UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Critical Commodities: Tracing Greek Trade in Oil and Wine from the Late Bronze Age to the Archaic Period Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6k01n1ht Author Pratt, Catherine Elizabeth Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Critical Commodities: Tracing Greek Trade in Oil and Wine from the Late Bronze Age to the Archaic Period A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology by Catherine Elizabeth Pratt 2014 © Copyright by Catherine Elizabeth Pratt 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Critical Commodities: Tracing Greek Trade in Oil and Wine from the Late Bronze Age to the Archaic Period by Catherine Elizabeth Pratt Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Sarah P. Morris, Chair Most studies of the Greek oil and wine industry focus either on the Late Bronze Age or the Classical Period, rarely mentioning the Early Iron Age (so often cast as a “Dark Age”) between the two. This dissertation attempts to fill this gap by investigating evidence for the continuity of a surplus economy between the Late Bronze Age and the Archaic period. Specifically, I examine what type of oil and wine economy existed in the Late Bronze Age (LBA), how this economy continued into the Early Iron Age (EIA), and how the Early Archaic period built upon these previously established, though smaller-scale, socio-economic networks. Using data on the production, distribution, and consumption of large ceramic liquid transport containers, this study examines how the interaction between oil and wine manufacturers and central authority changed or remained constant during these periods of Greek antiquity. The first chapter puts transport containers into a context of oil and wine production in ii the LBA by discussing the available archaeological and written evidence. This in-depth look at the importance of wine and oil in the LBA sets the stage for the following chapters. The second chapter focuses on the most popular Greek transport jar of the LBA, the transport stirrup jar (TSJ). An examination of the production strategies of TSJs, their distribution throughout the Mediterranean, and their patterns of deposition within different regions, suggests that TSJs functioned within a commercial economy fueled by the palatial system, but by no means entirely controlled within it. Chapter Three of this dissertation discusses the ensuing Postpalatial period on Crete and the Greek mainland when the TSJ shape was slowly abandoned while the technologically simpler and more convenient amphora shape was adopted as the primary bulk liquid transport container. Although the earlier part of the Protogeometric period has generally been regarded as one of isolation, the data presented in the fourth chapter on the North Aegean amphora (NAA) instead suggests that production became highly regionalized, concentrated in central Greece, Thessaly, and eventually the Thermaic Gulf. In addition, trade networks seem to have survived, continuing to link Greece with Asia Minor and eventually the central Mediterranean. In the ensuing Early Archaic period, the southern Greek response to the northern Greek NAA was the SOS amphora. Chapter Five discusses the importance of this amphora within a burgeoning socio- economic network that included not only Greeks and their colonies, but foreign agents as well. The results of this research suggest that despite dramatic social and economic changes in the EIA, certain Greek societies maintained a level of surplus production of these two critical commodities and participated in an external commercial network. On a broader level, this dissertation addresses some larger problems concerning the relationship between economic organization and political hierarchy, especially in periods of dramatic political change. iii The dissertation of Catherine Elizabeth Pratt is approved. John K. Papadopoulos Aaron A. Burke Cynthia S. Colburn Sarah P. Morris, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv For my grandmother, Betty Pratt, who encouraged me to pursue my education above all else v Table of Contents Abstract of the Dissertation p. ii Table of Contents - vi List of Figures - x List of Tables - xi List of Maps - xi Acknowledgements - xiii Vita - xvi Introduction p. 1 • Chapter Review - 14 • The Intricacies of Olive and Grape Cultivation - 17 Chapter 1: Oil and Wine as Cultural Commodities - 21 Introduction - 21 Archaeological Evidence for Ancient Oil and Wine - 22 • Installations - 24 • Iconography - 25 • Macro- and Microbotanical Remains - 26 • Ceramics - 28 Oil as a Cultural Commodity: Documentary Evidence in Context - 32 Wine as a Cultural Commodity: Documentary Evidence in Context - 38 Chapter Conclusions - 49 Chapter 2: Liquid Commodities Trade in the Late Bronze Age: The Transport Stirrup Jar - 52 Introduction - 52 Transport Stirrup Jar Production - 55 • Introduction - 55 • Sub-regions of Construction - 55 o Cretan TSJ Production - 56 o Greek Mainland TSJ Production - 60 o Other TSJ Production: Asia Minor and Rhodes - 63 • Social Context of TSJ Production - 64 o Markings and Textual Evidence - 65 • Conclusions for TSJ production - 68 Transport Stirrup Jar Distribution - 70 • Introduction - 70 • Regional Trade Connections For Oil And Wine - 71 vi o West Cretan TSJ Distribution - 71 o Central Crete TSJ Distribution - 73 o Mainland TSJ Distribution - 76 o Other TSJ Distribution - 77 • Nodes in an Economic Network - 79 o Palatial Involvement - 80 o Semi-independent Merchants - 83 o Independent/External Merchants - 85 • Conclusion for TSJ Distribution - 86 Transport Stirrup Jar Consumption - 88 • Introduction - 88 • Cretan TSJ Consumption - 89 • Mainland Greek TSJ Consumption - 91 • Cypriot and the Near Eastern TSJ Consumption - 93 • Other TSJ Consumption: the Dodecanese, Asia Minor, and Italy - 96 • Conclusions for TSJ Consumption - 99 Chapter Conclusions - 100 Chapter 3: Transitions and Transformations: Postpalatial Transport Stirrup Jars and the Rise of the Amphora - 106 Introduction - 106 Postpalatial Social Context on Crete - 108 Postpalatial Transport Stirrup Jars - 113 • Morphology and Production - 113 • Trade and Distribution - 117 o Cypriot Connections - 117 o Egyptian Connections - 118 o Greek Mainland Connections - 120 Rise of the Amphora in Postpalatial Greece - 122 • Relationship in the Palatial Period - 124 o Amphoras Before the Transport Stirrup Jar - 124 o Regional Amphoras in the Late Bronze Age - 125 o Amphoras in the Transitional Period - 127 • Relationship in the Postpalatial Period - 129 o Changing Roles of Amphoras and TSJs - 129 o Alteration: Stirrup Jar to Amphora - 130 • “Missing Links”: Hybrid Vessels - 131 o Palatial Innovations - 131 o Postpalatial Hybrids - 133 Conclusions: Palatial Regulation, Social Need, and Technological Change - 134 Chapter 4: Liquid Commodities Trade from the Protogeometric to the Late Geometric period: The North Aegean Amphora - 140 Introduction - 140 Early Iron Age Social Context - 142 • Continued External Contact - 142 vii • Stability and Agricultural Communities - 147 • Social Organization, Leadership, and Religion - 152 North Aegean Amphora: Shifting Production Locations - 160 • Introduction - 160 • NAA Type I Characteristics - 161 • NAA Type I Production Locations(s) - 162 • Transitional NAA Characteristics and Production Location(s) - 167 • Type II NAA Characteristics - 170 • Type II NAA Production Location(s) - 171 North Aegean Amphora: Shifting Distribution Networks - 174 • Introduction - 174 • Evidence for Trade: Markings on North Aegean Amphoras - 176 • Regional Trade Connections for Oil and Wine - 178 o Type I NAA - 179 o Transitional NAA - 182 o Type II NAA - 183 • Nodes in an Economic Network - 186 o Type I NAA - 186 o Transitional NAA - 188 o Type II NAA - 189 North Aegean Amphora: Consumption Patterns - 190 • Type I NAA Consumption - 191 • Transitional NAA Consumption - 194 • Type II NAA Consumption - 195 Chapter Conclusions: NAAs and the Economies of the Early Iron Age - 198 Chapter 5: Expanding Economic Networks in the Archaic Period: The “SOS” Amphora - 203 Introduction - 203 Social Context - 204 • Colonization and the Polis - 204 • The Archaic Greek Economy - 211 • Oil, Wine, and Colonization - 220 • Attica and Euboea in the Archaic Period - 222 o Euboea in the Early Archaic Period - 224 o Athens in the Early Archaic Period - 225 o Political History: Solon, Agricultural Trade, and the SOS - 226 . The SOS Amphora and Its Relation to Solon - 229 SOS Amphora Production - 231 • Introduction - 231 • Athenian Production - 233 o Formation Technique - 233 o Decoration - 234 o Fabric - 235 • Euboean Production - 235 viii • Pithekoussai and Other Locations - 239 Distribution of SOS Amphoras - 242 • Introduction - 242 • Attic SOS Amphora Distribution Network - 245 • Eretrian SOS Amphora Distribution Network - 248 • Observations - 249 • Actors and Their Roles Along the Archaic SOS Amphora Network - 252 o Categories of Actors - 252 o Actors Participating in SOS Amphora Distribution - 255 Consumption of SOS Amphoras - 261 • Introduction - 261 • SOS Consumption in Mainland Greece - 263 • SOS Consumption on the Italian Peninsula - 264 • SOS Consumption in Sicily - 268 • SOS Consumption in the Western Mediterranean (Iberia) - 271 • Consumption Conclusion - 273 Chapter Conclusions -