The Late Bronze Age Daggers Of The Aegean I

A systematic catalogue; after an introduction and brief summary of research the author lists the material, arranging it typologically. He follows this with a wide-ranging discussion of problems concerning material and technique, decoration, function, foreign affinities, distribution and chronology. Very good illustrations.

At the heart of this study of the history of the sword and dagger in Canaan between c.1550 and 1000 BC lies a catalogue of 190 examples, all of which are illustrated. The catalogue supports a detailed discussion of typology. Ten types are identified by their tang and hilt shape as well as their cultural influences from Egypt and the Aegean. A final synthesis considers technological and social aspects of the daggers and swords, usually found as grave goods, such as what they reveal about Canaanite burial customs, metalworking and contact with Egypt.

Recently, our understanding of metals and metallurgy in the Early Bronze Age Aegean has been dominated by studies which focus on the circulation and provenance of metals. Over the last decade the study of early metallurgy in the Aegean has witnessed dramatic developments with ever earlier and more detailed evidence for metal production being discovered in the field. Paralleling these field studies are a wealth of new laboratory analyses relating to the material aspects of metal production. This diverse new data when coupled with recent theoretical approaches now allow for significant shifts in our understanding of this important aspect of Aegean prehistory. Since few studies of metallurgy have extended beyond typological analysis of artefacts, the circulation of raw materials and the detailing of technical processes, metallurgy in the Aegean Early Bronze Age was made a subject of discussion at the Sheffield Centre for Aegean Archaeology's Round Table. This volume contains fifteen papers which address aspects of mining smelting and artefact production from a range of theoretical perspectives. It represents the first publication of many of the key details from numerous newly discovered sites. Contributors include Yannis Bassiakos, Phillip Betancourt, Mihalis Catapotis, Peter M. Day, Nota Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, Roger Doonan, Myrto Georgakopoulou, Jim Muhly, Georgia Nakou, Olga Philaniotou-Hadjianastasiou, Sue Sherratt, Metaxia Tsipopoulou, Yiannis Papadatos and David E. Wilson.

The years c. 1250 to 1150 BC in Greece and the Aegean are often characterised as a time of crisis and collapse. A critical period in the long history of the region and its people and culture, they witnessed the end of the Mycenaean kingdoms, with their palaces and Linear B records, and, through the Postpalatial period, the transition into the Early Iron Age. But, on closer examination, it has become increasingly clear that the period as a whole, across the region, defies simple characterisation – there was success and splendour, resilience and continuity, and novelty and innovation, actively driven by the people of these lands through this transformative century. The story of the Aegean at this time has frequently been incorporated into narratives focused on the wider eastern Mediterranean, and most infamously the ‘Sea Peoples’ of the Egyptian texts. In twenty-five chapters written by 25 specialists, Collapse and Transformation instead offers a tight focus on the Aegean itself, providing an up-to date picture of the archaeology ‘before’ and ‘after’ ‘the collapse’ of c. 1200 BC. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions, as well as providing data and a range of interpretations to those studying collapse and resilience more widely and engaging in comparative studies. Introductory chapters discuss notions of collapse, and provide overviews of the Minoan and Mycenaean collapses. These are followed by twelve chapters, which review the evidence from the major regions of the Aegean, including the Argolid, Messenia, and Boeotia, Crete, and the Aegean islands. Six chapters then address key themes: the economy, funerary practices, the Mycenaean pottery of the mainland and the wider Aegean and eastern Mediterranean region, religion, and the extent to which later Greek myth can be drawn upon as evidence or taken to reflect any historical reality. The final four chapters provide a wider context for the Aegean story, surveying the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus and the Levant, and the themes of subsistence and warfare.