Textile tools and production at a Mycenaean secondary centre
Date
2017-08-31
Authors
MacDonald, Max K.
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Abstract
This thesis is a study of textile production in the Late Bronze Age, using new evidence uncovered by excavations at Ancient Eleon in Boeotia, Greece. Textile production is a nearly forgotten art. To the Mycenaeans of the Greek Late Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1100 BCE) textiles were nearly a form of currency, and a symbol of power. This thesis begins by examining the Mycenaean administration of textile production, which was systematically controlled by the palatial centres of Greece and Crete. Linear B documents record resources and workers under palatial control, and the amounts of cloth that they were expected to produce. The Mycenaean palace at Thebes was the administrative centre that controlled the region of eastern Boeotia, including sites such as Eleon. No document directly links textile production at Eleon to Thebes, but other Theban tablets and the two sites’ close proximity suggest a similar relationship to other Mycenaean centres and their dependents.
Usually, ancient textiles from Greece do not survive in the archaeological record. The only evidence that remains is the Linear B archives and the tools of production. Linear B tablets have not been found at Eleon, but many spindle whorls for yarn production, loom weights for weaving, and other tools indicating the production of textiles have been recovered from the site. This thesis discusses the significance of these objects and attempts to place Eleon in the greater context of the Mycenaean textile industry.
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Greece, Thebes, Tools, Textiles, spindle whorls, Loomweights, Mycenaean, Minoan, Eleon, Boeotia, Bronze Age, Archaeology, Prehistory