Maritime Networks in the Mycenaean World

Abstract

In this book, Thomas F. Tartaron presents a new and original reassessment of the maritime world of the Mycenaean Greeks of the Late Bronze Age. By all accounts a seafaring people, they enjoyed maritime connections with peoples as distant as Egypt and Sicily. These long-distance relations have been celebrated and much studied; by contrast, the vibrant worlds of local maritime interaction and exploitation of the sea have been virtually ignored. Dr Tartaron argues that local maritime networks, in the form of 'coastscapes' and 'small worlds', are far more representative of the true fabric of Mycenaean life. He offers a complete template of conceptual and methodological tools for recovering small worlds and the communities that inhabited them. Combining archaeological, geoarchaeological and anthropological approaches with ancient texts and network theory, he demonstrates the application of this scheme in several case studies. This book presents new perspectives and challenges for all archaeologists with interests in maritime connectivity.

Transforming Culture on an Insula Portunalis: Port Cities as Central Places in Early Roman Cyprus

“…The landward limit of the coastscape is often defined by ridges or mountains that block views to the interior and impede easy passage; (3) the inshore waters that are used on a daily basis for economic and social purposes; and (4) the visual seascape, the everyday field of view that defines the cognitive horizon in the seaward direction in recognition of a continuous cognitive landscape for which the land-sea interface is no boundary. [42] 188Considering the foregoing discussion of the interpretive value accrued from approaching port cities' archaeology as one involving both terrestrial and maritime remains within a uniquely coastal landscape, the following analysis of port cities as central places in Early Roman Cyprus attempts to integrate such a panoptic perspective. In doing so, it considers the archaeological remains of Cyprus' maritime cultural landscape (e.g., shipwrecks, harbor structures, and the ceramic evidence for maritime trade; see also Reference [12] (pp.…”

“…Although Roman era ships could sail into the wind, sea routes from Salamis towards the mainland, especially to the east and northeast, would have been aided by the prevailing daytime southwesterly winds (especially in the summer and fall) [48] (pp. [38][39][40][41][42][43], as well as the coastal currents, which flow to the north and east [34] (p. 349). By the Archaic (eighth to sixth centuries BC) and Classical (fifth to fourth centuries BC) periods, Salamis had transformed into one of Cyprus' most prosperous cities and harbors, likely due to its role in exporting copper from the interior [49] (pp.…”

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

“…This coming into fashion has easily recognizable historical reasons, the most obvious being the neutrality of its meaning, more in tune with the incorporeal exchange of data that dominates our lives in the age of the internet (Knappett 2013a). Predictably, this trend has been particularly important in contexts such as the late prehistory and ancient history of the Mediterranean, for which communication is a crucial factor (Blake 2014;Blake & Knapp 2005;Broodbank 2013;Knappett 2011;Malkin 2011;Tartaron 2013;Van Dommelen & Knapp 2010;. Within this general trend, networks became the perfect metaphor to be employed.…”

The islands of the Saronic Gulf: connections & cultural histories

“…Another project which completed at the turn of the decade was SHARP, the Saronic Harbours Archaeological Research Project, directed by Daniel Pullen and Thomas Tartaron under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ID250, ID910, ID1412, ID1887). Although the main focus of this project lies beyond the islands on the site of Mycenaean Kalamianos on the Argolic peninsula, a monograph published by Tartaron (2013) as part of SHARP contains significant information about connections of the prehistoric Saronic Gulf (most notably Kolonna on Aegina) to important local and long-range trade networks. The seventh chapter of this volume reviews the archaeological evidence from Kolonna for each phase between Early Helladic II and Late Helladic IIIB, and also explores the networks -around and beyond the Saronic Gulf -in which Kolonna operated (mainly by looking at the distribution of pottery exports).…”