The Shaft Grave Period and the Rise of the Mycenaeans

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The Shaft Grave Period and the Rise of the
Mycenaeans
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BA Chronology

• Crete Minoan (Minos - mythical king)
• Cyclades Cycladic (Aegean island chain)
• Mainland Helladic (Hellas Greece)
• Early EBA EM EC EH (3100-2000)
• Middle MBA MM MC MH (2000-1650)
• Late LBA LM LC LH (1650-1050)

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MH Burial Types

• Pithos (jar) burial
• Built Grave or Warrior Grave (Kollonna, Aegina
  Thebes)
• Pit Burial
• Cist Grave
• Intramural or Extramural

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Cist Grave

• Most Common MH Burial Practice
• Single Burials
• Fetal Position
• Return to mother earth?
• No, smaller hole!

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Mycenae

• Grave Circle A
• Mycenae Rich in Gold
• Schliemann

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Shaft Grave Grave Circle A
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Shaft Grave Ware Mainland Polychrome
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Shaft GraveStructure

• enlarged cist grave entered from above through a
  shaft several feet deep
• dug from the contemporary ground surface

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Inside the Shaft Grave

• Extended body
• Multiple burials over time possible
• Older Remains pushed to side

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Marking the Grave

• Slabs, waterproof clay cover
• Shaft filled
• Rectangular border of stones may mark spot
• Stele (1st large-scale relief sculptures on Greek
  Mainland)

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Shaft Grave Sites

• Mycenae
• (Intact)
• Lerna
• (robbed out)
• Ayios Stephanos, Lakonia
• (bare bones)
• Argos

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Lavish Grave Goods

• Rhyton, Rhyta

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The Dead

• Bigger, sturdier than earlier MH corpses or
  contemporary burials in other sorts of graves
• Why bigger?

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Big Eaters or Big Invaders?

• Better nutrition for elite group?
• Different racial group?

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Who are they?
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Mycenae Grave Circles A B
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Grave Circle B

• Earlier than Grave Circle A
• John Papademetriou Greek Archaeological Society
• 14 Shaft Graves out of 24 tombs

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Grave Circle Origins

• MH Tumulus at Vrana
• Plural Tumuli

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The Shaft Graves and Myth

• 2 Heroic Periods
• a) Late MH to LHI-II
• Shaft Grave period later
• b) LHIII
• Danaos the Shaft Grave Period
• Trojan War LHIII

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FAMILY TREE OF DANAOS

• POSEIDON_____________LIBYA
• I
• ________I________
• I I
  AGENOR BELUS
• ________I______
• I I
• AEGYPTUS DANAOS
• I I
• I I
• 50 SONS 50 DAUGHTERS

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The Danaids

• Danaos daughters flee Egypt, but sons of
  Aegyptos follow
• Danaids marry, then kill sons of Aegyptos
• Mercy of Hypermestra
• Purified by gods
• Widows have difficulty attracting new husbands
• No dowry, daughters as sports prizes!
• Danaans (Greeks), children of Danaids

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Danaids Historical?

• Danaids Hyksos?
• heka khasewet "rulers of foreign lands")
• Semitic, Hurrian, Indo-Aryan people?
• Migrants/Invaders?

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Theories from Archaeological Evidence?
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Shaft Grave Dead as Cretan Conquerors?

• Minoan style artifacts
• Un-Minoan style burials

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Nomadic Tribe of Central or Northern Europe?

• Chariots
• Grave steles
• New Art Style
• Aegeanized by more advanced local culture
• BUT no chariots in N or C Europe. Only in Near
  East, a MORE sophisticated culture

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Locals looted Crete?

• Lots of Minoan style treasures
• BUT wealth gradually accumulated
• No evidence of destruction on Crete
• Minoan naval strength

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Mercenaries Rewarded by Egypt against Hyksos?

• But Hyksos BETWEEN Mycenae and Egyptian Thebes

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Mycenaean Control of Trade Route for Valuable
Commodity?

• Tin (for bronze)?
• Disruption of Near Eastern trade for tin by
  Hyksos, Hittites, Hurrians, et al.
• Evidence for Mycenaean trade with Northern Europe
  (pottery, amber)

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Gold ( Amber) from Transylvania (Romania)

• Mycenaeans
• lavish use of gold
• Minoans
• economical use
• Gold traded for Early Mycenaean daggers

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Identity, Origins Source of Wealth Still
Matters of Debate
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Readings for Next Class Iliad 9, Rutter 20
(Mycenaean Residential Architecture)