Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History

Description

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization, through the "Dark Age," and up to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. This period saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks that would eventually expand to nearly all shores of the Middle Sea. Alex R. Knodell argues that in order to understand how ancient Greece changed over time, one must analyze how Greek societies constituted and reconstituted themselves across multiple scales, from the local to the regional to the Mediterranean. Knodell employs innovative network and spatial analyses to understand the regional diversity and connectivity that drove the growth of early Greek polities. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, and sociopolitical change, Societies in Transition in Early Greece systematically bridges the divide between the Mycenaean period and the Archaic Greek world to shed new light on an often-overlooked period of world history. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction The Argument Contexts: Early Greece between Prehistory and History Summary: A Guide to What Follows Chapter 1. Landscape, Interaction, Complexity An Archaeology of Landscape: Communities in Context An Archaeology of Interaction: Networks and Technologies An Archaeology of Complexity: Societies in Transition Chapter 2. Articulating Landscapes in Central Greece The Baseline Evidence: Sites, Communities, and Regional Datasets The Archaeological Landscapes of Central Greece Network Models in Geographical Space Territorial Models in Dynamic Landscapes Conclusions: Connecting the Dots Chapter 3. Confronting Hegemony in Mycenaean Central Greece Prelude: Emergent Complexity in Central Greece The Political Landscapes of Mycenaean Central Greece Producing Palatial Culture: Technology and Polity The Bigger Picture at the End of the Bronze Age Conclusions: Polity and Variety in the Mycenaean World Chapter 4. Reconstituting Polity in the Postpalatial Bronze Age Perspectives on Collapse Reconstituting Societies in the Postpalatial Landscape Crafting in New Communities, Reconfiguring Production An Age of Mobility Conclusions: Central Greece on Center Stage Chapter 5. Transforming Village Societies in the Prehistoric Iron Age Hierarchy and Heterarchy in the Early Iron Age Landscape Technology Transfer and Production Networks Mobility, Migration, and Mediterranean (Pre)history Conclusions: Pattern and Variation, Development versus Decline Chapter 6 . Expanding Horizons in the Protohistoric Iron Age Crowding the Landscape: Settlement Intensification and Regional Dynamics A Media Revolution: Words and Images on Things The Mediterranean Corrupted Coda: From Villages to Poleis Conclusions: Mobility, Media, and the Political Landscape Conclusions Greece in Transition Comparative Insights from Early Greece Conclusions: Why Early Greece Matters Appendix Bibliography Index