Death in Late Bronze Age Greece : Variations on a Theme

by: Murphy, J.M.A.

Death in Late Bronze Age Greece
Variations on a Theme
Edited by Joanne M. A. Murphy
A fresh approach to a large body of data from the Late Bronze Age
Integrates tomb research with studies of political economy and social development
Utilizes mortuary rituals as a lens for cultural anthropological study

Description
Late Bronze Age tombs in Greece and their attendant mortuary practices have been a topic of scholarly debate for over a century, dominated by the idea of a monolithic culture with the same developmental trajectories throughout the region. This book contributes to that body of scholarship by exploring both the level of variety and of similarity that we see in the practices at each site and thereby highlights the differences between communities that otherwise look very similar.

The introduction of wealthy burials in the transition from the Middle Helladic period and the building of elaborate tombs during the Late Bronze Age underscores a long-acknowledged change in cultural importance of burials and their locations for contemporary society. Initially archaeologists were interested in these tombs because of the impressive finds that were discovered in them, but as the body of literature on mortuary rituals has grown more recently these tombs have been utilized as lenses through which we can study the related society in novel ways.

By bringing together an international group of scholars working on tombs and cemeteries on mainland Greece, Crete, and in the Dodecanese we are afforded a unique view of the development and diversity of these communities. The papers provide a penetrative analysis of the related issues by discussing tombs connected with sites ranging in size from palaces to towns to villages and in date from the start to the end of the Late Bronze Age. Death in Late Bronze Age Greece contextualizes the mortuary studies in recent debates on diversity at the main palatial and secondary sites and between the economic and political strategies and practices throughout Greece. The papers in the volume illustrate the pervasive connection between the mortuary sphere and society through the creation and expression of cultural narratives, and draw attention to the social tensions played out in the mortuary arena.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Discussion of Late Bronze Age Mortuary Practices
Joanne M. A. Murphy
2. Late Bronze Age Tombs at the Palace of Nestor, Pylos
Joanne M. A. Murphy, Sharon R. Stocker, Jack L. Davis, and Lynne A. Schepartz
3. 'You Can't Take It With You.' The Socio-political Context of Changing Burial Traditions During the Mycenaean Palatial Period at Mycenae and Prosymna
Kim Shelton
4. The Mycenaean Cemetery of Deiras in a Local and Regional Context
Nikolas Papadimitriou, Anna Philippa-Touchais, and Gilles Touchais
5. The Mycenaean Cemetery at Ayia Sotira, Nemea R.
Angus K. Smith, Mary K. Dabney, and James C. Wright
6. The Mycenaean Cemetery at Clauss, near Patras. The Rise and Fall of a Local Society towards the End of an Era
Constantinos Paschalidis
7. Death in Early Mycenaean Achaea
Lena Papazoglou-Manioudaki
8. The Chamber Tombs of the Trapeza, Aigion: Preliminary Observations on Rituals of a Small Mycenaean Community
Elizabetta Borgna and Gaspare De Angeli
9. Claiming Social Identities in the Mortuary Landscape of the Late Bronze Age Communities of Northern Greece
Sevi Triantaphylou and Stelios Andreou
10. Landscape, Feasting, and Ancestors in the Burial Tradition of Mycenaean Rhodes
Mercourios Georgiadis
11. Langada Revisited: Construction Practices, Space, and Socio-Cultural Identity in the Koan Burial Arena During the Mycenaean Palatial and Postpalatial Periods
Calla Mc Namee and Salvatore Vitale
12. Middle Minoan III Late Minoan IIIB Tombs and Funerary Practices in South- Central Crete
Luca Girella
13. The Power of the Dead: The Late Minoan III Cemeteries of Mochlos and Myrsini
R. Angus Smith
14. Funerary Practices, Female Identities, and the Clay Pyxis in Late Minoan III Crete
Anna Lucia D'Agata

Death in Late Bronze Age Greece : Variations on a Theme

by: Murphy, J.M.A.

• ISBN-13: 9780190926069 / 978-0-19-092606-9
• ISBN-03: 0190926066 / 0-19-092606-6
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020