“Mycenaean” political domination of Knossos following the Late Minoan IB destructions on Crete: negative evidence from strontium isotope ratio analysis (87Sr/86Sr)

Tracing population mobility in the Aegean using isotope geochemistry: a first map of local biologically available 87Sr/86Sr signatures

“…The protocol followed is principally that described by Nafplioti (2008). As of January 2008, the author introduced a small modification to the procedure at the stage of the acetic acid cleaning of samples for the removal of diagenetic strontium.…”

“…Price et al, 1994;Price et al, 2000Price et al, , 2002Bentley, 2006;Evans et al, 2006aEvans et al, , 2006bSlovak et al, 2009), it is only recently that it began to be used in archaeological research in the Aegean (Nafplioti, 2007(Nafplioti, , 2008(Nafplioti, , 2009a(Nafplioti, , 2009b(Nafplioti, , 2010Richards et al, 2008), pioneered by the author. However, the single biggest obstacle to the further development of this research field in the Aegean remains the lack of a map of biologically available isotope signatures in the region, such as those generated by Bentley and Knipper (2005) for southern Germany, Evans et al (2009) for the Isle of Skye (Scotland), and Evans et al (2010) for Britain.…”

Human osteoarchaeology in Greece: research themes, challenges and potential

“…Among the key questions she sought to answer was the extent to which the Late Minoan IB destruction witnessed on Crete was the result of incoming Mycenaean groups from mainland Greece. Nafplioti (2008) found that all individuals dating to the time immediately following the Late Minoan II period from Knossos (Crete) were born locally, thus supporting the idea that developments on Crete were the result of local processes rather than due to an influx from mainland Greece. Although the majority of isotope studies on mobility in Greece and elsewhere have employed strontium isotopes, alternative analytical options exist.…”

“…The skeletal elements represented in these cremations consist mostly of cranial bones and right radii and ulnae, suggesting an intentional selection of these elements for reburial. The investigations of two chamber-tomb cemeteries in Barnavos (Wright et al 2008) and Agia Sotira Nemea (ID747, ID288; Smith et al 2013;), between 2001-2008 respectively, adopted for the first time the active involvement of a human-bone specialist on-site so that macroscopic observations concerning the accurate location of the human body within the burial context and the taphonomic processes that took place after the final deposition were thoroughly recorded and documented. The ongoing excavations of two house-tomb cemeteries in eastern Crete at Sisi (ID6048, ID2824, ID1912, ID1800, ID775; Crevecoeur and Schmitt 2009;Crevecoeur et al 2015) and Kephala Petras, Siteia (ID1793; Triantaphyllou 2017a) and of a tholos tomb at Koumasa in the Mesara plain in central Crete (ID4436, ID5438) have shed new light on aspects linking the manipulation of the dead to the social context of the living communities.…”

Agency Matters: Seal-Users in Pylian Administration

“…At the current state of archaeological and scientific research, it is inconclusive whether these strategies reflect a change induced by ethnicity (King et al. 2008, 212; Nafplioti 2008, 2315–16) or the establishment of a specific set of insignia associated with warfare and participation in the palace administration (Driessen and Langohr 2007, 188–9). Nevertheless, the use of hereditary emblems, such as the aforementioned heirloom signets, is generally promoted by unstable social conditions in stratified societies (Davis 1985, 152), a situation indicated by the LM II–IIIB mortuary dataset (Preston 2004, 321).…”