The Mycenaeans in Italy: a minimalist position

Abstract

Gli ultimi cinque decenni hanno visto un forte incremento del numero dei siti che in Italia hanno restituito frammenti di ceramica micenea. L'elevata presenza attribuita ai Micenei ha incoraggiato la teoria che furono loro ad innescare gli sviluppi sociali sperimentati in Italia alla fine dell'età del Bronzo. Concentrandosi sull'evidenza ceramica, questo contributo assume una posizione minimalista, sostenendo che le relazioni tra i Micenei e le genti d'Italia erano infrequenti, di piccola scala e avevano, al massimo, un impatto circoscritto in aree limitate. Comunque, esiste una marcata variabilità nella distribuzione della ceramica micenea in Italia, sia geografica sia cronologica, con nessuna chiara coerenza nelle azioni e risposte micenee e italiche.L'evidenza suggerisce che i Micenei non trassero molto giovamento dalle visite, che per questo divennero meno frequenti. In aggiunta i Micenei non ebbero la capacità di fare più che commerci di oggetti e prodotti con l'Italia, e così ebbero scarsa influenza su altri settori della vita.

Feasting at Roca: Cross-Cultural Encounters and Society in the Southern Adriatic during the Late Bronze Age

“…This view is based on the distribution of imported or locally imitated Aegean-type pottery (a material that represents the quintessential evidence for Late Bronze Age connectivity), and most notably on the comparison of the different amounts uncovered west and east of Greece. While this kind of material is plentiful in Egypt and in the Levant, its attestation to the west is much more sparse, indicating the sporadic nature of contact and the limited importance of its consequences (Blake (2008); a similar view is expressed also by Sherratt, 1999). However, Blake's argument does not take into consideration a fundamental aspect for the assessment of the importance of any archaeologically detectable phenomenon-this relates to the units of consumption of any archaeological material.…”

From Networks to Society: Pottery Style and Hegemony in Bronze Age Southern Italy

“…At the level of analysis of the individual community, special attention will be devoted to the record from the coastal site of Roca. This is one of the best explored sites in the region, as well as the one that has produced the largest evidence for long-range interaction with the Aegean world, mostly in the form of copious imported and locally imitated Aegean-type ceramics (about 5000 finds, corresponding to about a half of the total amount recovered in the whole Central Mediterranean: see Blake 2008;Pagliara 2005).…”

The aid of Bayesian radiocarbon modeling in assessing the chronology of Middle Bronze Age Sicily at the site level. A case study

“…Imports came from different geographical and cultural areas, such as Late Helladic (LH) Greece (Alberti, 2012;Blake, 2008;Jung, 2006;Smith, 1987;Taylour, 1958Taylour, , 1980Vagnetti, 1991;Van Wijngaarden, 2002;Vianello, 2005), Cyprus (Alberti, 2008b(Alberti, , 2014aKarageorghis, 1995;Vagnetti, 2001), Malta (Tanasi, 2008), Sardinia (Albanese et al, 2004;Levi, 2004), and Italian mainland (Alberti, 2012;Bernabò Brea and Cavalier, 1959, 1968, 1980Martinelli, 2005Martinelli, , 2011. It is likely that central Mediterranean people were active in eastern shores, as some (admittedly scant) evidence would indicate (Alberti, 2008b;Jung, 2009).…”