Papers by Elina Kardamaki
In A.L. D'Agata, L. Girella, E. Papadopoulou and D.G. Aquini (eds.) One State, Many Worlds. Crete in the Late Minoan II-IIIA2 Early Period. Rome (SMEA NS supplement 2), 365-386., 2022
Transport jars from the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns, a coastal centre in the Bronze Age, were ana... more Transport jars from the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns, a coastal centre in the Bronze Age, were analysed in a macroscopic and petrographic study. Over 400 vessels and vessel fragments, mostly Transport Stirrup Jars (TSJs) and Canaanite jars, were recorded; around a quarter of them were selected for analysis. The vessels derive from both the upper and lower citadel, with a few from the lower town. Their chronological span ranges from Late Helladic (LH) IIIB1 to LH IIIC Developed (ca 1300–1070 BC) but the bulk of the material dates to LH IIIB2 (ca 1200 BC), and comes from dumps derived from the final destruction of the palace. Several sources are suggested for the TSJs, some of which are inscribed with Linear B: Kythera, the eastern Aegean (perhaps Kos), Kontopigado-Alimos in Attica, Corinth and several other mainland sources, as yet unidentified. It is suggested that a large group of TSJs with shape and decoration derived from central Cretan types were produced in the vicinity of the A...
(in press) Kardamaki, E., Hachtmann, V., Vasilogamvrou, A., Karadimas, N. and Voutsaki, S. Regional diversities or occupational gap? Pottery styles during the late 14th and the 13th centuries BCE at Ayios Vasileios. In The Wider Island of Pelops.
The ongoing studies of pottery from the recently discovered palace at Ayios Vasileios in Laconia ... more The ongoing studies of pottery from the recently discovered palace at Ayios Vasileios in Laconia are focusing on establishing the chronological framework of the settlement, e.g. the dating of significant events, and last phase of occupation of the site during the Late Bronze Age. The wider comparison of the material gives us the opportunity to address once again the question of diversity and uniformity in the pottery used during the period of the climax and the last phases of the Mycenaean palatial culture using the example of two major regions of the East Peloponnese, the Argolid and Laconia.
Egypt and the Levant 30, 2020
The present paper deals with the wheel-based manufacturing technology employed for the production... more The present paper deals with the wheel-based manufacturing technology employed for the production of pottery in central Laconia and the Argolid during the Mycenaean palatial period (roughly 1450-1200 BCE). The main set of data comes from the combined macroscopic and X-Ray analyses on pottery discovered at the palace of Ayios Vasileios in Laconia. Additional material of Argive/NE Peloponnesian provenance was examined as well for comparative reasons. The latter comes from Tiryns and Tall Zirā'a, Jordan. Although growing evidence suggests that wheel-forming techniques can be more variable than one would have traditionally thought, very few studies have examined the use of the potter's wheel during the Mycenaean period and the underlying craft behaviours. Our study suggests that the knowledge of this tool in the Argolid and central Laconia was not associated with the wheel-throwing technique but the so-called wheel-coiling, and was based on similar levels of expertise. However, we can also observe variations between these two regions, especially in the ways of mastering the rotary device within the forming process. The manufacture of the wheelmade pottery in Mycenaean Greece implies thus a complex technological phenomenon that involved different potting communities participating in the social and economic organization of palatial pottery production.
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 2020, vol. 135, 1-99, 2020
Maritime commodity trade from the Near East to the Mycenaean heartland: Canaanite Jars in final p... more Maritime commodity trade from the Near East to the Mycenaean heartland: Canaanite Jars in final palatial Tiryns.
Canaanite jars from the palatial site of Tiryns in mainland Greece are shown to have been producedat a number of centres on the Levantine coast, emphasising the key role of the Argive coastal citadelin trade with the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13th century BCE. The analytical study ofthis assemblage draws on a detailed examination of key deposits connected to the last phase of thepalace at the site and its destruction, and combines thin section petrography and chemical analysis(NAA), providing major new insights into the specific production locations of these containers alongthe Levantine coast. Based on comparative material from other Aegean sites and especially theharbour of Kommos in southern Crete, typological, epigraphic and analytical data are combined todemonstrate that, towards the end of the 13th century BCE, Tiryns was interacting with differentLevantine centres than did Kommos roughly 100 years earlier. This diachronic shift in the source ofCanaanite jars reaching the Aegean has much to tell us about changing centres of political power,the emergence of regular commodity trade and even diplomatic problems, all at a time whencontainer shipment takes off and the demand for commodities starts to dominate relations betweenthe states surrounding the seaways of the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age.
A LH IIIA1 Deposit from Kontopigado, Alimos and Processes of Mycenaeanization at Athens
Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στα Νησιά του Αιγαίου, 2017
Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στα Νησιά του Αιγαίου, 2017
Transport jars from the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns, a coastal centre in the Bronze Age, were ana... more Transport jars from the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns, a coastal centre in the Bronze Age, were analysed in a macroscopic and petrographic study. Over 400 vessels and vessel fragments, mostly Transport Stirrup Jars (TSJs) and Canaanite jars, were recorded; around a quarter of them were selected for analysis. The vessels derive from both the upper and lower citadel, with a few from the lower town. Their chronological span ranges from Late Helladic (LH) IIIB1 to LH IIIC Developed (ca 1300–1070 BC) but the bulk of the material dates to LH IIIB2 (ca 1200 BC), and comes from dumps derived from the final destruction of the palace. Several sources are suggested for the TSJs, some of which are inscribed with Linear B: Kythera, the eastern Aegean (perhaps Kos), Kontopigado-Alimos in Attica, Corinth and several other mainland sources, as yet unidentified. It is suggested that a large group of TSJs with shape and decoration derived from central Cretan types were produced in the vicinity of the Argive Plain. Two thirds of the TSJs, however, come from Crete. With the exception of one from the Vrokastro area of east Crete, these are evenly derived from the Chania plain and the western edge of the Mesara plain in central Crete, where the Minoan centres of Kommos, Phaistos and Ayia Triada are located.
We discuss the implications of all this for our understanding of the economy and society of Crete after the destruction of the palace of Knossos, and for the relationship between Crete and the Mycenaean palatial centres in the Argolid.
Archaeology Conferences by Elina Kardamaki
This international conference - part of the research project From Thebes to Mycenae funded by the... more This international conference - part of the research project From Thebes to Mycenae funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council - considers production technologies of materials, artefacts and their industries in the Mycenaean World.
Uploads
Papers by Elina Kardamaki
Canaanite jars from the palatial site of Tiryns in mainland Greece are shown to have been producedat a number of centres on the Levantine coast, emphasising the key role of the Argive coastal citadelin trade with the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13th century BCE. The analytical study ofthis assemblage draws on a detailed examination of key deposits connected to the last phase of thepalace at the site and its destruction, and combines thin section petrography and chemical analysis(NAA), providing major new insights into the specific production locations of these containers alongthe Levantine coast. Based on comparative material from other Aegean sites and especially theharbour of Kommos in southern Crete, typological, epigraphic and analytical data are combined todemonstrate that, towards the end of the 13th century BCE, Tiryns was interacting with differentLevantine centres than did Kommos roughly 100 years earlier. This diachronic shift in the source ofCanaanite jars reaching the Aegean has much to tell us about changing centres of political power,the emergence of regular commodity trade and even diplomatic problems, all at a time whencontainer shipment takes off and the demand for commodities starts to dominate relations betweenthe states surrounding the seaways of the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age.
We discuss the implications of all this for our understanding of the economy and society of Crete after the destruction of the palace of Knossos, and for the relationship between Crete and the Mycenaean palatial centres in the Argolid.
Archaeology Conferences by Elina Kardamaki
Canaanite jars from the palatial site of Tiryns in mainland Greece are shown to have been producedat a number of centres on the Levantine coast, emphasising the key role of the Argive coastal citadelin trade with the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13th century BCE. The analytical study ofthis assemblage draws on a detailed examination of key deposits connected to the last phase of thepalace at the site and its destruction, and combines thin section petrography and chemical analysis(NAA), providing major new insights into the specific production locations of these containers alongthe Levantine coast. Based on comparative material from other Aegean sites and especially theharbour of Kommos in southern Crete, typological, epigraphic and analytical data are combined todemonstrate that, towards the end of the 13th century BCE, Tiryns was interacting with differentLevantine centres than did Kommos roughly 100 years earlier. This diachronic shift in the source ofCanaanite jars reaching the Aegean has much to tell us about changing centres of political power,the emergence of regular commodity trade and even diplomatic problems, all at a time whencontainer shipment takes off and the demand for commodities starts to dominate relations betweenthe states surrounding the seaways of the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age.
We discuss the implications of all this for our understanding of the economy and society of Crete after the destruction of the palace of Knossos, and for the relationship between Crete and the Mycenaean palatial centres in the Argolid.