Mycenaean Amber: Within the Exchange Network of Mercenaries and Metals (original) (raw)
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Interest in the archaeological amber industry goes back a long time and has produced a wealth of literature, as is demonstrated by extensive bibliographies. I refer those interested in specific issues to these. In this paper I shall focus on a brief presentation of several questions. Most attention is devoted to the question of the beginning of amber's world career, in particular its Central European origins. They call for a broader treatment, especially when one considers readers who focus on the Mediterranean. In addition, I shall discuss in general terms the synchronisation of chronologies between Central Europe and the Aegean, as well as the routes of north-south circulation of amber.
THE AMBER IN GREECE DURING THE LATE BRONZE AGE AND ITS PRESENCE AT KAKOVATOS, WESTERN GREECE
Since antiquity the search for metals and exotica constituted one of the most intensively examined issues. Since the 16th c. BC amber items, due to the special properties of this unusual resin, belonged to the group of objects of significant value. The presence of amber artifacts, mostly beads, in early Mycenaean tombs of an elite class is indicative. The Peloponnese, both the southwestern and northeastern, was the area with the greatest number of amber finds during the early Mycenaean era. As they were discovered in milieu rich in metal objects, such as in the tholos tombs in Messenia and south Elis as well as in the shaft graves at Mycenae, it is highly probable that the import of amber objects was connected with the search for metals, mainly tin and gold. The substantial amount of amber finds in western Peloponnese points to the arrival of amber from W and NW, through sea and land routes, though di!cult to trace. Albeit such long distance voyages seem ambiguous, the evidence in western Greece indicates that since the Early Bronze Age journeys as far as Malta were possible. It is beyond any doubt that an extensive trade network in which many western Greek, mainly Peloponnesian, settlements were involved began from the end of the Middle Bronze Age until the end of the prehistoric times.
This paper presents an evaluation of the commercial and cultural significance of the “Amber Route,” a term often encountered in the humanities that demarcates an ancient trade connection between the southern coastal areas of the Baltic and the northern coastal regions of the Adriatic, the most integrated part of the Mediterranean area in Continental Europe.
(in:) Rica Annaert (ed.) Early medieval waterscapes Risks and opportunities for (im)material cultural exchange, Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung 8, 2019
The value of amber has long been discussed in the context of long-distance contact and trade, also in the Roman and Migrations periods. The role of trade in amber gathered in Sambia or in the Vistula Lagoon region has been particularly emphasised. The paper discusses another source of amber which could be possible explored on economically significant scale, i.e. the amber occurring on the western and northern coasts of Jutland. At present, it seems that several arguments can be shown in its support. The starting point for our discussion are Late Roman Period and early Migration Period burials from southern Scandinavia in which amber played the role of obol, i.e. a medium of payment. The concentration of amber obols in Jutland, especially in the Esbjerg region, may speak for a considerable role of this raw material in local economies. The latter interpretation is based on the assumption that objects used as obols had a real or symbolic value as a medium of payment. This apparently great importance of amber in the region can be connected with its local acquisition and processing performed on an economically significant scale. These observations can be corroborated by the tendencies observed with respect to size and composition of necklaces in Jutland, which possibly point to a temporary importance of yet another amber-bearing area, namely the Limfjord region. Since spindle-shaped amber obols clearly concentrate in Jutland, isolated finds of such artefacts in single graves in regions such as Scania, Zealand, the triangle between the Elbe and Weser, and Gdańsk Pomerania can be interpreted as one reflection of contact with western Jutland, contact which could have been to some extent inspired by trade in amber. In this context also the trade in amber with Roman provinces was shortly discussed.
The Significance of Amber in the Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltic Region: Some Remarks
The Amber Roads, 2016
In this paper the Author presents the results of his studies on Stone Age use and popularisation of amber in the distinct South Baltic macro-region (Vistula macro-region). The paper provides analysis of the cultural, chronological and regional characteristic of the finds, different potential uses of amber and its processing, as well as the development of local and long-distance amber exchange. The author also discusses some aspects of how the exchange was organized, the methods of transportation and goods offered as exchange for amber. The last part presents a general overview of amber use and working (processing) by the Late Neolithic people (RZC) in the Niedźwiedziówka micro-region. Niedźwiedziówka remains the largest concentration in the world of seasonal camps with remnants of hundreds of amber-processing workshops, thousands of halffinished ornamental products, industrial waste and tools.
Precious Resin for Rising Elites? Amber in the Bronze Age Funerary Contexts in Western Serbia
The Mechanism of Power. The Bronze and Iron Ages in Southeastern Europe. Proceedings of the 3rd PeBA Conference held in Ohrid, 25–28 May 2022 (eds. M. Gavranović, D. Heilmann, M. Verčík, P. Ardjanliev). Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westf., 2024
To trace the surviving indicators of social identity, and possibly social inequality, of the Bronze Age communities was inspired by the attractive amber finds from the territory of Western Serbia. Grave context, where every detail was precisely prepared and set for eternal life of the deceased, following strict ritual norms and loaded with symbolic meaning, deserves special treatment in our study. Additionally, the premise for the study was that everything that we now have as remnants of past can be useful to indicate a specific social agenda. Not only that the corpus of the material has been enlarged by recent excavations in the region as well as reevaluation of already published material (sites: Belotić-Šumar, Bela Crkva-Cerik Bandera, Banjevac-Jovanin Breg, Brezjak-Paulje, Vranjani-Veliki Lug, Jančići-Ravnine, Jabuka-Savin Lakat and Gračane-Gračanska Polja), but the direction towards its context analysis and interpretation has been changed to some extent. The chronological position of the earliest grave units comprising amber finds has been consolidated in the frames of the local Middle Bronze Age. The analysis of the grave equipment, with presence of amber in focus, can shed some light on the emergence of local elites or, at least, some in¬fluential local agents, who could have played a significant role in trade networks and exchange of desirable goods. This approach, comprising the analysis of position of the grave itself, bodily treatment, and the number and type of grave goods, would enable an attempt in reconstruction of a model of a privileged grave appearance. Thus, the amber can reveal us the preferred combinations in the graves of the raising elites. Presence of amber at the Bronze Age sites in Western Serbia can testify to vivid social relations of the local communities with distant regions of northern Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as of existence of spatially and chronologically overlapping regional and micro-regional networks. The amber, albeit present in small amounts, reveals the importance of this precious resin, initial procurement of which was not an easy and safe assignment.
Šiame straipsnyje pristatysime Akvilėjos miestą, esantį Caput Adriae pa kran tė je, jo augimą ir reikšmę Romos imperijos laikotarpiu. Tai buvo vienas didžiausių Romos imperijos miestų ir svarbiausias gintaro apdirbimo centras. Gintaro žaliava iš tolimoje šiaurėje esančios Baltijos jūros pakrantės į Po slėnyje ir toliau Apeninų pusiasalyje įsikūrusias dirbtuves atkeliaudavo Gintaro keliu prekeivių tarpininkų dėka (1 il.) 1. Akvilėjos meistrai iš gintaro kūrė aukštos kokybės gaminius, skirtus puoštis, taip pat amuletus, kurie, to meto žmonių įsitikinimu, saugojo juos nuo blogio ar ligų.