The subject of this paper is the portrayal of funeral scenes in pictoral art of the Third Phase of Late Minoan and Late Helladic culture. The topic of this study is the iconography of pictoral vases and clay coffins (larnakes). However, in the attempt of their interpretation, the author also sometimes considers seals, frescoes and the like. Occasionally, he also uses data from other ancient cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. The goal of the Essay is to clarify some of the customs and worldview associated with death within the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.

Figures removed from thesis by author. The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 19, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Susan Langdon. Includes bibliographical references.

In this dissertation, I examine the relationship between environmental conditions and human activity in the landscape of the Argive Plain of Greece after the collapse of the Bronze Age palatial system (1200–750 B.C.). I use evidence from four locales: the Petsas House and the Lower Town at Mycenae, to the immediate northwest and southwest of the citadel respectively; the settlement at Chania, three kilometers downstream; and the Northwest Town of Tiryns, in the lower reaches of the plain. I apply micromorphological analysis (the microscopic analysis of soils and sediments) integrated with analysis of grain-size and soil chemistry (assessed by X-Ray Fluorescence and Fourier Transform Infrared) in order to place depositional events within the context of settlement change at the end of the Bronze Age. The climate had been drying during the Late Bronze. An earthquake ca. 1200 B.C. is concurrent with the beginning of the final period of occupation on the edge of the plain around Mycenae. Some accumulation of sandy muds, destabilized sediments from the largely abandoned citadel, is observed at Petsas House as well as in the Lower Town where, additionally, remains were buried by two deposits of red muddy gravels from uncultivated mountain slopes. The gravels are separated by a brief period of stability (less than a century) marked by a weak soil formation, and reached final equilibrium in the Early to Middle Geometric period (900–760 B.C.). At the same time, three kilometers downstream, similar red muddy gravels resulted in the interruption of activity at the settlement of Chania. Meanwhile, at Tiryns, 30 cm of sandy muds, also destabilized by drier conditions, were deposited over decaying mudbrick, implying that the site was already abandoned before sedimentation occurred. The burial of both Mycenae and Tiryns demonstrates the instability in the Argive landscape and the complications of relating these changes to settlement. In the environs of Mycenae, the sudden deposition of muddy gravels certainly brought about the abandonment at Chania, and possibly also in the Lower Town; while at Tiryns abandonment preceded accumulation. This study demonstrates how intensive geoarchaeological study must be a component in properly situating sites in their particular landscapes.

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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.

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.

When does a 'continuum' become a divide? My research investigates the genetic relationship between Linear A and Linear B (henceforth LA, LB), two Bronze Age scripts attested on Crete and Mainland Greece and understood to have developed one straight out of the other. By using an interdisciplinary methodology, I integrated linguistic, epigraphic, palaeographic and archaeological evidence, and placed the writing practice in its socio-historical setting. By challenging traditional views, my work has called into question widespread assumptions and interpretative schemes on this relationship. I carried out a systematic assessment of the structural characteristics underlying both systems and a palaeographic examination of their sign inventories. Built on these analyses, I put forward a more fluid model of script development, which takes LA and LB no longer as two separate scripts but as the very same one: the 'Aegean Linear Script'. Over time, this underwent only minimal adaptation when required to meet the needs of another language, arguably in view of the changing socio-political context. This new interpretation is in sharp contrast with the view traditionally held of a strong standardisation process having taken place, which sees LB as mere product of secondary script development. My conclusion has interesting implications not only for the history of the writing tradition on Crete, but also for our appreciation of the contemporary socio-historical context. This view, in turns, opens up new perspectives on the ideology associated with the retention of a script, matters of identity and how identity was negotiated at the very moment when Cretans and Greek-speaking Mainlanders came into closer contact in the Late Bronze Age. I have also noted that in this period the same scenario depicting soft adaptation of motives is witnessed on the side of material culture, displaying meaningful interplay and amalgamation of both Mainland and Cretan traditions.

This thesis is contains descriptions and definitions of the 2nd millennium BC tholos tomb architecture in Mainland Greece. The study area is divided into eight regions: Peloponnessos, Central Greece, Epirus, Attica, Euboea, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace. The time period of earliest tomb dated between 2000-1675 BC and the latest between 1320-1160 BC. Attention has been put on issues of typological characteristics, construction technique and stone materials of the tholos tombs.

This thesis is a study of textile production in the Late Bronze Age, using new evidence uncovered by excavations at Ancient Eleon in Boeotia, Greece. Textile production is a nearly forgotten art. To the Mycenaeans of the Greek Late Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1100 BCE) textiles were nearly a form of currency, and a symbol of power. This thesis begins by examining the Mycenaean administration of textile production, which was systematically controlled by the palatial centres of Greece and Crete. Linear B documents record resources and workers under palatial control, and the amounts of cloth that they were expected to produce. The Mycenaean palace at Thebes was the administrative centre that controlled the region of eastern Boeotia, including sites such as Eleon. No document directly links textile production at Eleon to Thebes, but other Theban tablets and the two sites’ close proximity suggest a similar relationship to other Mycenaean centres and their dependents. Usually, ancient textiles from Greece do not survive in the archaeological record. The only evidence that remains is the Linear B archives and the tools of production. Linear B tablets have not been found at Eleon, but many spindle whorls for yarn production, loom weights for weaving, and other tools indicating the production of textiles have been recovered from the site. This thesis discusses the significance of these objects and attempts to place Eleon in the greater context of the Mycenaean textile industry. / Graduate

No description available.