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Crafts, Specialists, and Markets in Mycenaean Greece

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Crafts, Specialists, and Markets in Mycenaean Greece Crafts, Specialists, and Markets in Mycenaean Greece. Economic Interplay Among Households and States Author(s): Cynthia W. Shelmerdine Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 117, No. 3 (July 2013), pp. 447-452 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.117.3.0447 Accessed: 28-05-2015 19:08 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.117.3.0447?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference# references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 28 May 2015 19:08:27 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FORUM available online as open access Crafts, Specialists, and Markets in Mycenaean Greece Economic Interplay Among Households and States CYNTHIA W. SHELMERDINE Abstract naean scribes and thus not under palatial control.2 For This Forum has made progress on both its stated another, comparison of Mycenaean states has shown research themes: control of craft production and the that despite important similarities, they developed and newer topic of markets. My comments take up the issues operated differently—this is not surprising, given their of household economy, state control, and markets. First, 3 I discuss developments at the second-order center of different local histories and environments. Finally, it Nichoria, which show both independent activity and the should now be generally accepted that the redistribu- effect of incorporation into the state of Pylos. Excavation tive model is inadequate to characterize even those of another such settlement at Iklaina promises to support aspects of the Mycenaean economy that were under and expand on the findings from Nichoria. State control is tight palatial control. Even a binary palatial/nonpala- another subject for discussion; the evidence suggests some differences between prestige goods and ordinary pottery, tial formulation is too simple. In a recent compilation concerning both production and consumption. Finally, I of evidence, I suggested that “[a] more productive argue that the existence of markets is well supported by model is a continuum, with individuals and groups in- both archaeological and textual data. volved in various ways and to various degrees with the central palatial administration, from full dependence to greater or less interaction to no contact at all.”4 Chadwick’s The Mycenaean World introduced to the This wider and more flexible vision of Mycenaean world of Aegean studies a whole new field of inqui- economy is well exemplified by the contributors to this ry. His was the first general account of Late Bronze Forum. The palaces are rightly viewed as consumers, Age Greece based almost entirely on contemporary not just producers, and regional considerations are im- documentary evidence. He stressed that the Linear portant to the discussion. The stated focus here is on B tablets were palatial documents focused on matters craft specialization and markets. The first is well docu- of interest to the central administration. The palatial mented for the Mycenaean states, both textually and perspective naturally dominated subsequent research archaeologically. The second is a much newer topic in on Mycenaean economy and society for a time, but Aegean studies, but the discussion is now wide open. Chadwick readily acknowledged that this was only a Much in these papers deserves comment. There partial view of Mycenaean culture: “It is very hard from are some nice smaller points throughout. Parkinson our records to form a picture of the ordinary people et al. take the concept of one-stop shopping back to and imagine what sort of lives they led.”1 It was left to a the Bronze Age, proposing that there were regional later generation of scholars to look for traces of these centers for the production and distribution of multiple ordinary Mycenaeans outside the palaces and, to vary- products.5 Hruby reinforces Nakassis’ argument that ing degrees, outside the palatial economy. qe-ta-ko at Pylos was both a smith and a potter,6 by ob- This trend has been productive in several ways. For serving that both professions required expert control one thing, the thoughtful interplay between textual of firing conditions. As to the larger research themes, and archaeological research has heightened awareness all the contributors mention the need for more data of commodities and processes not monitored by Myce- from household contexts; all are concerned with the 1 Chadwick 1976, 77. 4 Shelmerdine 2011, 19. 2 Halstead 1992; Killen 1998; Whitelaw 2001. 5 Parkinson et al. 2013. 3 Shelmerdine 1999. 6 Nakassis 2006, 531; Hruby 2013. 447 American Journal of Archaeology 117 (2013) 447–52 This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Thu, 28 May 2015 19:08:27 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 448 CYNTHIA W. SHELMERDINE [AJA 117 profiles of the different Mycenaean states as both pro- notes.) Cooking tripods tell a similar story. As well as ducers and consumers; and all offer support of differ- the two from the megaron (P3637, P3638) mentioned ent kinds for the existence of markets. The study of by Aprile, there are two numbered examples from pottery in particular links these topics together. nonelite domestic contexts (P3735 from Deposit L23 In regard to household archaeology, Nichoria has OPfg Wall A; P3736 from Unit IV-6, Room 3).9 Like the until very recently offered the only opportunity in kylikes, they show that elites and nonelites at Nicho- Messenia to examine a second-order center and its ria had the same basic needs for routine vessels. The interaction with the palatial center. Aprile makes the sources, too, may be the same. Tripods at Nichoria most of this opportunity, though the data are not al- are of a distinctive Messenian shape, derived from ways up to the job.7 As I well remember from my own the Minoan type, with vertical handles below an in- part in this project, much of the material is scrappy; curving rim. They thus exhibit a regional preference prestige artifacts are rare in domestic deposits, and that extends across status boundaries. some parts of the hill remain unexcavated. Aprile Excavations now in progress at the settlement site of treats Late Helladic (LH) IIIA and IIIB together, Iklaina, under the auspices of the Archaeological So- citing the difficulty of analyzing diachronic change ciety at Athens, are certain to provide further material between the two periods. It would be useful to add for similar analysis.10 The site is probably to be identi- some chronological refinements, though, and this is fied with the district capital a-pu2-we mentioned in Lin- in fact possible in some cases. Several of the houses ear B tablets from Pylos. The Mycenaean history of the (Units III-2, III-6, IV-3, IV-6, IV-7) were remodeled site shows some parallels to that of Nichoria, including during LH IIIB, and different floor levels can be dis- a disjunction early in LH IIIA2 and subsequent con- tinguished. Taking such changes into account would struction of several houses. No sealstones have been require adding the level of intra-household analysis to found to date, but figurines are concentrated in a few the inquiry. But this is not necessary for considering specific contexts, and fragments of several miniature the crucial disjunction at the end of LH IIIA1. At that kylikes have also come to light. It will be important to point, the megaron (Unit IV-4) went out of use; most analyze the find contexts of both as study continues.11 of the household units in Areas III and IV, and also Household pottery, however, is distributed through- the tholos, were built subsequently, during LH IIIA2. out the excavated area without apparent status distinc- If these developments were a consequence of the as- tions. Fine wares are of the usual fabrics and shapes similation of Nichoria into the Pylian state, as seems (little decoration survives), but coarse wares tell a more likely,8 they are directly relevant to the comparison of interesting story. The tripods in all contexts are of the households at the site. It is also worth keeping in mind same Messenian shape as those from Nichoria. Two that a tomb assemblage is not strictly comparable to a coarse fabric types common in the Early Mycenaean domestic context, though both do document goods to period are unusual, without parallel at Nichoria or which a settlement had access. Thus, Aprile’s two elite even at Pylos; they seem to be quite local products. contexts, megaron and tholos, differ both functionally LH IIIA–B coarse fabrics are less distinctive, bearing and chronologically. out suggestions in this Forum that pottery production These points aside, Aprile’s results are interesting was carried out by fewer manufacturers working on a and helpful. Regarding household provisioning, she larger scale (see more below). finds little difference between the assemblages in the Aprile also notes distinctions in clay color at Nicho- megaron and those in the other houses, suggesting ria, for both pottery and figurines, as a possible mea- little distinction between elites and nonelites in the sure of elite status.12 It is true that there are two major acquisition of household goods.
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