MH burial. Prehistoric Cemetery, Mycenae. (From Alden, The Prehistoric Cemetery)

The evidence of the MH period was first collected by Dickinson in his Origins of the Mycenaean Civilization (1977). Since then some interesting books on the MH period have appeared: Nordquist's 1987 study on MH Asine, Dietz's 1991 study of the transition from the MH to the LHI period in the Argolid and Kilian-Dirlmeier's 1997 publication of the Aegina built tomb which includes an in-depth discussion of MH social organization. Recent discoveries and studies have been summarized by Rutter in the Review of Aegean Prehistory, edited in 2001 by T. Cullen. However, no systematic analysis and synthesis on the MH mainland exists so far.

Cycladic jug (L933) from grave BD19, Lerna (Photo E. Milka)

The MH period in the southern mainland lasts approximately from 2000 to 1600 BC and the transition to the LH from 1600 to 1500 BC. The period is characterized by depopulation, relative material poverty, the absence of overt social differentiation and cultural introvertedness despite economic exchanges with neighbouring areas. The end of the period, however, sees important changes, especially in the mortuary sphere: the introduction of more labour intensive tombs, the adoption of a complex burial ritual, and a dramatic increase in wealth deposited with the dead. This period sees the influx of foreign imports and the introduction of figurative art. At the same time, changes in the ranking order of settlements can be observed, as emerging centres display more of these novel features (rich tombs, valuable items, figurative art). Different regions participate in these developments in varying degrees, depending on their integration into wider networks of interaction with the Aegean and southern Italy. The area to be studied in this project, the Argolid, is at the forefront of these developments.

Kamares bridge-spouted jar(L1052) from grave J4, Lerna (Photo E. Milka)

The social and political imbalances thus created unleashed a process of competition and emulation which soon engulfed the entire southern mainland. These rivalries, which must have involved warfare, but also ceremonies of conspicuous consumption, led to the emergence of small principalities in the early Mycenaean period and the formation of larger palatial states around the middle of the period. The seeds of these developments, however, should be sought back in the MH period.

This is what this project has set out to do: to explain the changes during the MH period and their intensification in the transition to the LH period.