Mycenaean Texts and Tombs: A Contradictory Picture? (20 min)

Presenters

Sophie Cushman, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

According to traditional scholarly narratives, Mycenaean civilization was characterized by redistributive states in which palaces controlled large amounts of territory and formed the peak of a rigid social and economic hierarchy. This model is based both on the corpus of surviving Linear B documents and the archaeological remains of Late Bronze Age citadels, settlements, and especially tombs. However, several studies of the Linear B texts have suggested that redistribution was actually limited, and that the direct palatial control of resources was rather selective. The mortuary evidence, on the other hand, has not yet been sufficiently reexamined in light of this new perspective. On the contrary, the decrease in the material wealth of tombs that has been observed in the Palatial period remains primarily understood as confirming the complete control of the palace over other sites.

This paper addresses these apparent tensions between the textual and the tomb evidence. First, I summarize text-based scholarly models that support the idea of a more flexible political economy. I then turn to the archaeological data from three chamber tomb cemeteries at different levels of the sociopolitical hierarchy of the Late Bronze Age Argolid: the Third Kilometer Cemetery outside Mycenae, the secondary center of Aidonia, and the lower-level site of Agia Sotira. Through a diachronic examination of tomb assemblages and secondary burial practices, I argue there was an increase in the complexity and diversity of mortuary ritual in the Palatial period. I suggest that this should be interpreted from the perspective of local burying groups as they adapted their funerary traditions in response to the increased authority of the palace at Mycenae. In this way, I bring the tomb evidence into dialogue with broader trends in Mycenaean studies focused on the role of individuals and groups within the palatial system.

  AIA-8B