Cross-Craft Interaction in the cross-cultural context of the late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

Ann Brysbaert, Melissa Vetters

Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age palaces were central nodes where a wide range of crafts were accommodated, controlled or overseen. Some palaces contained workshops, others provide evidence ranging from raw materials and mis-shapes to stores of finished objects. Alongside material remains, texts contribute to our understanding of these centres and their networks. Most pre-industrial crafts are well understood, but investigation into how these crafts were linked to each other, and how social interactions in palatial and other contexts may have underpinned technological transfers of materials, techniques, recipes and knowledge is lacking. This sub-project studies materials across crafts rather than focussing on one, directly linking to Whitbread's and Harding's sub-projects. It will investigate the interaction, technologically and socially, between people within their societies and how these interactions may play a crucial role in the formation of social identities within larger cross-cultural contexts. For example, metal scraps are known to be used as a colourant in glass production, and metal and glass workshops have been found adjacent to each other at Amarna (Egypt). Such cross-over of both materials and knowledge was only possible due to social contacts between the workshops This project will:
1- establish a database of selected crafts/technologies from the Bronze Age Mycenaean palace at Tiryns, Greece including a) all steps of the chaînes opératoire of each and b) all necessary context information.
2- test this database to identify CCIs within the features composing the chaînes opératoire of each craft.

Cross-Craft Interaction