Forging Society at Late Bronze Age Mycenae

Person conducting research: Dr Stephanie Aulsebrook
Country: Greece
Site name: Mycenae
Type of site: settlement and extra-mural cemeteries
Involved institutions: WAUW
Research Assistants: Monika Łapińska, Paulina Jurkowska
Date: July 2019–July 2023
Project financing: SONATA 14 NCN (DEC-2018/31/D/HS3/02231)

Project Summary: This project focused on Mycenae, the foremost centre on mainland Greece during the Late Bronze Age (17th–11th centuries BC) and the relationship between its inhabitants and metals. Metals have a very varied role in prehistoric societies. They can be used to make a wide range of objects, including tools, weapons, vessels, jewellery and armour. Until now, most research had just focused on the relationship between the upper classes and metal, so this project aimed to consider a broader range of people.

Project Methodology: the project collated together into a database all the available information on metal objects that have been excavated at Mycenae since 1876. Their distribution within the site was then analysed, along with their types and other important features.

Example of Entry in Database

The database currently contains more than 15000 metal artefacts. Of those, more than half come from documented Late Bronze Age contexts. The majority come from mortuary contexts; for example, the famous Circle A shaft graves discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 account for more than 2500 of these artefacts alone.

The project involved three research expeditions, to the National Archaeological Museum at Athens, the Archaeological Museum at Mycenae and the Mycenae Archive at the University of Cambridge, UK. Visits to the museums enabled hands-on analysis of a selection of objects that has provided vital evidence about their lifecycles. Access to the original fieldnotes at the archive has allowed past archaeological recording strategies for metal artefacts to be reconstructed and has uncovered some interesting finds of metal objects that have never been published.

Project Results: the project had three main questions:

1) which activities involved metals and which did not?

Metals were found to have been used in a wide variety of activities, such as making objects, cooking, eating and drinking, personal adornment, warfare and hunting, etc. However, some types of object were never made in metal, such as certain specialised vessel shapes. Metals were apparently rarely used within textile production, in comparison to other crafts, and although gilding was a widespread form of decoration particular types of ornament were never gilded. Therefore metal was not ubiquitous, and even in the activities when it was used other materials, like ceramic or glass, were often used too.

2) how was access to metal controlled at Mycenae?

The contemporary textual records focus on the disbursement of metal by the palace, but have little evidence about access to metals for ordinary households and independent workshops. The project found that across most of Mycenae it seems that metals were melted down and recycled, showing that people were careful not to waste metal. One household, situated outside the citadel, threw away broken metal objects, suggesting they had confidence in being able to access a steady supply whenever they needed it. The complex use life of some objects (see below) indicate that the palace’s control over the metal supply was less tight than previously supposed. There is tentative evidence to indicate that some people, perhaps slaves, were not allowed to use metals for personal adornment.

3) what was the typical lifecycle for different kinds of metal artefacts and can we see deviations?

Studying metal objects under a microscope provided new insights into the lifecycles of some specimens. This chisel fragment and finger ring both had interesting stories: the chisel fragment was deliberately broken off (perhaps from a tool that was too damaged for further use) and was then used as a platform for sawing, as shown by the cut marks; the finger ring was roughly made from a spare piece of bronze wire, rather than being specially cast and shaped like most Mycenaean jewellery.

        A Chisel Fragment Reused as a Cutting Platform

 

 A Finger Ring Made    from a Piece of Wire

The unusual stories of these two objects show that the production and use of metal artefacts at Mycenae was more complex than previously thought; control over metal was not completely in the hands of the palatial authorities. The ring in particular shows how desirable metal was, and how people sought ways to engage with it personally, even when they could not afford real jewellery.

Publications (all open access):
Aulsebrook, S. 2022. Recent developments in archaeometallurgical research: the Bronze Age Greek Mainland, Crete, and the Cyclades. Archaeological Reports 68: 109–132.
Aulsebrook, S. 2022. The impact of archaeological recording on the study of metal artefacts. Mycenae 1939: a case study. Annual of the British School of Athens 117: 415455.
Aulsebrook, S. 2022. Forging ahead or foiled again? A new direction for cross-craft analysis with case studies from Late Bronze Age metalworking in the Aegean, in S. Aulsebrook, K. Żebrowska, A. Ulanowska and K. Lewartowski (eds.) Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology 3. Turnhout: Brepols: 99–112.
Aulsebrook, S. 2020. Understanding the role of metal within the Late Bronze Age community at Mycenae: challenges and potential approaches. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 29(2): 237–264.

 

Aulsebrook Stephanie

PhD Stephanie Aulsebrook

e-mail:
s.aulsebrook@uw.edu.pl

duty hours:
Thursday 13:15 – 14:15 (online during inter-semester breaks and the summer semester; please email to make an appointment)

research interests:
Aegean Late Bronze Age, metal artefacts, object biographies

Forging Society at Late Bronze Age Mycenae

Aegean Metalware – Collaboration with Dr Christina Clarke (ANU)

academic.edu

ResearchGate

ORCID

Historical Metallurgy Society

bibliography:

Aulsebrook, S. 2022. Recent developments in archaeometallurgical research: the Bronze Age Greek Mainland, Crete, and the Cyclades. Archaeological Reports 68: 109–132.

Aulsebrook, S. 2022. The impact of archaeological recording on the study of metal artefacts. Mycenae 1939: a case study. Annual of the British School of Athens 117: 415–455.

Aulsebrook, S. 2022. Forging ahead or foiled again? A new direction for cross-craft analysis with case studies from Late Bronze Age metalworking in the Aegean, in S. Aulsebrook, K. Żebrowska, A. Ulanowska and K. Lewartowski (eds.) Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology 3. Turnhout: Brepols: 99–112.

Aulsebrook, S. 2022. All’s well that ends well. An in-depth look at how objects entered Aegean Late Bronze Age wells, in S. Aulsebrook, K. Żebrowska, A. Ulanowska and K. Lewartowski (eds.) Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology 3. Turnhout: Brepols: 163–166.

Aulsebrook, S. 2020. Understanding the role of metal within the Late Bronze Age community at Mycenae: challenges and potential approaches. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 29(2): 237–264.

Aulsebrook, S. 2019. Crisis at the Cult Centre: Evidence from the Megaron Basements, in K. Żebrowska, A. Ulanowska and K. Lewartowski (eds.) Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology 2. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press: 111–121.

Aulsebrook, S. 2019. Materialising Mythology: the Cup of Nestor from Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae, in K. Żebrowska, A. Ulanowska and K. Lewartowski (eds.) Sympozjum Egejskie. Papers in Aegean Archaeology 2. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press: 79–89.

French, E.B. and S. Aulsebrook. 2018. Italy and Mycenae, in M. Bettelli, M. Del Freo and G.J. van Wijngaarden (eds.) Mediterranea Itinera. Studies in Honour of Lucia Vagnetti. Rome: CNR – Istituto di studi sul Mediterraneo antico: 67–76.

Demakopoulou, K. and S. Aulsebrook. 2018. The Gold and Silver Vessels and Other Precious Finds from the Tholos Tomb at Kokla in the Argolid. Annual of the British School at Athens 113: 119–142.

Aulsebrook, S. 2018. Chicken or egg? Rethinking the relationship between the silver and tinned ceramic vessel assemblages. Annual of the British School at Athens 113: 75–118.

Aulsebrook, S. 2018. Rethinking standardisation: the social meanings of Mycenaean metal cups. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 37: 147–163.

Aulsebrook, S. 2017. Repair, recycle or modify? The response to damage and/or obsolescence in Mycenaean metal vessels during the Prepalatial and Palatial Periods and its implications for understanding metal recycling. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici NS 3: 7–26.

Aulsebrook, S. 2017. Late Bronze Age manipulation of light and colour in metal, in C. Duckworth and A. Sassin (eds.) Colour and Light in Ancient and Medieval Art. London: Routledge: 35–45.

Aulsebrook, S. 2016. Placed with care: interaction with decorated Mycenaean metal vessels, in M. Mina, Y. Papadatos, and S. Triantafyllou (eds.) An Archaeology of Prehistoric Bodies and Embodied Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Proceedings of a conference held 10-12 April 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus. Oxford: Oxbow Books: 71–77.

Aulsebrook, S. 2015. Retrieving capacity data from crushed lead vessels: an example from the House of Lead, Mycenae. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 15.3: 201–211.