-tuning of pottery characteristics for relatively short stylistic phases is possible, whereas in Laconia, for instance, the basic type inventory of each phase is still being defined, as larger assemblages from closed contexts only recently became available. Second, the methodological issues the different authors are dealing with vary according to the available stratigraphic and ceramic evidence. Some process huge amounts of complete vessels from floor and pit deposits resulting from a single destruction event, while others analyze much more fragmentary material from a longer sequence of strata. Another problem that affects different sites to various degrees is the frequency of chronologically more sensitive painted fine wares as opposed to unpainted classes. Regarding interregional synchronisms, a fundamental agreement on terminology would facilitate referencing across all regions producing and using Mycenaean-type pottery. In the past, different researchers suggested taking the final conflagrations at the Argive sites of Mycenae, Tiryns and Midea as reference points for the end of the LH IIIB period (whether it be called LH IIIB Final or LH IIIB2 Late).46 This seems possible, as the ceramic assemblages of those burnt horizons from the three citadels allow the identification of a common repertoire of types and stylistic features common for all the Argolid. However, there is still a lack of consensus in the phase terminology and definition of LH IIIB. The very fine four-phased subdivision established at Tiryns (LH IIIB Early, Middle, Developed and Final)47 has a broad correlation with Mycenae, where a simple or a tripartite division of LH IIIB was followed (LH IIIB1, LH IIIB Middle and LH IIIB2).48 Recent work by Salvatore Vitale equated the last two LH IIIB phases of the Tirynthian system with his LH IIIB2 Early and Late phases, and this new terminology has found wide acceptance.49 However, ‘LH IIIB2 Early’ is not used in the same way by all scholars. For some LH IIIB2 Early begins with LH IIIB Middle50 while for others LH IIIB Middle is still the closing stage of LH IIIB1.51 In general, it seems that the defining criteria for LH IIIB Middle are different at Mycenae and at Tiryns.52 One might seek the cause of 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 W. Gauß, R. Jung, J. B. Rutter in: Deger-Jalkotzy – Zavadil 2003, 253–255. Podzuweit 2007, Beil. 84. There is discussion on an early and later part of LH IIIB1 at Mycenae (Mountjoy 1976, 82), but no alternative designation was developed for this. See Schönfeld 1988, 163, tab. 4; Podzuweit 2007, Beil. 80. Vitale 2006, tabs. 2–3. French – Stockhammer 2009, 182–183, tabs. 3–4. Podzuweit 2007, Beil. 79–80; Kardamaki 2009, tab. 33. For example, the production of kylikes FT 257 and mainly FT 258 is still in its ‘floruit’ in Building Horizon 16 of Tiryns (LH IIIB Middle) (Schönfeld 1988, 188–189, fig. 11.17, and Podzuweit 2007, Beil. 47) but in the LH IIIB Middle Horizon of Mycenae (Ivory Houses and Phase VII destruction in the Citadel House Area) they are absent and already replaced by deep bowls (French 1967; French – Taylour 2007). Only in the Bothros outside the West House is there one kylix fragment painted with vertical whorl shells (French 1967, 181, fig. 20.111). There are Introduction 17 this phenomenon in the different functions of the assemblages being compared.53 If, during the LH IIIB Middle phase, an earthquake indeed led to the destruction of houses all over the Argolid, this would constitute a timeline for all affected contexts, but seismic research has not yet been conducted at all the Argive citadels.54 Vitale applied the label ‘LH IIIB2 Late’ to contexts outside the Argolid, but the issue raised by Susan Sherratt in the 1980s and recently discussed by Jeremy Rutter55 of the growing regionalism in LH IIIB should not be overlooked. The use of a regional prefix like ‘Argive LH IIIB1’ or ‘Argive LH IIIB2’ is one option.56 Yet, establishing synchronisms of Argive LH IIIB1 and LH IIIB2 contexts with other regions entails resolving further problems specific to each region. Certain regions feature imports – often even from the Argolid – that provide direct links to one or more external production places. But for those imports to offer precise synchronisms depends, among other factors, on the shorter or longer production periods of the types they represent. In other geographical areas the researcher has to decide whether features of potential chronological relevance start to occur because local potters adopted these as new features from another region, or because they invented them in a creative process entirely independent from external influence (though possibly relying on local traditions). In the latter case, one would need to deal with convergent stylistic phenomena without any use for establishing synchronisms between different production provinces. As demonstrated in some of the following papers, it seems advisable that the chronology of 14th- to 13th-century sites outside the Argolid be built upon the local sequences of plain and painted wares. Only as a second step should an attempt be made to synchronize them with the Argive sequence. The relative chronology of these sequences can be assisted by the presence of type fossils, i.e. decorated pottery types in Argive style, but they should not depend on them. Using criteria established in one region for another should be treated with caution as this process can sometimes lead to pitfalls. The existence of destruction horizons prior to LH IIIB2 is one of the major topics treated in this volume. We are attempting to answer the question of whether these are localized or widespread events and whether there is any causal relation between them. Several contributions in the present volume deal with destruction horizons in LH IIIA2 Early (Pylos), LH IIIA2 Late (Mycenae)57 and LH IIIB Middle (Ayios Vasileios, Iklaina, Mycenae and Thebes). Some of these destructions seem to be more apparent, others not. The clear LH IIIA2 Late destruction horizon of Mycenae, for instance, is so far not paralleled at Tiryns.58 However, a crucial aspect that should not be forgotten is the existence of subsequent (re)building activities that may have obliterated traces of earlier destruction events, through the removal of debris and leveling work. The first paper to deal with earlier destruction horizons of the Mycenaean palaces is the one by Kim Shelton, ‘On Shaky Ground: Petsas House and Destruction at Mycenae in LH IIIA2’. Petsas House, to the northwest of the citadel, is a unique case at Mycenae. In general, buildings of LH IIIA2 date with their inventory and architectural remains preserved in such an excellent 53 54 55 56 57 58 further differences regarding the types of the deep bowls FT 284 which occur at each site (see Kardamaki 2009, 385–392 for discussion). The differences between the LH IIIB Middle pottery assemblages of Mycenae and Tiryns are also viewed by Vitale – Van de Moortel 2020, 31–33, 59, tab. V, as having a chronological relevance. It is, for example, remarkable that all the Ivory Houses destruction contexts and the ‘refuse areas’ just outside these houses yielded only a few small open vessels, while closed vessels were largely predominant – especially inside the four houses (cf. French 1967, 149, 179–182, 186–187). By contrast, the LH IIIB layers of the Tirynthian Lower Citadel yielded many more open than closed vessel rim fragments (Schönfeld 1988, 155, tab. 1). The LH IIIB Middle earthquake hypothesis faces the difficulty that the hypothetically related damage was observed at Mycenae and Tiryns, but not at Midea (Hinzen et al. 2018, 19). Furthermore, an active normal fault line passes right underneath the citadel of Mycenae, but not underneath the other two fortified hills (Hinzen et al. 2018, 3, fig. 2). Sherratt 1980, 200, fig. 10; 201; J. B. Rutter in: Deger-Jalkotzy – Zavadil 2003, 250. Sherratt 1980, mentions ‘Argive LH IIIB1’ and ‘Argive LH IIIB2’. According to Rutter, this volume, the LM IIIA2 Early destruction of Knossos could coincide with a more advanced stage of LH IIIA2 and probably after LH IIIA2 Early. For the nature of the LH IIIA2 strata in the Lower Citadel cf. Kilian 1988, 132, fig. 27. 18 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki condition are very rare. The structure, a multi-functional building used for the production and storage of pottery as well as for habitation and administrative purposes, yielded thousands of intact vessels. The pottery from Petsas House offers one of the most complete pictures of the LH IIIA2 Argive styles. The assemblages of Apotheke Alpha and Apotheke Epsilon, where painted and plain pots were stored, and the fill of a well in Room Pi are discussed. According to the author, the painted closed vessels, suitable for international trade, were probably the output of a single potter. Among the thousands of vessels discovered, the plain kylikes intended for individual use are the most common; Apotheke Epsilon alone contained 8000 kylikes. The examination of the stratigraphic evidence led to the conclusion that the building was struck by an earthquake followed by fire visible in the interior of various rooms. Based on the overview of evidence from other areas inside and outside the citadel, the destruction of Petsas House was not an isolated event, but rather a widespread one associated with fires. However, unlike other structures, Petsas House was eventually abandoned, despite the fact that it was partly cleared of destruction debris. Shelton underlines the huge impact of the LH IIIA2 Late destruction at Mycenae that marks a significant change in pottery styles, architecture and construction techniques. Turning to the second major palatial center of the Argolid, the paper ‘Turning Points in the Ceramic Sequence of the Northern Tip of the Lower Citadel at Tiryns’ by Soňa Wirghová presents a detailed study on the pottery sequence from LH IIIB Early through LH IIIC Early 2 at Tiryns. The material, which is largely presented here for the first time, comes from the recent excavations of Building XI and the Gateway at the northern tip of the Lower Citadel. The primary focus is on the discussion of the local painted wares, but significant information is provided regarding a wide range of material including plain wares and cooking pots. Moreover, this area yielded a remarkable concentration of imports from different Aegean regions and the eastern Mediterranean such as Kos, Crete, Cyprus and the Levantine coast, and Wirghová provides the first detailed examination of these vessels and their chronological distribution within LH IIIB and LH IIIC Early. The typological, macroscopic and statistical analysis of the material is accompanied by comments on architecture, stratigraphy and methodology. Most of the in situ material derives from the final use and destruction of the acropolis in LH IIIB Final. The dating of the finds takes into consideration the first appearance of a single type, but also the time span of use or frequency of each type in every phase. Thus, the study provides new insights into the development of pottery types of chronological significance. By comparing the LH IIIB and LH IIIC Early finds, Wirghová reaches the conclusion that pottery styles underwent a significant change not immediately after the destruction but in the later parts of LH IIIC Early. In central Greece, the palace of Thebes is the subject of Eleni Andrikou’s paper ‘Kadmeia, Thebes: The Pottery from a Storeroom Destroyed at the End of the Mycenaean Palatial Period’, which offers new evidence about the final destruction of the palace and its synchronisms. Andrikou publishes the pottery from a newly excavated storeroom in the northern part of the Kadmeia Hill, i.e. north of the main palace building, located at the plot of the Municipal Conference Center (1 Loukas Bellou St.). The assemblage, consisting of complete or well-preserved vessels suitable for the storage of food supplies and liquids, is discussed according to function and fabric, providing crucial information on the dating but also the character of the buildings in Mycenaean Thebes – an aspect that is poorly understood due to the modern habitation of the city. Andrikou focuses on the pottery from the use and destruction of the building (Deposit II) that is dated in LH IIIB2 Late but also includes its reoccupation in LH IIIC Early (Deposit I). An aspect underlined by the comparison of the material is that any typological differences between the various assemblages may relate to the function and/or regional diversities and must not always be of chronological relevance. Andrikou places the new excavation evidence in its local and supraregional context and concludes that the final destruction of Thebes by fire still falls within the LH IIIB2 Late phase but should have happened slightly later than the destructions of the Argive palaces, and thus closer to the destruction of Pylos. The Messenian palace is discussed by Salvatore Vitale, Sharon Stocker and Jack Davis, who, in their contribution on ‘The Destructions of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos and Its LH IIIA Introduction 19 Predecessor as a Methodological Case Study’, offer the latest synthesis of evidence regarding the two major destruction events that struck the Palace of Nestor in the later part of the Late Bronze Age. The pottery presented comes from published and unpublished material excavated under the direction of Carl Blegen, enriched by material yielded by recent excavation campaigns at the palace and its surrounding area. With this new set of data, the authors provide a nuanced approach to the claimed peculiarities of the pottery from the palace, and its differences and similarities to the pottery found in the Lower Town and beyond Pylos. The refined dating of the earlier destruction is placed in LH IIIA2 Early (Pylos Horizon A). Regarding the later one, the authors summarize the most significant evidence that suggests LH IIIC Early 1 as the most appropriate date for the final destruction of the palace (Pylos Horizon B) – instead of Early LH IIIB or even advanced LH IIIC as had been argued before. The new assessment of the date of Horizon A is crucial for understanding a phase that is still poorly known in most parts of southern Greece. The authors argue that LH IIIA2 Early marks significant events around Greece, i.e. destruction horizons in Boiotia (Mitrou) or major construction work in Laconia (at Ayios Vasileios and the Menelaion). They go on to point out that evidence from Pylos and elsewhere suggests that the final destructions of the Mycenaean palaces took place at slightly different times, with the earliest ones occurring in the Argolid and in Boiotia at Thebes (LH IIIB2 Late), while the destructions of others to the south in Messenia as well as to the north in Thessaly followed slightly later in LH IIIC Early 1. A second paper on Messenia, ‘Pottery and Stratigraphy at Iklaina in the 14th–13th Centuries BC’, written by Cynthia Shelmerdine, presents the architectural and ceramic evidence from the more recently excavated site of Iklaina, one of the second-order centers of the Pylian realm. Its focus is the South Sector, characterized by an uninterrupted building activity spanning most of the Mycenaean age from LH II to LH IIIC Early. Within this chronological frame the excavators discern four major or minor architectural phases, with the third one (LH IIIA2 Late–IIIB Middle) marked by the construction of the Cyclopean Terrace Building, a monumental structure placed on top of a massive stone platform and decorated with frescos. Shelmerdine presents the main ceramic features of each of the four broad chronological phases and highlights similarities and differences with other regions. She dates the destruction to the end of the third architectural phase, the only destruction event identified at Iklaina, to LH IIIB Middle, i.e. contemporary with the mid-13th-century destructions in the Argolid. Furthermore, she discusses the development of Iklaina and its relation to the palace of Pylos. Based on the contemporaneity of the Linear B tablet found at Iklaina and the tablets caught in the LH IIIA2 Early destruction of the Pylos palace, Shelmerdine argues for an early integration of Iklaina into the Pylian realm, i.e. prior to that destruction. Laconia, the other southern Peloponnesian region, is also represented by two papers, which publish stratigraphic and ceramic evidence from the most recent research conducted at Ayios Vasileios. ‘The Destruction at the Palace of Ayios Vasileios and Its Synchronisms’ by Adamantia Vasilogamvrou, Eleftheria Kardamaki and Nektarios Karadimas deals with the ceramic evidence from the palace destruction and the subsequent reoccupation of the site. On the one hand, the archaeological contexts encompass the West Stoa with its collapsed upper floor as well as the first archive with Linear B tablets ever found in Laconia, and on the other hand, the large Court. The former area preserves the destruction debris almost intact, whereas the latter area shows evidence for reoccupation. The authors place the date of the severe fire destruction that struck the palace of Ayios Vasileios in LH IIIB Middle. Afterwards a reoccupation followed that lasted from LH IIIB2 up to LH IIIC Early, although the extent and character of the site during the latter period is still unknown and the differentiation between the late LH IIIB and the LH IIIC Early pottery of the site is still not fully understood. The LH IIIB1 to LH IIIC Early 1 pottery sequence of Ayios Vasileios is compared to what is known from other sites within and outside Laconia. The final section of the paper provides a brief overview of the main differences and similarities in the pottery used in different regions of southern Greece. According to Vasilogamvrou, Kardamaki and Karadimas, LH IIIB Middle was probably a time of general and widespread unrest with destructions striking palatial and secondary sites around southern Greece, which probably represented the prelude for 20 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki the final collapse of the palaces. Unlike Mycenae and Thebes, the palace of Ayios Vasileios may not have resumed its function in LH IIIB2. ‘The Ayios Vasileios North Cemetery in the Palatial Period’ by Vasco Hachtmann and Sofia Voutsaki is the second contribution on Laconia, and it deals with the funerary evidence from Ayios Vasileios. The authors provide the first overview on the pottery sequence from the time of the final use of the area as a burial ground until its definite abandonment, i.e. from LH IIIA1 until LH IIIC Early. The material presented is placed in the local and wider Laconian context, and in doing so, the authors provide a separate discussion of the pottery styles from the Menelaion, the second major site in central Laconia. The main phases represented are LH IIIA1–IIIA2 Early, LH IIIA2, LH IIIB and LH IIIC Early. These coincide with some significant events like the construction of the palace in LH IIIA2 Early, from which point onwards the North Cemetery was only used as a memorial place. The local repertoire is characterized by the rarity of the pattern-painted pottery prior to LH IIIC Early and the absence of Argive decorative styles. Of all the pottery phases represented in the area of the North Cemetery, the least recognizable is LH IIIB, and, as Hachtmann and Voutsaki suggest, something similar is true for the Menelaion, whereas in both cases the first part of LH IIIB is better attested. The authors are led to conclusions that have wider implications for central Laconia. Mansion 2/3 at the Menelaion must have been abandoned before the end of LH IIIB and the rarity of LH IIIB2 pottery at both sites could suggest restricted occupation or even a hiatus. Finally, the similar date suggested for the construction and destruction of the monumental buildings at Ayios Vasileios and the Menelaion could imply the existence of a single political entity since LH IIIA2 Early. Unfortunately, the Mycenaean palace of Chania located on Kastelli Hill is not represented by a separate article.59 The first evidence for the existence of a Mycenaean palatial administration at Chania had been three Linear B tablets found in House 2 of the Ayia Aekaterini Square site, but as part of a floor deposit inside Room E underneath the Kanevaro side street. The excavators dated the clearly burnt destruction context to the end of LM IIIB1.60 While House 2 is a large building complex, the Mycenaean palace proper was situated elsewhere. Part of it is being uncovered at the plot of 1 Katre St. in the southwestern part of the Kastelli Hill. This excavation uncovered part of a monumental building with column bases and wall paintings, in which a combined animal and human sacrifice seems to have been performed in connection with the severe destruction of the whole complex. Cracks in the high quality terrazzo floor (partially painted) led the excavator to ascribe this destruction to an earthquake. Fire was involved, too.61 Geological investigations detected an active fault line underneath this very spot.62 At the fault itself the terrazzo floor was partially sunken, partially uplifted, as the most recent excavations revealed – thus proving the earthquake beyond doubt.63 Traces of burning are also observable on two published vessels from this destruction: squat stirrup jars of LM IIIB1 date64 that suggest a synchronization with the House 2 destruction. Most importantly, a Linear B tablet from the courtyard strengthens the view that this monumental building of high architectonic quality was indeed part of the palace, the seat of the Mycenaean administration at Chania.65 Regarding the synchronization of the LM IIIB1 phase at Chania with the palace destructions of the Peloponnese, it is important to note that this Kastelli settlement phase yielded a series of Myce59 60 61 62 63 64 65 At the workshop, Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki gave a paper on the destruction of the LM IIIB palace with a detailed presentation of the relevant excavation evidence from 1 Katre St., but unfortunately has not been able to submit a manuscript. Hallager et al. 1992. In the area of the Ayia Aekaterini Square excavation, up to three more fragments of Linear B tablets have come to light (Hallager 2011, 419–420, 425–426, pls. 277–278). Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2015, 29–42; Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2022, 25–27. Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2015, 38–39, 42, fig. 26. Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2022, 27–29, figs. 5–10, 13. Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2015, 31, 33, fig. 8; Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2018, 192 (with color photos). A LM IIIB1 cup comes from the area, where the plaster floor ran over the fault itself (Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2022, 29, fig. 10a–b). Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2015, 29. Introduction 21 naean imports of Argive style datable to LH IIIB Early–Middle (LH IIIB1).66 This suggests at least a partial chronological overlap of LM IIIB1 with LH IIIB Early or Middle.67 Two small fragments of what may have been Linear B tablets come from LM IIIB2 and LM IIIB2/IIIC rubbish pits respectively, which leaves doubts as to the date of their inscriptions.68 However, the important quantities of West Cretan coarse ware stirrup jars FT 164, including some with Linear B inscriptions from LH IIIB Final (LH IIIB2 Late) contexts at Tiryns,69 support the notion that an administrative center continued to function at Chania even after the LM IIIB1 destruction. Indeed, there are many fragments of inscribed coarse ware stirrup jars stratified in the LM IIIB2 settlement phase of Chania.70 To sum up, the present evidence from Chania itself does not necessarily give us the full time range of the Mycenaean palatial administration at the site. The secure Linear B tablets provide a terminus ad quem in LM IIIB1, and so far none of the inscribed stirrup jars dates further back in time. With Jeremy Rutter’s contribution on ‘LM IIIB Ceramic Regionalism and Chronological Correlations with LH IIIB–C Phases on the Greek Mainland’ the discussion in this volume extends from the Greek mainland to Crete. In his paper Rutter investigates questions of pottery regionalism and uniformity on Crete between LM II and LM IIIC Early. As cultural phenomena, pottery regionalisms on Crete after LM IIIA1 and on the Greek mainland after LH IIIB could have departed from similar circumstances following the destruction of Knossos and the Mycenaean palaces respectively (comparative regionalism). Drawing on the comparison between Chania and various other Cretan sites, the notion of a growing ceramic homogeneity in LM IIIB Late is challenged. Rutter considers specific aspects of the Chaniote repertoire and, most notably, the appearance and peak of the dark-surfaced handmade and burnished ware of Italian inspiration as well as other phenomena, which he interprets as local plain and painted imitations of characteristic Italian shapes such as the banded cup and Italianizing Gray Ware. Since similar developments, and especially the production of Italian shapes in Mycenaean painted wares, appear to be more frequent on the Greek mainland (especially at Tiryns and Dimini) after the LH IIIB destructions, Rutter proposes a correlation of most if not of the entire phase of LM IIIB2 with the early Post-palatial ceramic phase on the mainland (LH IIIC Early 1 and perhaps LH IIIC Early 2). The differences between the LM IIIB Late pottery of Chania – the only site showing evidence for destruction at the end of LM IIIB – and other sites on Crete may relate to the arrival at the former site of a larger number of immigrants from the Mycenaean mainland and southern Italy following the destructions of the Mycenaean palaces. A palace site was destroyed for a reason, and our research into the fine chronology of such major historical events is intended to aid the search for the reasons behind those events. Furthermore, regional events may have been part of interregional historical trends, as the authors in this volume remark when discussing aspects of comparative chronology between the single palace sites and between regions. Historical reconstruction is at the root of all chronological research. For this reason, we invited Joseph Maran to our workshop to give a keynote lecture with a historical interpretative focus. 66 67 68 69 70 Hallager 2005, 280–284, figs. 2–3. Following Rutter’s proposal for a late synchronism of the LM IIIB2 phase at Chania (see below) might also entail a partial overlap of the preceding LM IIIB1 phase with LH IIIB Developed (LH IIIB2 Early). Hallager 2011, 420, 425, pl. 277.KH X 2, KH X 3. Kardamaki et al. 2016. One of these coarse ware stirrup jars, TI Z 29, even bears the wa-na-ka-te-ro inscription (wa-na-ka[) linking it directly to the royal administration (Godart – Olivier 1975, 37–43; Kardamaki et al. 2016, 158). TI Z 29 comes from the upper part of a large stirrup jar and was found to the west of the Upper Citadel, in the area of the Lower West Town at Tiryns. The context is reported as LH IIIB with only one later sherd. However, no details are given on the character of the context and the exact date of the vessel within LH IIIB is not clear (Gercke – Naumann 1974, 22–23). Hallager 2011, 424. Here Erik Hallager lists 13 fragments from certain and two from probable LM IIIB2 contexts (Hallager 2011, 415–419). 12 of these 15 stirrup jars are West Cretan products according to chemical/petrographic analyses (the remaining three have not been analyzed so far). In five cases the identification of Linear B signs is not secure. 22 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki In his contribution ‘The Demise of the Mycenaean Palaces: The Need for an Interpretative Reset’ Maran gives an in-depth account of the research problem regarding the collapse of the palatial system at the end of the 13th century and possible ways for resolving it. He questions the nature of previous explanatory models as oversimplistic since they tend to create an idea of a stable Mycenaean palatial society throughout its history and up to the moment of the palaces’ final destruction. Instead of pinpointing one aspect, the paper introduces the idea of medium- to longterm processes as crucial for the understanding of these events and, at the same time, shifts the focus from hypotheses about natural disasters such as earthquakes to actions created by human agency (collective violence). In this context, three factors in particular are discussed as most relevant based on the available archaeological context. These are: internal conflicts between different factions of the elites, conflicts emerging from large-scale construction projects, and changes in the palatial armed forces. According to Maran, all these factors in combination, or only some of them and to various degrees, could have played a decisive role in the weakening of the palatial system long before its final collapse. The introduction of a new ruler concept after the destruction of Knossos in the 14th century BCE, an increasing exclusivity of the royal families with the monopolization of the religious sector, or the integration of foreign warrior groups are among the reasons discussed by Maran as decisive in the chain of medium- to long-term events before the final collapse of the palaces. The Mycenaean palace system did not exist in isolation but was one of the mighty palatial powers among others in the wider eastern Mediterranean – from Asia Minor, the Levantine coast and Mesopotamia to Egypt. Political, economic and cultural relationships had developed between all those ‘players’, and the 13th century BCE was the final phase of those relationships prior to a new start in the Early Iron Age. Establishing precise synchronisms between these palace systems therefore means setting the framework for an interregional history of the time. In his contribution, ‘Synchronizing Palace Destructions in the Eastern Mediterranean’, Reinhard Jung links destruction events taking place in Cyprus and along the northern Levantine coast in late LC IIC and LBA II respectively with the relative chronology of the Mycenaean mainland at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 12th centuries. Jung evaluates the evidence of the Aegean-type pottery, i.e. Aegean imports and local products of Aegean type and inspiration, at five key sites: Ugarit, Tell Tweini and Tell Kazel in Syria, and Enkomi and Alassa on Cyprus. With his analysis, Jung underlines the significance of the locally produced Aegean pottery, which, for a number of reasons, can often be more reliable for Aegean correlations than real Aegean imports. As Jung demonstrates, the latter had become rare by the late 13th century, or often belong to rare and idiosyncratic vessel types produced only for trade and therefore difficult to link to Aegean stratigraphy. In this respect, local Aegean-type deep bowls from Tell Tweini Level 7A, Tell Kazel Phase K1 and Enkomi IIB are compared to deep bowls of LH IIIC Early 1 date. In exceptional cases, the appearance of the rare handmade burnished pottery of Italian type in Tell Kazel Phase K1 offers additional and direct parallels to pottery of the same type from the Greek mainland (especially at Dimini). The destruction events at these five sites, which in almost all cases include conflagrations and hostile actions followed by plundering, are viewed from a new perspective. In some cases, these events could be the result of seaborne raids like the ones referred to in monumental inscriptions (5th and 8th regnal years of Ramesses III) and other written sources of this period. In the case of Alassa Palaiotaverna, however, the destruction at the end of Phase 1 may have had a social background with possible evidence for class struggle, as Jung proposes. According to Jung, the exact synchronization with LH IIIB Final or in LH IIIC Early 1 is still difficult, but for three out of five key sites (Tell Tweini, Tell Kazel and Enkomi), the LH IIIC Early 1 date is well founded, while for the other two, this date represents the most appropriate possibility. At the end of the conference, the participants agreed to unite the single destruction dates explained in the different contributions into one chronological table (Tab. 1). We thought it would be useful to add some more destruction contexts to that table in order to provide a wider framework for the results achieved at this conference. Some of these additional contexts were excavated at Introduction Fig. 1 23 Sites discussed in the present volume and in Tab. 1 (cartography: M. Börner). the same sites as those discussed in the book, while others represent events in different Greek regions not treated in the form of dedicated contributions. We then sent out this table to the conference participants, who commented on the synchronisms contained therein and also asked us to add some more sites and destruction contexts. The final version of this table given here results from this discussion, in which many authors of the volume have participated. However, we do not want to give the impression that it represents the unanimous opinion of all of the authors. Some of them, for instance, have published diverging dates for certain contexts. The destruction contexts discussed in the present book (Fig. 1) are given in bold letters in the table; the other contexts are those added for comparative reasons (Tab. 1). This table only presents strata resulting from the destruction of buildings either involving fire or not. In the latter case, the classification as destruction (as opposed to abandonment) is based on the judgement of the excavators. The contexts listed are primary deposits datable by pottery unless stated otherwise. Secondary deposits are marked as dumps. Acknowledgments: The conference was held in the framework of the stand-alone project P 28023-G25 funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). We gratefully acknowledge the technical support of OREA for conducting the conference, and we wish to warmly thank Ulrike Schuh for her editing work. Relative Chronology Mycenae (Vitale 2006; Vitale 2011) Tiryns LH IIIA2 Early LH IIIB1 (Middle) LH IIIB2 Early Pylos Iklaina Ayios Vasileios Athens Thebes Glas Dimini Chania Cyprus Syria Relative Chronology (Tiryns system according to Podzuweit 2007; Kardamaki 2009) Ano Englianos, Horizon A LH IIIA Late Petsas House House of Kadmos in Pindar St.; Workshop in 29 Pindar St. * Ivory Houses; Panagia House I; Cult Center, Service Areas, Phase VII; Temple, Phase VII Lower Citadel Hor. 16a6– 16a7 Cyclopean palace Terrace Building Phase 3 (and other structures) 1 Katre St., palatial building; Ayia Aekaterini Square * LH IIIB Early LH IIIB Middle LH IIIB Developed R. Jung – E. Kardamaki LH IIIA2 Middle LH IIIA2 Late LH IIIB1 Midea 24 Tab. 1 Mycenaean destruction deposits of the developed to late Palatial and earliest Post-palatial period. – Bold letters = destruction of buildings discussed in this volume; normal letters = destruction of buildings mentioned in comparison; * = joint chronological boxes, no differentiation between two subphases possible based on existing publications/synchronisms; ? = no secure dating possible based on existing publications/synchronisms. Tab. 1 (continued) Relative Chronology Mycenae (Vitale 2006; Vitale 2011) Tiryns Midea West Gate Area; Lower West Terraces South House Annex, Phase VIII; Temple, Phase VIII; Artisans’ Quarter (?); House of the Tripod Tomb; Plakes House (?) palace (Western Staircase Dump, Zone 2); Lower Citadel Hor. 17a5–18 LH IIIC Early 1 Area 36, R. XXXIV Western Staircase Dump, Zone 1 Iklaina Ayios Vasileios Athens Thebes Glas Dimini Chania Cyprus LH IIIB Final Municipal buildings Conference inside the Center, citadel* Deposit II; Pelopidas St., Linear B archive; Epaminondas/Democritus St., Linear B archive; 14 Oedipus St., Room B Ano Englianos, palace, Horizon B Acropolis, Northeast Ascent pathway dump Syria Introduction LH IIIB2 Late Pylos Relative Chronology (Tiryns system according to Podzuweit 2007; Kardamaki 2009) Megaron A; Megaron B; North Megaron Enkomi, City Quarters 1 West and 4 West, Level IIB; Alassa-Paliotaverna, Phase 1 (?) Ugarit, LH IIIC palace and Early 1 town (?); Tell Kazel, Areas II and IV, Phase K1, Tell Tweini, Phase 7A 25 26 R. Jung – E. Kardamaki Bibliography Adrimi-Sismani 2014 Β. Αδρύμη-Σισμάνη, Ιωλκός. Η εϋκτιμένη πόλη του Ομήρου. Ένα αστικό κέντρο στον μυχό του Παγασητικού κόλπου. Το διοικητικό κέντρο, οι οικίες και το νεκροταφείο (Volos 2014). Alram – Nightingale 2007 E. Alram-Stern – G. 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Proceedings of an International Symposium Held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Aegean and Anatolia Department, Vienna, 1–2 March, 2013, Mykenische Studien 34 (Vienna 2015). Introduction 33 Table Tab. 1 Mycenaean destruction deposits of the developed to late Palatial and earliest Post-palatial period. – Bold letters = destruction of buildings discussed in this volume; normal letters = destruction of buildings mentioned in comparison; * = joint chronological boxes, no differentiation between two subphases possible based on existing publications/ synchronisms; ? = no secure dating possible based on existing publications/synchronisms. – Mycenae: Petsas House (contribution by K. Shelton); Ivory Houses (see n. 19); Panagia House I (see n. 30); Cult Center, Service Areas, Phase VII (French – Taylour 2007); Cult Center, Temple, Phase VII (Moore – Taylour 1999); South House Annex, Phase VIII (see n. 27); Cult Center, Temple, Phase VIII (see n. 27); Artisans’ Quarter (see n. 26); House of the Tripod Tomb (see n. 28); Plakes House (see n. 29); Cult Center, Area 36, R. XXXIV (French 2007; French 2011). – Tiryns: Lower Citadel Hor. 16a6–16a7 (Schönfeld 1988; Damm-Meinhardt 2015); palace, Western Staircase Dump, Zone 2 (Kardamaki 2009; Kardamaki 2015); Lower Citadel Hor. 17a5–18 (Podzuweit 2007; Damm-Meinhardt 2015; contribution by S. Wirghová); Western Staircase Dump, Zone 1 (Kardamaki 2009; Kardamaki 2015). – Midea: West Gate Area and Lower West Terraces (Demakopoulou 2003; Demakopoulou 2007). – Pylos: Ano Englianos, Horizons A and B (see contribution by S. Vitale, Sh. Stocker and J. Davis). – Iklaina: Cyclopean Terrace Building Phase 3 (see contribution by C. Shelmerdine). – Ayios Vasileios, palace (contribution by A. Vasilogamvrou, E. Kardamaki and N. Karadimas). – Athens, Acropolis, Northeast Ascent pathway dump (see n. 7). – Thebes: House of Kadmos in Pindar St. (see n. 37 and 38); Workshop in 29 Pindar St. (see n. 39); Municipal Conference Center, Deposit II (see contribution by E. Andrikou); Pelopidas St., Linear B archive (see n. 39; contribution by E. Andrikou); Epaminondas/Democritus St., Linear B archive (see n. 39; contribution by E. Andrikou); 14 Oedipus St., Room B (see n. 39). – Glas: buildings inside the citadel (see n. 9). – Dimini: Megaron A (Adrimi-Sismani 2014, 129–167, 342–344, 425–461); Megaron B (Adrimi-Sismani 2014, 185–195, 201–224, 341–342, 348–424); North Megaron (Adrimi-Sismani 2014, 177–181, 462–496). – Chania: 1 Katre St., palatial court (see n. 64); Ayia Aekaterini Square, settlement (see n. 60 and 66). – Enkomi: City Quarters 1 West and 4 West, Level IIB (see contribution by R. Jung). – Alassa-Palaiotaverna: Phase 1 (see contribution by R. Jung). – Ugarit, palace and town (see contribution by R. Jung). – Tell Kazel: Areas II and IV, Phase K1. – Tell Tweini, Phase 7A (see contribution by R. Jung).