Judith Butler’s theory of performativity can be productively used to analyse how identity at burial would have been created, sustained and rendered coherent through extended periods of time. Moreover, Heideggerean phenomenology offers us insights into the mechanism underlying the process of performing an identity. Using mortuary data from Shang and Zhou burials, I offer (a) an analysis of how the identity of the deceased might have been (re)constructed and (re)produced through structured burial deposits as well as (b) a Heideggerean account of the heritage inherent in the sets of bronze objects interred in graves. These sets of bronze objects would have been used in a performance within the mortuary sphere as part of an elaborate but recognisable process of producing an identity for a tomb occupant. Furthermore, a gendered identity would have also been reified and materialised through burial assemblages. These post-processual analyses might be taken as examples that can be generalised to a method for further investigating other identities, and the processes underlying their production and reproduction, that Chinese archaeologists theorising burials and identity may use to advance the field.

Le bassin oriental de la Méditerranée à l’âge du bronze égéen est un ensemble hétérogène où s’entremêlent plusieurs cultures : Égyptiens, Hittites, Minoens et Mycéniens se côtoient et interagissent à divers degrés. Un examen méticuleux des sources archéologiques et épigraphiques permet de mettre un peu d’ordre à cette mosaïque chaotique afin de mieux apprécier les interactions entre ces cultures. La culture mycénienne est celle à laquelle s’intéresse particulièrement cette présente étude. Bien que son coeur soit unanimement localisé en Grèce continentale, la culture mycénienne se répand également de l’Italie jusqu’au Levant et de la Thrace à l’Égypte. Selon l’importance et la nature des vestiges, l’archéologie ordonne en trois catégories les régions où se retrouve la culture mycénienne, alors que les sources épigraphiques hittites et égyptiennes permettent de remettre en question la société mycénienne et de localiser les frontières politiques de cette culture. / The Eastern Mediterranean region in the late Bronze Age is a heterogeneous entity composed of several interwoven cultures: Egyptians, Hittites, Minoans and Mycenaeans mingle and interact on many levels. A meticulous survey of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence can restore some order in this chaotic picture in order to clarify the various interactions between these cultures. This study focuses especially on the Mycenaean culture. Although mainland Greece is unanimously considered as the core location of this culture, Mycenaean artefacts are found from Italy to the Levant and from Thrace to Egypt. According to the importance and nature of these artefacts, archaeology organizes the regions penetrated by Mycenaean culture in three classes, while Egyptian and Hittite documents challenge our conception of the organization of Mycenaean society and the localisation of its borders.

The thesis presents the results of evaluation of archaeological finds from the two settlements in Písek (site "nemocnice") and Topělec. Both settlements are dated to the Late Bronze Age. With respect to the fact that only Late Bronze Age sites of smaller extent have been evaluated and published in South Bohemia so far, the studied settlements offer a more complex view on the composition of ceramic finds in this period and region. Both sites provide ceramic finds analogous to those from Central and Wes Bohemia, however, they do not differ significantly from other South Bohemian sites.

This diploma thesis focuses on studies of chipped stone industry of the Early Bronze Age in Bohemia and deals with questions connected to its occurrence in settlement and burial sites. The first part of this study presents the results of artefact analysis. The anylised complex of artefacts consists of 108 items and originates in following localities: Kolín - ringroad, Pátek near Poděbrady, Polepy near Kolín, Velké Přílepy a Vliněves. The analysis included the typological and morphological characteristics, used material and the links to their position in settlement objects and other finds. The second part of this diploma thesis summarizes present knowledge of prestigious artefacts such as silicite daggers, axes and arrowheads. Furthermore, it investigates the matter of contacts between Central Bohemia and Moravia on the basis of Moravian stone materials distribution. A catalogue of chipped stone industy from Central Bohemia is also included in this diploma thesis.

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous menons une étude comparative de la céramique de la fin de l’âge du bronze entre deux zones d’études, situées en bordure nord et ouest du Massif Central, la Basse Auvergne et le Quercy. Les ensembles étudiés, issus d’habitats de hauteur, de fosses de plaine et de grottes sépulcrales concernent la phase moyenne du Bronze final. Dans un premier temps, nous développons une méthode de classement typo-chronologique. Cette analyse, par un traitement quantitatif et statistique des critères morphologiques et décoratifs des céramiques, permet de distinguer deux groupes stylistiques selon les régions. Les calages chronologiques de ceux-ci montrent que certains changements dans les formes et les décors se manifestent avec un léger décalage. Dans un second temps, nous nous interrogeons sur l’utilisation des différents types céramiques. Des propositions de classes fonctionnelles sont réalisées à partir d’observations de stigmates d’utilisation et d’analyses technologiques. Ces classes et les correspondances de certaines avec la vaisselle métallique sont ensuite étudiées selon le contexte des gisements. La prédominance, dans les grottes sépulcrales, d’une vaisselle culinaire et de table dévolue aux liquides et de nombreuses correspondances avec des formes métalliques, marque une distinction avec les habitats et traduit des pratiques liées à des repas cérémoniels. Les corpus céramiques de l’habitat de hauteur se distinguent de ceux de plaine par une vaisselle de table collective plus représentée. Une dernière approche concerne l’étude des chaînes opératoires de fabrication des céramiques. L’analyse des préparations des pâtes, des techniques de façonnage et de finition, et des modes de cuisson, permet d’illustrer des changements globaux au cours du temps, communs aux deux zones d’études. Par contre, certains choix techniques s’avèrent plus régionaux et des particularités très localisées peuvent être mises en évidence. Néanmoins, une vaisselle fine, ayant des équivalents métalliques mobilise des savoir-faire distincts aux méthodes de productions à technicité plus élevée, peut manifester une amorce de spécialisation de la production. Ces approches nous amènent à proposer différents échelons géographiques, interrégional, régional ou local, dans les extensions des traditions potières. Ceux-ci dépendent du degré de précision et des associations de critères typologiques et technologiques retenus. / This doctoral research is a comparative study of the late bronze age ceramics from two areas located in West and North of the Massif Central: the Quercy and the Basse Auvergne. The materials analyzed are all dated of the middle phase of the late bronze age and come from various contexts (high ground settlements, lowland pits, and burial caves). At first, we develop a typo-chronological classification method based on quantitative and statistical processing of morphological and decorative attributes of the ceramics that allows distinguishing two regional stylistic variants. Their chronological boundaries indicate that some shape and decorative changes occurred with a slight time lag. Secondly, we question the utilization of these different types. We identified several classes based on use wear and technological features. These vessel classes all together with their metallic equivalent when available were analyzed in regards to site function. In burial cave contexts, food and liquid consumption vessels prevailed; numerous connections with metallic items indicate a distinction with habitation contexts and attest of ceremonial banquet. Ceramic assemblages from high ground contexts can be distinguished from the lowland ones by a larger proportion of collective table vessel. We finally conduct an analysis of ceramic manufacturing following a "chaîne opératoire" approach. We identified same chronological changes in the two research areas based on paste preparation, shaping and finishing techniques, and heating procedures. On the contrary, several technical choices indicate a regional patterning and the existence of local specificities. Nevertheless, a fine vessel equivalent to the metallic one, involved greater skills and possibly denotes the emergence of craft specialization. Based on these results, we stress the need for a multi-scale approach in the interpretation of the extension and spread of typological and technological traits because their accuracy and integration level can vary.

This study aims to identify human interference and tendencies in the Bronze Age settlement of Malthi, Greece. It has employed a spatial analysis, a Kernel Density Estimate, to locate areas of anthropic interference and evaluate if the initial excavation report, despite its flaws, can be used in newer research. The study was able to identify intense Middle Helladic human presence on some of the areas of the settlement, mainly the ‘central terrace’, prove that Natan Valmin’s excavation report can still be used to gain new knowledge regarding the Bronze Age, and that a thorough investigation of the standing architecture needs to be done. / Syftet med den här studien är att identifiera mänsklig närvaro och tendenser på bronsåldersboplatsen i Malthi, Grekland. En rumslig analys, en Kernel Density Estimation, har använts för att lokalisera områden av mänsklig närvaro och har utvärderat om original utgrävningsrapporten, trots sina brister, kan användas i ny forskning. Studien kunde identifiera intensiv Mellanhelladisk närvaro i några delar av boplatsen, mestadels på ’central terrassen’, och kunde visa att Natan Valmins utgrävningsrapport kan användas för att få ny kunskap om bronsåldern, och att en ingående studie av de stående arkitektoniska elementen måste göras.

A Ilíada de Homero é geralmente caracterizada como um poema que trata da Guerra de Tróia, que teria acontecido mais de 500 anos antes da composição de tal poema, e teria sido transmitido através da tradição oral, até o momento em que foi escrito pela primeira vez. Esperava-se, portanto, que os fatos narrados pelo poeta correspondessem aos achados arqueológicos encontrados para o Período Micênico, mas o que se encontra na Ilíada é uma mistura de elementos da sociedade micênica e da sociedade contemporânea a Homero, ou seja, o século VIII a.C. O estudo da relação entre documentos arqueológicos dos períodos Micênico, Proto-Geométrico e Geométrico, compreendidos entre 1550 e o final do século VIII a.C., e a Ilíada de Homero é composto por duas categorias de fontes distintas, a arqueológica e a escrita, esta como resultado de uma tradição oral que a precedeu. A presente dissertação tem como foco apresentar as informações que se podem depreender da Ilíada de Homero que, de alguma forma, contribuíram para a interpretação arqueológica e se, de tal confronto, surgiram controvérsias entre os dois tipos de fontes, levando a uma reflexão sobre a questão da continuidade e da ruptura de elementos culturais próprios da Civilização Micênica e que, de certa maneira, se refletem nos períodos posteriores em pauta. / The Iliad of Homer is generally seen as a poem about the Trojan War, which took place more than 500 years before the composition of such poem, and transmitted by oral tradition down to the moment it was written for the first time. It was hoped, therefore, that the facts narrated by its poet matched the archaeological finds for the Mycenaean Period; instead what is found in the Iliad is an ensemble of the elements of the Mycenaean society and the one contemporary to Homer, which is considered to be the eighth century B.C. The study of the relation between the Mycenaean, Proto-Geometrical, and Geometrical archaeological finds, dating from 1550 to the end of the eighth century B.C., and the Iliad of Homer is based on two different categories of sources, namely the archaeological and the literary ones, the last one being the result of an oral tradition which had preceded it. The present dissertation focuses on showing the information that can be derived from the Iliad of Homer that somehow has contributed to the archaeological interpretation and whether controversies were raised between those two kinds of sources from such a comparison, leading to a reflection about the question of either continuity or rupture of the cultural elements proper to the Mycenaean Civilization and that, in a certain way, are reflected on the later periods concerned.

More than sixty years after Michael Ventris’ decipherment of the Linear B script, 14 of its 87 syllabic signs still have no sound-values assigned to them. This group of ‘undeciphered’ signs represent a significant gap in our ability not only to read the Linear B script, but also to understand its development and use. Chapter 1 of this thesis analyses the origins and usage of signs with known sound-values to establish what types of values are in principle most likely to be found amongst the undeciphered signs: this investigation also enables an exploration of the development of Linear B, its relationship with its parent script Linear A, and the motivating factors underlying the creation of new Linear B signs. Chapter 2 consists of studies of each individual undeciphered sign, including a palaeographic analysis of their forms, discussion of their corpus of attestations, and an examination of their prospects of decipherment and possible sound-values in the light of the results of Chapter 1. Finally, Chapter 3 employs this group of signs in a case-study to explore the potential of palaeographic analysis to contribute to our understanding of wider issues concerning the Linear B script and its context of use within the Mycenaean palaces. This case-study focuses in particular on two main uses of palaeography: as a means of assigning a relative chronology to Linear B texts, and as evidence for the reconstruction of the Mycenaean scribes’ administrative work and training.

Através da pesquisa dos elementos verticais, presentes na maioria dos edifícios da cidade de Mália do período palacial (2300-1480 a.C.), temos como objetivo nesta dissertação de mestrado analisar a organização tridimensional das construções, tanto as privadas como as públicas. A investigação inicialmente parte das noções do conhecimento de todas propriedades e características desses mega-artefatos, os edifícios. Em seguida, busca identificar padrões e regularidades, analisando os materiais, as técnicas e as disposições das escadarias inseridas nas construções, para assim poder compreender o papel do elemento vertical na percepção do espaço entre os minóicos, a tridimensionalidade de seus edifícios, suas restrições e possíveis reestruturações de funções, pois o que restou dessas construções são apenas as rotas horizontais. Tenta-se identificar as concepções que levaram seus usuários a optar por verticalizar suas cidades. Esta pesquisa revela que os elementos verticais são essencias na paisagem em relação aos aspectos espaciais construídos; definem edifícios que se destacam e modificam o território onde viviam os minóicos. / Through the research of vertical elements, which are prevalent throughout the majority of the buildings in the palatial city of Malia (2300-1480 a.C.), we aim to analyze the spatial organization of tri-dimensional constructions, in both private and public buildings. The investigation is initially based on the notions of the knowledge of all the properties and characteristics of those mega-artefacts, the buildings. Then, identify patterns and regularities, analyzing the material, the techniques, and the layout of staircases built into the constructions, as to achieve a deeper understanding of the role the vertical element played in the perception of space among the minoans, their tridimensionality techniques, the restrictions and the possibility of restructuring functions, since what is left of the constructions is only the floor plan. We attempt to identify the conceptions that led the users to choose to make their cities vertical. This research shows how essential the vertical elements are in the landscape when built spacial aspects are concerned; they define buildings which stand out and modify the territories where the minoans lived.

Située dans le nord-est de l'Iran, au carrefour du plateau iranien et des steppes d'Asie Centrale, la plaine de Gorgân constitue, de par ses paysages et son climat, une région particulièrement favorable à l'installation humaine. Le site de Tureng Tépé, fouillé dans les années 1960-1970 par une équipe d'archéologues français, a livré une séquence d'occupation de plusieurs millénaires, depuis le chalcolithique jusqu'à l'époque moderne. L'étude stratigraphique et architecturale menée à partir des documents inédits issus des archives de fouille, a permis de reconstruire et de caractériser les occupations les plus anciennes du site, du Chalcolithique à l'Âge du Fer. Les niveaux archéologiques dégagés dans les secteurs du Petit Tépé et du Tépé Sud montrent ainsi une occupation continue depuis la fin du 4ème millénaire jusqu'au début du 2ème millénaire avant notre ère. L'Âge du Bronze Moyen est marqué par la construction d'une haute terrasse monumentales en briques dont une analyse architecturale approfondie a été réalisée. Par ailleurs, l'étude de plusieurs catégories d'artefacts montrent clairement l'existence de contacts et d'échanges longues distances entre d'une part les plaines de Gorgân et de Dâmghân, et d'autre part l'Asie Centrale méridionale, le Khorasan, et dans une moindre mesure les régions du sud-est du plateau iranien et du Baloutchistan. Après plusieurs siècles d'abandon, le site de Tureng Tépé est réoccupé à la fin de l'Âge du Fer II. Ces occupations, qui se distinguent clairement de celles de l'Âge du Bronze, sont représentés par une succession de fortifications reconstruites à plusieurs reprises. / Located in the northeast of Iran, at the crossroads of the Iranian plateau and the steppes of Central Asia, the Gorgân plain is, by the nature of its landscapes and climate, a particularly suitable region for human settlements. The site of Tureng Tépé, excavated in the years 1960-1970 by a team of French archaeologists, revealed an occupational sequence of several millennia since Chalcolithic until the modem time. The stratigraphic and architectural study conducted from unpublished documents from the excavation archives, permit us to reconstruct and characterize the oldest occupations of the site, from Chalcolithic to the Iron Age. The archaeological layers discovered in the areas of the Petit Tépé and the Tépé Sud demonstrate continuous occupation from the end of the 4th millennium to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Middle Bronze Age is marked by the construction of a large monumental brick terrace of which an in-depth architectural analysis has been carried out. In addition, the study of several categories of artifacts clearly shows the existence of long-distance contacts and exchanges between on the one band the plains of Gorgan and Damghan, and on the other hand South Central Asia and Khorasan and to a lesser extent the southeastem regions of the Iranian plateau and Baluchistan. After several centuries of abandonment, Tureng Tépé is reoccupied at the end of the Iron Age II. These occupations, which are clearly distinguishable from those of the Bronze Age, are represented by a succession of fortifications rebuilt several times.