Ordinary people in the flow of history. Tomb 6 from the Trapeza cemetery, Aigion, and the Mycenaeans in Eastern Achaea

Elisabetta Borgna & Gaspare De Angeli Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente 97 (2019): 26-57

After a short survey of current researches in the field of archaeology of death in the framework of Mycenaean studies, some results of the 2018 campaign at the Trapeza cemetery near Aigion, Achaea, are presented. The research is carried out in the framework of the archaeological project directed by A.G. Vordos for the Greek Ministry of Culture at the archaeological area of the Trapeza sanctuary. The exploration of Tomb 6, which distinguishes itself for some features related to both dimensions and building techniques, permits to verify and better detail some patterns that have been already tested for both the diachronic occupation and the cultural relationships. Differently from what has been discovered thus far, the evidence related to the earliest funerary cycle or the early palatial period suggests that the cemetery was used by a group including certain emergent social components, possibly connected to the palatial elites. In the contribution a tentative processual interpretation of the history of the tomb (LH IIIA 1/A 2-LH IIIC/SM) is put forward according to a stratigraphic and contextual approach. In the following discussion, a large part is devoted to the explanation of a group of bronzes belonging to the earliest cycle of use, which may contribute to the debate on the role of eastern Achaea in the Mycenaean geography and its relationships with the palaces.