Beyond Thalassocracies: Understanding processes of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation in the Aegean

Beyond Thalassocracies aims to evaluate and rethink the manner in which archaeologists approach, understand, and analyse the various processes associated with culture change connected to interregional contact, using as a test case the world of the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1100 BC). The 14 chapters compare and contrast various aspects of the phenomena of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation, both of which share the basic underlying defining feature of material culture change in communities around the Aegean. This change was driven by trends manifesting themselves in the dominant palatial communities of each period of the Bronze Age. Over the past decade, our understanding of how these processes developed and functioned has changed considerably. Whereas current discussions on Minoanisation have already been informed by more recent theoretical trends, especially in material culture studies and post‐colonial theory, the process of Mycenaeanisation is still very much conceptualised along traditional lines of explanation. Since these phenomena occurred in chronological sequence, it makes sense that any reappraisal of their nature and significance should target those regions of the Aegean basin that were affected by both processes, highlighting their similarities and differences. Thus, in the present volume we focus on the southern and eastern Aegean, in particular the Cyclades, Dodecanese, and the north-eastern Aegean islands.

Table of Contents:
Preface Contributors 1.  Introduction – Methodological considerations Evi Gorogianni, Peter Pavúk & Luca Girella   2.  The Nature of Minoan and Mycenaean Involvement in the Northeastern Aegean Luca Girella & Peter Pavúk   3.  Minoanisation, Mycenaeanisation, and Mobility: a View from Southwest Anatolia Jana Mokrišová   4.  Discerning Acculturation at Miletus: Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation Amy Raymond, Ivonne Kaiser, Laura-Concetta Rizzotto &  Julien Zurbach   5. Cultural Entanglements on Kos during the Late Bronze Age: A Comparative Analysis of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation at the “Serraglio”, Eleona, and Langada Salvatore Vitale   6.  Melos in the Middle: Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation at Late Bronze Age Phylakopi Jason W. Earle   7.  Neither far from Knossos nor close to Mycenae. Naxos in the Middle and Late Bronze Age Aegean Andreas Vlachopoulos   8.  Keian, Kei-noanised, Kei-cenaeanised? Interregional Contact and Identity in Ayia Irini, Kea Evi Gorogianni   9.  Adoption and Adaptation in Pottery Production Practices: Investigating Cycladic Community Interactions through the Ceramic Record of the Second Millennium BC Natalie Abell & Jill Hilditch   10.  Fashioning Identity: Weaving Technology, Dress and Cultural Change in the Middle and Late Bronze Age Southern Aegean Joanne Cutler   11.  Mycenaeanisation in Thessaly. A Study in Differential Acculturation Bryan Feuer   12.  Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation: A Commentary Carl Knappett   13.  The Mycenaeanisation Process Michael L. Galaty   Index

About the Author :
Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology, Charles University in Prague. Habilitation in Archaeology, Comenius University in Bratislava. Holder of Michael Ventris Memorial Award, University of London (2011).

Review :
...will stimulate and interest readers from a range of archaeological subject areas. Here, the editors have collected together an excellent set of papers, bookended by a thorough introduction and two challenging summary papers, which present useful evidence while engaging critically with important questions.