This paper discusses Late Bronze Age maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to assess the effectiveness of recent theoretical models and proposing some updated perspectives. In particular the effective role of elites in the exchanges is assessed.
The rocky islet of Modi is situated SE of Poros on a sea route very important for navigation in the region. On the north steep sloppy bottom of Modi, at a depth of 27-40 meters, the cargo of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck was discovered, during an underwater research project carried out by the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology (HIMA), under the direction of the author.
This paper attempts to present the archaeological sites and cultural exchanges between the network of the Ionian Sea islands as stopping places of a long journey along the western coastline of Greece in the middle Mediterranean Sea through which people exchanged things, knowledge and experience.
The Minoans are rightly noted for their seafaring abilities. Their ships turned the Mediterranean Sea for them into a highway over which they interacted with far-flung contemporaneous cultures. To date, not a single Minoan/Cycladic hull has been found, however.
Covered slipways or, shipsheds' were a diagnostic feature of military harbours in the classical world. A new dimension has been added to the subject with the discoveries at Kommos in southern Crete.
Florens Felten, Claus Reinholdt, Eduard Pollhammer, Walter Gauss & Rudolfine SmetanaJahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 81 (2011): 47-72.
Work in 2010 at the ‘West Complex’ of Cape Kolonna was concerned with the East Street with a series of late Archaic occupation layers, the usage levels beneath these dating to the late Neolithic - Early Bronze Age period, and the concluding architectural recording of East Building 0-11
Κατά το Φθινόπωρο-Δεκέμβριο του 2011 συνεχίστηκε η συστηματική-εκπαιδευτική ανασκαφή του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων στην περιοχή του Κλασικού-Ελληνιστικού τεμένους στη θέση Πυργιακόνι, νοτιοανατολικώς της ακρόπολης των Κανακίων, με ιδιαίτερα σημαντικά αποτελέσματα.
Κατά το Φθινόπωρο-Δεκέμβριο του 2011 εξελίχθησαν, μετά από καθυστέρηση οφειλόμενη σε λογιστικούς λόγους, για δέκατο-όγδοο, κατά σειράν, χρόνο, οι συστηματικές ανασκαφικές και επιφανειακές έρευνες και άλλες εργασίες του Τομέα Αρχαιολογία και Ιστορίας της Τέχνης του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων στο νότιο τμήμα της Σαλαμίνας
The absolute chronology provided by the typology of the Greek Geometric pottery is a cornerstone in dating sites not only in Greece,but also in the central/western Mediterranean.
Caterina Scirè Calabrisotto, M. E. Fedi, L. Caforio & L. BombardieriRadiocarbon 54:3-4 (2012): 475-482.
The site area of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (Limassol, Cyprus) has been surveyed and systematically excavated since 2007 as a joint research project of the University of Florence and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus.
Sturt W. Manning & Bernd KromerRadiocarbon 54:3-4 (2012): 449-474.
The debate over the dating of the Santorini (Thera) volcanic eruption has seen sustained efforts to criticize or challenge the radiocarbon dating of this time horizon. We consider some of the relevant areas of possible movement in the 14C dating—and, in particular, any plausible mechanisms to support as late (most recent) a date as possible.
Felix HöflmayerRadiocarbon 54:3-4 (2012): 435-448.
Despite many recent attempts to settle the dispute concerning the absolute date of the Minoan Santorini eruption, there are still differences between some archaeologists and scientists on the absolute dates and the reliability of radiocarbon dating.
Malcolm H. WienerRadiocarbon 54:3-4 (2012): 423-434.
Radiocarbon dating encounters (1) problems of reservoir effects and regional/seasonal variation affecting the chronological reliability of measurements, (2) problems of calibration of measurements via comparison with tree segments of known dendrochronological dates,
Walter Kutschera, Manfred Bietak, Eva Maria Wild, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Michael Dee, Robin Golser, Karin Kopetzky, Peter Stadler, Peter Steier, Ursula Thanheiser & Franz WeningerRadiocarbon 54:3-4 (2012): 407-422.
Radiocarbon dating at the Tell el-Daba site in the Nile Delta has created an enigma for many years. Despite great efforts, the difference of about 120 yr between the chronology based on 14C dates and the one based on archaeological evidence linked to the Egyptian historical chronology has not been solved.
