Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone
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Joseph Maran
Abstract
The present contribution argues against the until-recently repeated claim that silver was neither produced nor used in the Aegean until the 3rd millennium BC, or at least considerably later in the 4th millennium BC than in West Asia. Even if societies in the Aegean and Southeastern Europe had very different political and economic structures than those of the Near and Middle East, the extraction, processing and use of silver seems to have begun in all these regions at about the same time. Thus, in the Aegean the use of this precious metal can be traced back to the early 4th millennium BC and possibly even earlier, and the same holds true for certain areas of the Carpatho-Balkan zone. In the last decades, especially evidence of the earliest phase of silver mining and extraction in the Aegean has dramatically increased, with the argentiferous lead ore deposits of Lavrion, Siphnos and Thasos that would later come to dominate silver production in classical Greece impressively emerging as major sources already in the earliest phase of producing silver. The reluctance to accept the use and production of silver in the Aegean prior to 3000 BC was based on a combination of diffusionist and evolutionist preconceptions. The first preconception lies in the assumption that technological innovations were developed in one particular region and transferred from there unidirectionally to surrounding areas. The second derives from the notion that diachronic changes in societies can be modelled into discrete stages of unilinear technological progression, in which the potential for innovation is tied to the degree of a given society’s “complexity”. It is here argued that the unidirectional model of diffusionism must be replaced by a multidirectional, dialogical model in which the geographic area between the Carpathian Basin and the Balkans in the northwest and the Iranian highlands in the southeast would have to be perceived as an interaction sphere consisting of many sub-zones, in which knowledge and practices travelled in various directions.
Abstract
The present contribution argues against the until-recently repeated claim that silver was neither produced nor used in the Aegean until the 3rd millennium BC, or at least considerably later in the 4th millennium BC than in West Asia. Even if societies in the Aegean and Southeastern Europe had very different political and economic structures than those of the Near and Middle East, the extraction, processing and use of silver seems to have begun in all these regions at about the same time. Thus, in the Aegean the use of this precious metal can be traced back to the early 4th millennium BC and possibly even earlier, and the same holds true for certain areas of the Carpatho-Balkan zone. In the last decades, especially evidence of the earliest phase of silver mining and extraction in the Aegean has dramatically increased, with the argentiferous lead ore deposits of Lavrion, Siphnos and Thasos that would later come to dominate silver production in classical Greece impressively emerging as major sources already in the earliest phase of producing silver. The reluctance to accept the use and production of silver in the Aegean prior to 3000 BC was based on a combination of diffusionist and evolutionist preconceptions. The first preconception lies in the assumption that technological innovations were developed in one particular region and transferred from there unidirectionally to surrounding areas. The second derives from the notion that diachronic changes in societies can be modelled into discrete stages of unilinear technological progression, in which the potential for innovation is tied to the degree of a given society’s “complexity”. It is here argued that the unidirectional model of diffusionism must be replaced by a multidirectional, dialogical model in which the geographic area between the Carpathian Basin and the Balkans in the northwest and the Iranian highlands in the southeast would have to be perceived as an interaction sphere consisting of many sub-zones, in which knowledge and practices travelled in various directions.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
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Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
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Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
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Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents XI
- List of Figures XIII
- Tabula Gratulatoria XIX
- Vasileios Petrakos: A Life Dedicated to the Service of Greek Archaeology XXIII
-
Part I: Epigraphy and Ancient History
- Thucydides, Historical Geography and the ‘Lost Years’ of Perdikkas II 3
- Athens, Samothrace, and the Mysteria of the Samothracian Great Gods 17
- De quelques épitaphes d’étrangers et d’étrangères au Musée d’Érétrie 45
- Φυτωνυμικά τοπωνύμια Κωμών της Αργολίδος 103
- Le recours à l’arbitrage privé dans les actes d’affranchissement delphiques 117
- Προξενικό ψήφισμα από την Αιτωλία 137
- Women’s Religion in Hellenistic Athens 145
- Notes on Athenian Decrees in the Later Hellenistic Period 159
- “Those Who Jointly Built the City” 179
-
Part II: Archaeology
- Attica and the Origins of Silver Metallurgy in the Aegean and the Carpatho-Balkan Zone 197
- Cultural Variation in Mycenaean Attica. A Mesoregional Approach 227
- Mythical and Historical Heroic Founders: The Archaeological Evidence 299
- Das Volutenkapitell aus Sykaminos 321
- Dionysos Lenaios at Rhamnous. Lenaia ἐν ἀγροῖς and the “Lenaia vases” 359
- Philoktet in Attika 383
-
Part III: History of Greek Archaeology
- Peiraieus in 1805 411
- Karl Otfried Müller in Marathon, Rhamnus und Oropos 423
- Spyridon Marinatos and Carl Blegen at Pylos: A Happy Collaboration 441
- Vassilis Petrakos et les fouilles suisses d’Érétrie 451
- List of Contributors 465
- Index of Epigraphical Texts 469
- Index Locorum 477
- Index of Mythological Names 483
- Index of Geographic Names (Place Names, Ethnic and Demotic Adjectives) 485
- Index of Ancient Personal Names 499
- Index Rerum 505
- Index of Modern Personal Names 515
