Mycenaean Pottery - Society and Culture

Society and Culture

Submycenaean is now generally regarded as the final stage of Late Helladic IIIC (and perhaps not even a very significant one), and is followed by Protogeometric pottery (1050/25-900 BC). Archaeological evidence for a Dorian invasion at any time between 1200 and 900 BC. is absent, nor can any pottery style be associated with the Dorians.

Dendrochronological and C14 evidence for the start of the Protogeometric period now indicates this should be revised upwards to at least 1070 BC. if not earlier.

The remnants of Mycenaean pottery allows archeologists to date the site they have excavated. With the estimated time of the site, this allows historians to develop timelines that contribute to the understanding of ancient civilization. Furthermore, with the extraction of pottery, historians can determine the different classes of people depending on where the pottery shards were taken from. Due to the large amount of trading the Mycenae people did, tracking who they traded with can determine the extent of their power and influence in their society and others. Historians then can learn the importance of who the Mycenae people were, where pottery mainly comes from, who was reigning at that time and the different economical standards.

Historians don't know why the power of dominance changed from the Minoan's to the Mycenae's, but much of the influence of pottery comes from the Minoan's culture. Shapes as well as design are direct influences from the Minoan's. The Mycenae's didn't change the design of their pottery all that much, but the development of the became a huge influence on other communities. Fresco paintings became an influence on the pictures painted on the pottery. Most of these images depict the warlike attitude of the Mycenae's; as well animals became a common feature painted on the pottery.

Through the excavation of tombs in Greece, archeologists believe that much of the pottery found belongs to the upper class. Pottery was seen as slave work or that of the lower class. Graves with few pots or vessels indicates the burial was for a poorer family; these are usually not of much worth and are less elaborate then that of the higher class. Pottery was used for ceremonies or gifts to other rulers in the Mycenaean cities.

For historians to decipher what pottery was used for, they have to look for different physical characteristics that would indicate what it was used for. Some indicators can be:

• Where the pottery was extracted from. (i.e., houses, graves, temples)
• Dimension and shape: what the capacity is, stability, manipulation and how easy it is to extract its content
• Surface wear: scratches, pits or chips resulting from stirring, carrying, serving and washing
• Soot deposit: if it was used for cooking

Pottery was mainly used for the storage or water, wine and olive oil. Pottery was also "used as a prestige object to display success or power". Most grace sites contain pottery to serve as a passing into another life. Along with burial rituals and gifts, pottery was widely traded.

Much of the Mycenae's wealth came from the trading they did along the coast of the Mediterranean. When power passed from the Minoan's to the Mycenae's, Crete and Rhodes became major trading points. Trading eventually moved further north, as far as Mount Olympus. With the growing power and influence, trading went as far as Egypt, Sicily, and the coast of Italy. Other sites where pottery was discovered are Baltic, Asia Minor, Spain, and most of the Aegean. Another society that the Mycenae's traded with were the Neolithic. Around 1250 B.C. the Mycenae's combined forces to take over Troy due to high taxation of ships through the channel among other reasons. With the fall of Troy the production of pottery declined and many families moved to avoid the fighting. Pottery did not become a lost art form like many other, but it became more rugged.

With the establishment of trade, prices were agreed upon before ships were sent out. Other materials such as olive oil, wine, fabrics and copper were traded.