ARCHAEOLOGICAL MEETING OF THESSALY AND CENTRAL GREECE, 2003-2005
FROM PREHISTORY TO THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Paper abstract

The northern boundary of the Mycenaean world.

Birgitta Eder

[Dr., Research Post, Mykenische Kommission, Austrian Academy of Sciences]

Archaeological evidence from Thessaly plays a major role in the exploration of concepts of “centre and periphery” and their application to Late Bronze Greece. The model of ΄centre and periphery΄ implies active and intensive connections between areas and may be useful to describe political, social and economic relations. Although their relation is an asymmetrical one, one part of the system depends on the other, and no part within the system would be the same without the other. Changes in the character of one of these partners alter the character of the other. While the centre controls international trade relations and diplomatic contacts, it depends on the periphery for the supply of raw materials and human resources. The periphery on the other hand lacks strong governmental power, and local elites are in constant demand of manufactured goods, which are produced and supplied by the centre. The distribution of seals in central and northern Greece offers an indication of the territorial extent of political and economic control exercised by the Mycenaean palaces. Instead of locating a precise boundary line, what mattered to the palatial system was to establish and make clear in which direction each settlement had to send its contribution in products and workforce. This leads to a definition of boundaries as groups of settlements politically and economically oriented toward the respective Mycenaean centre. A northern boundary of Mycenaean Greece can thus be tentatively established by following the limits of administrative reach as indicated by seals.