Description
Book SynopsisA free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization, through the Dark Age, and up to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. This period saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks that would eventually expand to nearly all shores of the Middle Sea. Alex R. Knodell argues that in order to understand how ancient Greece changed over time, one must analyze how Greek societies constituted and reconstituted themselves across multiple scales, from the local to the regional to the Mediterranean. Knodell employs innovative network and spatial analyses to understand the regional diversity and connectivity that drove the growth of early Greek polities. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, a
Trade Review"Overall, this is a very valuable read for more advanced students and scholars of Greek protohistory . . .It offers more refined and data-rich overview of punctuated changes, and it highlights the varied regional dynamics in central Greece that led to the emergence of the insti-tution of the polis, without prioritizing too much the big, better-known centers such as Athens, Thebes, and Lefkandi."
* American Journal of Archaeology *
"An inspiring, sophisticated, and scrupulously researched study of central Greece...[Knodell offers] a multiscalar picture—as refreshing as it is compelling—that will serve as a solid example of good practice, from which any archaeologist interested in diverse and changing social complexities from a landscape perspective can benefit."
* American Antiquity *
"Knodell seamlessly juxtaposes intra- and extra-boundary perspectives as they pertain to human identity. The ancient Greeks heroized their Mycenaean predecessors, and Greek archaeologists are similarly enchanted by Peloponnesian palatial territories. Knodell shows us another way. With his diversified dataset from an overlooked region, he encourages us: keep engaging with the 'blank spots' on the map."
* The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology *
"A welcome addition to works on the archaeology of ‘early Greece’. . . .Societies in Transition is a clear and positive contribution…[that] should be read by students and specialists alike." * The Classical Review *
