IISEMG - Investigate Intermediate Structures in the Economy of Mycenaean Greece (1400 - 1200 BCE) through Archaeological and Textual Data
Maria Emanuela Alberti
Marie Sklowdoska Curie IEF Fellowship - FP 7
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield
'Intermediate Units'
Summary
A large part of the research will be dedicated to the integrated contextual analysis of the evidence from the “intermediate units” (Darcque 2005) (archaeological and textual evidence) in a selection of the major Mycenaean sites, with preference for centres where the settlement around the palace is at least partly known (especially Mycenae, Thebes and Tiryns).
The decision to focus the analysis on the intermediate organisational units stems from the hope of proposing a new perspective in the current studies on Mycenaean palatial political economies, that have been too much become polarised in between the extremes of centralization and decentralization alternative. It is here argued that the situation ought to have been more complex and articulated, as has been pointed out in various ways and as many examples in contemporary Levantine and Near Eastern societies clearly show. In the traditional theoretical dichotomy between palatial structures and outlying communities (villages), the importance of the rôle played by urban settlements, so densely packed with intermediate organizational units, has to be reconsidered.
" Redistributive centers were not precisely “offices” in the sense of being groups of persons dedicated to a particular activities or indiustries. They were sites for the receipts of goods and personnel management, and might involve various branches of the administration if need arose (...)" (L. Bendall 2003, 226)
Mycenae (Argolid), ‘Ivory Houses’, LBIIIB1 (ca 1250 BCE), one of the most discussed groups of 'Intermediate Units'
(photo M.E. Alberti)
Intermediate Units (IUs)
In recent years the existence of various large buildings, whose character exceeds that of normal domestic structures within major Mycenaean sites has become increasingly evident (especially at Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns and Pylos). For some of them, an interpretation as “clearing houses” has been put forth, based on both archaeological and textual evidence (i.e. Shelmerdine 1997; 1999; Bendall 2003): these structures would have therefore been designated to collect, store and redistribute goods of various types. From a strict architectural and archaeological point of view, they can be considered “intermediate buildings”, having characteristics between the palace and the common households (i.e. “édifices intermédiaires”, Darcque 2005a[DB1] ): they have quite large dimensions, some high-status architectural refinements, important storage facilities or quantities of stored goods, administrative documents of various type (tablets and /or sealings), and sometimes the presence of indicators of production or high-value items. At present, no systematic investigation of such complexes has been made, though various partial analyseis do exist (e.g. Tournavitou 1995; Shelmerdine 1997; 1999; Bendall 2003).
It is not possible to say if the existence of these buildings could somehow match the existence of different economic levels and agents attested in the Linear B texts,: but it is clear that they strengthen support the interpretation of the Mycenaean economy as a complex system of interconnecting entities. A general review of the question and a systematic investigation of such “intermediate units” is therefore a topic worthy of development: “intermediate buildings” could indeed be the key to a new appraisal of the Mycenaean economic structure.
More specifically, the project seeks to understand the physical, architectural structures in the material record by defining these structures typologically (including the full publication of a possible example from Thebes) and to develop an understanding of how they functioned using both archaeological data and that from the Linear B texts found in some of them and elsewhere.