AEGEAN LECTURES | 2017
A Villager’s Tale: The incorporation of a settlement in the Nemea Valley into the territory of Mycenae during the Late Bronze Age
British School at Athens, Upper House (Souedias 52, Kolonaki, Athens)
In this lecture we present the results of the excavation of the small settlement of Tsoungiza in the Nemea Valley and its changing relationship to the nearby capital of Mycenae during the Late Bronze Age in Greece, roughly from 1700-1200 BCE. The systematic excavations revealed a continuous occupation with significant evidence of the agrarian basis of the community and eventual incorporation into the territory of Mycenae. This lecture examines the evidence of these developments through discussion of the discoveries from cemeteries, households, plant cultivation, animal husbandry, tool use, and ceramic consumption. It illustrates both how settlements in territories existed in their landscapes and how the palaces annexed their landscapes to create an administered territory.