Painting the wine-dark sea: traveling Aegean fresco artists in the Middle and late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean (original) (raw)
in A. Papadopoulos (ed.), Recent Research and Perspectives on the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean, TALANTA XLIV, pp. 92-136, 2012
Aegean and Cypriot wares were the most widely traded ceramics in the Eastern Mediterranean (at least by sea) during the Bronze Age. However, their distribution and typologies are usually considered separately, prohibting meaningful comparisons. This paper attempts a comparative examination of their quantities, repertoires, and contexts of deposition in Egypt and the Levant, as well as the mutual exchanges between the Aegean and Cyprus. In terms of chronology, it is demonstrated that while Cypriot vessels were exported en masse to Egypt and the Levant from the later part of the MBA onwards, Aegean ceramics became common only in the mid-14th century BC. In terms of repertoires, it becomes clear that while Cypriot exports included transport containers already from the 18th or 17th century BC, the few Aegean vessels that found their way to the East prior to 1400 BC were primarily for drinking and pouring. Aegean transport containers were systematically exported only from LH III A2 onwards (i.e. in the Mycenaean palatial period). These findings suggest the existence of two quite independent networks of maritime trade, and raise questions about the degree of integration of Aegean polities into the Eastern Mediterranean trade system. 6 Some scholars identify 'proto-palaces' in that period, but this is largely based on architectural style, layout, or decoration, see Wright 2006. Evidence of complex administrative and economic functions associated with centralized state organization is only available for the architectural complexes (i.e. 'palaces') which were built at Pylos, Mycenae, and Thebes in the following LH IIIA2-B period: Darcque 2005, 336-339, 372-374, 404. 7 For a recent overview of developments in the 2nd millennium BC Aegean, see Shelmerdine 2008. 8 The following chronological abbreviations are used in this table and throughout the paper: Aegean: MM = Middle Minoan; LM = Late Minoan; LH = Late Helladic; Cyprus: MC = Middle Cypriot; LC = Late Cypriot; Levant: MB = Middle Bronze; LB = Late Bronze; Egypt: SIP = Second Intermediate Period.
3 262 GIORGOS VAVOURANAKIS 325 CROSS-CRAFT AND CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTIONS 14. Cross-craft and cross-cultural interactions during the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age ann BrysBaerT abstract In the context of the Late Bronze Age Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, cross-craft and cross-cultural interactions are discussed in order to understand the concept of 'cross-craft interaction' (CCI). CCI is connected with the chaîne opératoire to demonstrate that it consists of three aspects: production processes, circulation/distribution patterns and consumption of the final product. Only if we consider CCI and thus technologies this way, can we fully comprehend the social relationships and identities that are shaped and negotiated through people's interactions. The case study of painted plaster presents four types of interactions and when contextualised, it becomes clear that CCI contributes to technological changes, innovations and transfer of a craft. Moreover, the appearance of specific technologies, i.e. al fresco, were short-lived and context-specific (elites), from a sociopolitical and ideological perspective, and much was done to keep it there. With the end of the Mycenaean palaces and elite's structure collapse, however, painted plaster disappeared with it.
Pots, Frescoes, Textiles and People. The Social Life of Decorated Pottery at Late Bronze Age Knossos and Crete in ΧΡΩΣΤΗΡΕΣ / PAINTBRUSHERS. Wall-Painting and Vase-Painting of the Second Millennium BS in Dialogue, A. G. Vlachopoulos ed., 2018
and Kathleen Lynch are thanked for discussing aspects of this paper. Efi Tsiolaki and John Wallrodt are thanked for helping with images. In the Neopalatial period frescoes are found in palaces and elite buildings on Crete and Minoanizing settlements of the South Aegean alike. With the exception of Hagia Triada, 33 Final Palatial period mural paintings are exclusive to the palace at Knossos. 34 While bearing in mind that a palatial repertoire might differ from one employed in other elite buildings, striking similarities, but differences also, are evident when Neopalatial and Final Palatial fresco repertoires are compared. Looking beyond pottery, decorative motifs in the Neopalatial occur in a variety of media, including: dresses (e.g. on the faience figurines
Tracing Technoscapes. The Production of Bronze Age Wall Paintings in the Eastern Mediterranean , 2018
Abstract For a length of time Bronze Age stucco reliefs have been brought to light almost exclusively at sites in the Aegean with the ‘palace’ of Knossos as the most important example. Since the 1990s the palatial district of Helmi/Tell el-Dabca in the eastern Nile delta is now the first site beyond the Aegean which has produced such a kind of three-dimensional artistic expression within its élite architecture. Hence it seems very likely to assume an interrelation in the way this complex craft has been executed in both regions, but the question arises how and to which extent. Through an analysis of the involved raw materials and a reconstruction of the craft’s chaîne opératoire, this paper therefore aims at a better understanding of the characteristic technical choices and habitualized procedures of the craftsperson in the Nile delta. A comparison of these results with practices traceable in the Aegean should help us to carve out common craft tradition, as well as deviations, to finally approach the possible enmeshment of both craft activities. Keywords: stucco reliefs; technique; work flow; Tell el-Dabca; skill; knowledge transfer; Egypt; Aegean.
Chrostires (Χρωστήρες), 2018
This study focuses on a special type of pottery and frescoes in Crete and Thera, both dated to a chronological span that starts at the end of the Middle Bronze Age and ends in the Late Bronze Age [Late Minoan (LM) II period]. The former is made of clay and the latter of plaster, and both of them bear plastic decoration, an element which makes them different from other objects in their respective classes. The appliquéd decoration on pottery from Crete and Thera on the one hand, and the stucco relief frescoes from both islands on the other, are not broadly discussed subjects. Moreover, the shared features of the two different forms of artistic expression have yet to be studied in detail.
This book is based on the author's dissertation (University of Glasgow 2004) and on her recent papers about the materials and techniques of Bronze Age wall paintings. While the title emphasizes the 'power of technology in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean', the originality of the book relies on its subtitle, the 'painted plaster', where the author has to offer first-hand observations. As claimed in the introduction, Brysbaerst's prime interest is to provide new insights into the whole tissue of interaction between human and social agency, technological production, and the transfer of knowledge within the eastern Mediterranean, through a multidisciplinary approach. Furthermore, the author argues that her present work combines issues of iconography, technology and style, moving a step forward from the traditional stylistic and iconographic studies.