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Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History
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.
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Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History
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.
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Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History

Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History

by Alex R. Knodell
Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History
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Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History

Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History

by Alex R. Knodell

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780520380530
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication date: 05/25/2021
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 382
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Alex R. Knodell is Associate Professor of Classics and Director of the Archaeology Program at Carleton College. In Greece, he co-directs the Small Cycladic Islands Project and the Mazi Archaeological Project. He is the author of numerous academic articles and co-editor of Regional Approaches to Society and Complexity.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface and Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction: An Archaeology of Early Greece 1

The Argument 4

Contexts: Early Greece between Prehistory and History 6

Summary: A Guide to What Follows 14

1 Landscape, Interaction, Complexity 17

An Archaeology of Landscape: Communities in Context 17

An Archaeology of Interaction: Networks and Technologies 21

An Archaeology of Complexity: Societies in Transition 25

2 Articulating Landscapes in Central Greece 33

The Baseline Evidence: Sites, Communities, and Regional Datasets 33

The Archaeological Landscapes of Central Greece 44

Network Models in Geographical Space 56

Territorial Models in Dynamic Landscapes 58

Conclusions: Connecting the Dots 60

3 Confronting Hegemony in Mycenaean Central Greece 63

Prelude: Emergent Complexity in Central Greece 65

The Political Landscapes of Mycenaean Central Greece 70

Producing Palatial Culture: Technology and Polity 100

The Bigger Picture at the End of the Bronze Age 103

Conclusions: Polity and Variety in the Mycenaean World 112

4 Reconstituting Polity in the Postpalatial Bronze Age 116

Perspectives on Collapse 117

Reconstituting Societies in the Postpalatial Landscape 119

Crafting in New Communities, Reconfiguring Production 137

An Age of Mobility 142

Conclusions: Central Greece on Center Stage 149

5 Transforming Village Societies in the Prehistoric Iron Age 151

Hierarchy and Heterarchy in the Early Iron Age Landscape 152

Technology Transfer and Production Networks 170

Mobility, Migration, and Mediterranean (Pre)history 180

Conclusions: Pattern and Variation. Development versus Decline 189

6 Expanding Horizons in the Protohistoric Iron Age 192

Crowding the Landscape: Settlement Intensification and Regional Dynamics 194

A Media Revolution: Words and Images on Things 215

The Mediterranean Corrupted 225

Coda: From Villages to Poleis 232

Conclusions: Mobility, Media, and the Political Landscape 235

Conclusions: Early Greece and the Bigger Picture(s) 237

Greece in Transition 237

Comparative Insights from Early Greece 248

Why Early Greece Matters 258

Appendix 263

Bibliography 281

Index 347

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