Robert Koehl | Hunter College (original) (raw)

Papers by Robert Koehl

Günkel-Maschek, Ute, Céline Murphy, Fritz Blakolmer, and Diamantis Panagiotopoulos, eds. 2024. Gesture, Stance, and Movement: Communicating Bodies in the Aegean Bronze Age. Acts of the International Conference at the University of Heidelberg, 11–13 November 2021. Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2024

This paper was conceived in response to the widely held view that the so-called Combat Agate seal... more This paper was conceived in response to the widely held view that the so-called Combat Agate seal, from the Griffin Warrior tomb at Pylos, is a masterpiece of Neopalatial Minoan art. However, it is argued here that the seal depicts the Mycenaean formula for showing the moment of the kill in a face-to-face combat. As will be demonstrated, the victor in these scenes stands in a posture identified here as the 'lunge and thrust'. This consists of two movements involving a shift in body weight: a backward movement to gain momentum, followed by a forward lunge which is accompanied by a sword thrust. To date, no Minoan seals show figures in the 'lunge and thrust' pose. Rather, all the relevant parallels come from mainland Helladic contexts. While there is no question that the style of depicting the male figures on the Pylos seal and on the other Mycenaean seals discussed here emulate Minoan figural art, their mainland funerary contexts imply that they were received and appreciated by Mycenaeans who might even have identified with the victor who stands in the 'lunge and thrust' posture.

Nature Ecology & Evolution

The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europ... more The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europe but for the Aegean—a region fundamental to Europe’s prehistory—the biological dimensions of cultural transitions have been elucidated only to a limited extent so far. We have analysed newly generated genome-wide data from 102 ancient individuals from Crete, the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands, spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. We found that the early farmers from Crete shared the same ancestry as other contemporaneous Neolithic Aegeans. In contrast, the end of the Neolithic period and the following Early Bronze Age were marked by ‘eastern’ gene flow, which was predominantly of Anatolian origin in Crete. Confirming previous findings for additional Central/Eastern European ancestry in the Greek mainland by the Middle Bronze Age, we additionally show that such genetic signatures appeared in Crete gradually from the seventeenth to twelfth centuries bc, a period when the in...

Among the highlights of the current exhibition are a group of artifacts whose meanings and functi... more Among the highlights of the current exhibition are a group of artifacts whose meanings and functions seem to lie outside the mundane or practical but rather, are best explained in the context of ritual and religion. However, since Mycenaean Linear B tablets relating to religion lack narratives or prayers, our understanding of their beliefs remains largely a mystery. What the texts do provide are the names of divinities and their sanctuaries, and lists of offerings, including perishables, such as wine, oil, honey, and animals for sacrifices and communal feasts. Festivals are also named, during which public feasts might have occurred, likely proceeded by processions. At the very least, we know that Mycenaean religion was polytheistic, although without more detailed texts, it is not possible to rank the divinities in a hierarchy nor to assign them powers and realms, as in the Classical Greek pantheon, even when some of names of later Greek gods occur in these texts.

INSTAP Academic Press (Institute for Aegean Prehistory) eBooks, Dec 20, 2007

American Journal of Archaeology, 2002

(2002) Lapatin. American Journal of Archaeology. Read by researchers in: 100% Social Sciences.

University of Athens, 2023

This paper re-identifies several Minoan seals that previously have been regarded as combat scenes... more This paper re-identifies several Minoan seals that previously have been regarded as combat scenes with swords, as depictions of stick-fighting, adding another sport practiced by the Minoans, in addition to bull-leaping, boxing, running, acrobatics, and chariot racing.

Studies in Aegean Art and Culture

The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar, 2018

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2003

Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology

Günkel-Maschek, Ute, Céline Murphy, Fritz Blakolmer, and Diamantis Panagiotopoulos, eds. 2024. Gesture, Stance, and Movement: Communicating Bodies in the Aegean Bronze Age. Acts of the International Conference at the University of Heidelberg, 11–13 November 2021. Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2024

This paper was conceived in response to the widely held view that the so-called Combat Agate seal... more This paper was conceived in response to the widely held view that the so-called Combat Agate seal, from the Griffin Warrior tomb at Pylos, is a masterpiece of Neopalatial Minoan art. However, it is argued here that the seal depicts the Mycenaean formula for showing the moment of the kill in a face-to-face combat. As will be demonstrated, the victor in these scenes stands in a posture identified here as the 'lunge and thrust'. This consists of two movements involving a shift in body weight: a backward movement to gain momentum, followed by a forward lunge which is accompanied by a sword thrust. To date, no Minoan seals show figures in the 'lunge and thrust' pose. Rather, all the relevant parallels come from mainland Helladic contexts. While there is no question that the style of depicting the male figures on the Pylos seal and on the other Mycenaean seals discussed here emulate Minoan figural art, their mainland funerary contexts imply that they were received and appreciated by Mycenaeans who might even have identified with the victor who stands in the 'lunge and thrust' posture.

Nature Ecology & Evolution

The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europ... more The Neolithic and Bronze Ages were highly transformative periods for the genetic history of Europe but for the Aegean—a region fundamental to Europe’s prehistory—the biological dimensions of cultural transitions have been elucidated only to a limited extent so far. We have analysed newly generated genome-wide data from 102 ancient individuals from Crete, the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands, spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. We found that the early farmers from Crete shared the same ancestry as other contemporaneous Neolithic Aegeans. In contrast, the end of the Neolithic period and the following Early Bronze Age were marked by ‘eastern’ gene flow, which was predominantly of Anatolian origin in Crete. Confirming previous findings for additional Central/Eastern European ancestry in the Greek mainland by the Middle Bronze Age, we additionally show that such genetic signatures appeared in Crete gradually from the seventeenth to twelfth centuries bc, a period when the in...

Among the highlights of the current exhibition are a group of artifacts whose meanings and functi... more Among the highlights of the current exhibition are a group of artifacts whose meanings and functions seem to lie outside the mundane or practical but rather, are best explained in the context of ritual and religion. However, since Mycenaean Linear B tablets relating to religion lack narratives or prayers, our understanding of their beliefs remains largely a mystery. What the texts do provide are the names of divinities and their sanctuaries, and lists of offerings, including perishables, such as wine, oil, honey, and animals for sacrifices and communal feasts. Festivals are also named, during which public feasts might have occurred, likely proceeded by processions. At the very least, we know that Mycenaean religion was polytheistic, although without more detailed texts, it is not possible to rank the divinities in a hierarchy nor to assign them powers and realms, as in the Classical Greek pantheon, even when some of names of later Greek gods occur in these texts.

INSTAP Academic Press (Institute for Aegean Prehistory) eBooks, Dec 20, 2007

American Journal of Archaeology, 2002

(2002) Lapatin. American Journal of Archaeology. Read by researchers in: 100% Social Sciences.

University of Athens, 2023

This paper re-identifies several Minoan seals that previously have been regarded as combat scenes... more This paper re-identifies several Minoan seals that previously have been regarded as combat scenes with swords, as depictions of stick-fighting, adding another sport practiced by the Minoans, in addition to bull-leaping, boxing, running, acrobatics, and chariot racing.

Studies in Aegean Art and Culture

The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar, 2018

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2003

Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology

by Jan Driessen, Mercourios Georgiadis, Paula Gheorghiade, Robert Koehl, Angelos Papadopoulos, Daniel J. Pullen, Simona Todaro, Coenaerts Jan, Marina Pucci, Piotr Zeman, and ekin kozal

Aegis 20, 2020

This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annu... more This volume This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona in 2018. The specific aim of both the session and this volume was to measure acceptance of, and resistance to, outside influences within Mediterranean coastal settlements and their immediate hinterlands, with an open time range, but with a particular focus on the processes not reflecting simple commercial routes, but taking place at an intercultural level, in situations of developed connectedness. Following a general discussion of the theoretical and long-lasting facets of the discussion on communication, and of some of the reasons for its unevenness, the contributions in the volume give a wide and stimulating view of the ongoing debate about Mediterranean interaction and communication. The papers' timespan is large: from the Late Neolithic of Crete, in the 5th-4th millennium BCE, to the Macedonian conquest of Thrace, in the 4th century BCE. Most contributions, however, focus on the Middle to Late Bronze Ages, as this is a phase of particularly intense communication, which matches the interests and connections of the editors. The geographic frame extends from the Central Mediterranean to Thrace, Cyprus and the Levant, with an important focus on Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Other papers, more than specific areas, instead discuss the figures of some of the actors of the intra-Mediterranean interregional communication, and the nuances of their roles: warriors and merchants.
https://www.i6doc.com/fr/book/?gcoi=28001104706670

INSTAP-AC, 2006

This is my book on Aegean rhyta published in 2006/