The Prehistoric Aegean Terminology Chronology archaeological

The Prehistoric Aegean Terminology & Chronology

archaeological vs. political • Near East • Middle East • Anatolia • Turkey • Mesopotamia • Levant • Iraq & Eastern Syria • Israel, Jordan, (Palestine) Syria & Lebanon

Middle/Near East

Stone Age • Old Palaeolithic 25, 000 -8, 300 bc • Middle Mesolithic 8, 300 -6, 500 bc • New Neolithic 6, 500 -3, 100 bc

Bronze Age Arthur Evans, Knossos, 1921 -1935 Tripartite division of Bronze Age Early Bronze Age EBA Middle Bronze Age MBA Late Bronze Age LBA • Cp. Old, Middle, New Kingdom in Egypt

Greece

Regional Bronze Age Nomenclature Crete Minoan (Minos - mythical king) Cyclades Cycladic (Aegean island chain) Mainland Helladic (Hellas = Greece) • Early EBA • Middle MBA • Late LBA EM EC EH (3100 -2000) MM MC MH (2000 -1650) LM LC LH (1600 -1050)

Alternative Minoan Chronology (Palaces of Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia & Zakro) • Pre-palatial EM I - MM IA (ca. 3100/3000 -1925/1900 B. C. ) • Protopalatial (Old Palace) MM IB - MM IIB (ca. 1925/1900 -1750/1720 B. C. ) • Neopalatial (New Palace) MM IIIA - LM IB (ca. 1750/1720 -1490/1470 B. C. ) • Post-palatial LM IIIA-C (ca. 1490/1470 -1075/1050 B. C. )

Greece

Prehistory vs. history • • • Palaeolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Dark/Iron Age • • • Archaic Classical Hellenistic Roman Byzantine

The Peoples • Greeks, Mycenaeans, Danaans, Argives, Achaeans • Trojans, Dardans • Trojan Allies: Zeleians, Paeonians, Ciconians, Thracians, Phrygians, Mysians, Maeonians, Carians, Lycians, Pelasgians, Paphlagonians

Hittite Empire • Cuneiform script & Luwian Hieroglyphics adapted for Hittite language • Wilusa, Ilios, Ilium • Taruisa, Tarwiza, Troy • Ahhiya(wa), Achaea

Hittite Evidence… • Troy, Ilium, & Achaea real places! • Homeric World gains credibility • So what do we know about Greek Prehistory from Archaeological Evidence?

Beginning of Bronze Age in Greece • Agricultural population • Metal-working from Anatolia? • Fast-spinning potter’s wheel

Early Helladic Sites: Lerna & Tsoungiza

Tsoungiza: House A • • Wall 1. 1 m thick Why so thick? Room 0. 9 m wide Why so wide?

House A Reconstruction • 1 Room 0. 9 m wide

Corridor Houses of EHII

• House of Tiles Distribution • Same dimensions, different sizes • Shared Culture? • Organized Relationships?

• EHII Architecture • Common Design • Megaron style

EH Agriculture • EHII figurine • Domestic animals

Complex Culture: fine pottery & quality metalwork

EHII Sealings from Lerna’s House of Tiles • Personal Property • Social Hierarchy • Trade

• Massive fortification walls at EHII Lerna, • Jutting Towers • Approaches force exposure of weapon side - conscious of serious threat?

Lerna Fortifications

Invasion? • EHII destructions widespread, coupled with major cultural changes • Switch from orthogonal corridor houses to mostly apsidal houses in EHIII • Disappearance of popular EHII pottery shapes • Collapse of complex society • Depopulation of surrounding areas

EHIII Apsidal House

EHII Sauceboats disappear

New Pottery Types: Pattern-painted, heavy dark-burnished

? ? ? ? • Who are these people? • Where do they come from?