ARTICLES | 2009
New light on old pumice: The origins of Mediterranean volcanic material from ancient Egypt
Journal of Archaeological Science 36.8 (August 2009): 1738-1744.
This paper presents and discusses the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) results newly obtained from pumice pieces found decades ago at the Egyptian sites of Maiyana, Sedment, Kahun, and Amarna – now in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London – which could be successfully related to several volcanic eruptions in the Mediterranean. The work contributes to the constant accumulation of knowledge concerning the first appearance of pumice from the so-called Minoan eruption of the Santorini volcano.Approaching Levantine shores. Aspects of Cretan contacts with Western Asia during the MM-LM I periods
Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens VI (2009): 9-55.
This article presents an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the foreign relations of Crete towards the Levant and beyond, from their first encounter to the end of the New Palace Period, with the main focus on the MM-LM I periods. The archaeological material indicates contacts during the EM II and from the MM I period onwards, whilst the textual evidence strongly indicates direct royal connections perhaps from the Old Palace Period or early New Palace Period, and furthermore offers a mythological remembrance of these contacts during the Late Bronze Age.The Ayia Triadha cave, Southern Euboea: Finds and implications of the earliest human habitation in the area (a preliminary report)
The Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry (MAA) 9:2 (2009): 47-59.
The Ayia Triadha cave excavation project aims to explore early maritime connections in the Aegean during the Late Neolithic I and II and the Early Bronze Age. The cave lies in a strategic position close to the crossroads that connect insular regions and the mainland. We also aim to explore the manifestations of the so-called Saliagos culture of the Cyclades and the Aegean. This culture is connected to the White-on-Dark pottery horizon (late sixth to early fifth millennium B.C.) found in the cave.
La città ellenica sovrapposta al palazzo minoico di Festo in Creta (con Appendici nn. 1-3) (The Greek town superimposed on the Minoan palace of Phaistos in Crete)
Creta Antica 10/I (2009): 37-47.
This typed-script is the transcription of a lecture given by Pernier at Berlin, in April 1929, on the occasion of the jubilee of the DAI. The lecture was published the following year, in German, in a periodical of limited distribution, which is therefore difficult to find. It is undoubtedly a popularising work, which contains a series of otherwise unpublished information about the most recent phases of the Phaistian settlement. Attention is focused on the cisterns and water catchment system in general, with the clear intention of proposing a sort of continuum between the palatial and Hellenistic periods.Per Luigi Pernier (con Appendice dal primo taccuino cretese) (For Luigi Pernier)
Creta Antica 10/I (2009): 19-35.
This paper re-examines the opinions so far expressed about the person and work of L. Pernier, excavator and editor of the ruins of the palace at Phaistos. His positivistic formation as a field archaeologist is emphasized, together with his objectivity and with the decisions made about the restoration of the ruins of the palace, which were opposite to the line followed by Evans at Knossos.Il disco di Festòs: un centenario autentico! (The Phaistos disc: an authentic centenary!)
Creta Antica 10/I (2009): 13-17.
This paper originates in the recent resumption of the debate about the presumed falsity of the Phaistos disk, and aims at demonstrating that it is indeed authentic. The claims about the particular ‘psychological’ relationship between Pernier and Halbherr are demonstrated to be lacking in foundations, and decisive proof for the authenticity of the discovery is looked for in Pernier’s excavation daybooks. The time and circumstance of the discovery, the character of the persons involved and the preliminary remarks written by Pernier allow any hypothesis about the falsity of the disk to be categorically refuted.Rites of passage for young children in Mycenaean Greece
Childhood in the Past: An International Journal 1.1 (January 2009): 38-48.
This paper considers whether there is any evidence of rites of passage, the ceremonies commemorating significant stages in the life of a child, which can be identified in Mycenaean Greece. The conclusion is drawn that, despite a comparative scarcity of evidence from the Mycenaean period, there were events in a Mycenaean child’s life which can plausibly be compared with landmarks in the life of Athenian children in the Classical period.Le singe dans le monde minoen et cycladique
Res Antiquae 6 (2009): 305-322.
The representations of monkeys are numerous in the Minoan and Theran art although the monkey is not an animal native of the Aegean. Introduced from Egypt, probably via the Levant, first as iconographic motif, afterwards as real animals, the monkey became a pet and even found a place in the Minoan and Cycladic religion.The emergence and development of a round building tradition in the Aegean and Crete
The Mediterranean Archaeology & Archaeometry (MAA) 9.1 (2009): 89-113.
This paper examines the emergence of the non-submerged type of round building in the settlements of prehistoric Aegean, including Crete. It complements our earlier discussion of the Minoan evidence that concentrated on the properties of architectural form and the cultural semantics of its perishable structure. This work explores the common characteristics that this particular architectural genre acquires in the prehistoric communities of the Greek mainland, the Aegean islands and Crete, along with the features that seem to demarcate distinct chronological and geographical groupings.Trading implements in early Troy: In memoriam Professor Manfred Korfmann
Anatolian Studies 59 (2009): 19-50.
The traditional view of Troy as a kind of central site presupposes balance weights and other artefacts that attest weighing procedures among the excavated material. Indeed, already in the works of Homer it is possible to find references to premonetary aspects (for example, the gold standard τάλαντον). The main purpose of this investigation is to provide an archaeological view on the issue of trading implements and their significance in early Troy.The treasure deposits of Troy: rethinking crisis and agency on the Early Bronze Age citadel
Anatolian Studies 59 (2009): 1-18.
The treasure deposits of Troy have been largely studied in isolation from both architectural developments and other depositional contexts in Troia II—III. The corpus has been perceived as little more than a catalogue of information that can be assessed to outline various trends related to metallurgical production, expanding networks of exchange and fluctuations in economic wealth. Considerations of agency have been few and limited. This study relates the content and context of the treasures to depositional and architectural patterns that begin in Troia II.Phases of childhood in Early Mycenaean Greece
Childhood in the Past: An International Journal 2.1 (April 2009): 15-32.
The paper examines the question of whether or not it is possible to distinguish age grades within childhood in Early Mycenaean Greece. The analysis centres upon burial evidence from the Argolid, the core-area of Mycenaean civilisation, from where the largest amount of material suitable for such an analysis is available. The study concludes that on the basis of the available evidence three major phases can be identified within childhood - up until 1-2 years; 1-2 to 5-6 years and post 5-6 years. These approximate age grades, however, appear to have been somewhat fluid and changed over time.Wilusa: Reconsidering the evidence
Klio 91 (2009): 291-310.
A wide consensus among archaeologists and classicists today prevails that Ilios of the Homeric epics should be identified with the hill of Hisarlik. Moreover, a growing number of Hittitologists tends to believe, with less hesitance than before, that Taruisa of the Hittite texts should be identified with Troy and Wilusiya/Wilusa with (F)Ilios. A strong argument in favour of this view is, among others, the striking similarity between the names of the Wilusan ruler Alaksandu and Homeric Alexander (the second name of the unfortunate Trojan hero Paris).Life and death in the periphery of the Mycenaean world: Cultural processes in the Albanian Late Bronze Age
Ocnus 17 (2009): 11-22.
The identification and description of the Mycenaean type objects found in the late Bronze Age contexts of Albanian sites has been object of several previous publications. As objects that stand out from the characteristic types of the local cultures, the finds of Mycenaean types have received particular attention. They have served extensively in the establishment of the late Bronze Age, early Iron Age chronologies as well as in the characterization of some form of contacts between the Aegean and Albanian territories in the later prehistory.