THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC

E. Wace French

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THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC

E. Wace French
E. Wace French

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This chapter is in the book Heft 2/1969

E. WACE FRENCH, THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC 133 THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC Discussions from the earliest, including that of Furumark (1941, 1944), to the most recent, that of Desborough (1964), about the pottery of LH IIIC have been hampered by the lack of a full stratigraphic sequence from a settlement site and by lack of a sufficient quantity of pottery to allow any form of numerical analysis. The term LH IIIC was first used by Mackeprang (1938) who assigned to this group pottery of the Close Style and the wares of the Granary Class that accompany it. That these two groups of pottery belong to LH IIIC goes without question, but they must be defined with care. The term Granary Class should only be applied to the types of pottery so described by Wace, BSA. 25, 1921—23, 51 ff., types which were found whole and in situ on the floor of the East Basement of the Granary. It must not be extended to cover other pottery from within the Granary, either from the fill or from beneath the floors, as this is often of earlier date and type. Further confusion has arisen because, until 1957 at least (when the West Wall deposit at Tiryns was discovered), it was not realized that two destructions involving burning could be identified at Mycenae and Tiryns. Previously all pottery from burnt levels within the Citadels (and frequently from elsewhere as well) had been equated with the pottery from the destruction level of the Granary1. This problem was analysed by Alin (1962), and he makes it quite clear how little evidence there is for LH IIIC on the mainland. Furumark's (1944) definition of his LH IIIC la depends totally on the presence in certain groups of pots of his 'sub-IIIB' style. The assignment of many pots to this group can, on recent evidence, be seen to be incorrect and Furumark's groupings will therefore require total revision. Desborough (1964)5 summed up the situation correctly when he said: »What, then, are the new elements which distinguish the emergence of LH IIIC, and where in the Mycenaean world did they originate ? There is an initial difficulty here, in that stratification evidence linking LH IIIB with a new style is only very rarely found, and in particular is not yet available in the Argolid«. Desborough inclines to the view — put forward by Furumark — that the Close Style is an early manifestation of LH IIIC but he concludes cautiously: »Furthermore, it may well be that the Close Style is not the earliest manifestation of LH IIIC in the Argolid; here, most unfortunately, it seems that we have not sufficient evidence to be sure« (1964) 6. The recent work at Mycenae has provided just such a sequence and the new material from Mycenae and Tiryns has given a bulk of pottery of LH IIIB and IIIC on which numerical analysis can be based. As the new Mycenae sequence and the pottery from it will require detailed study before it can be fully presented in publication, certain important deductions are presented here2. Special abbrevations besides those used in AA. 1968: Alin (1962) = P. Alin, Das Ende der My-kenischen Fundstätten auf dem Griechischen Festland. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology I (1962) Desborough (1964) = V. d'A. Desborough, The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors (1964). Furumark (1941) = A. Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery (1941). Furumark (1944) = A. Furumark, The Mycenae-an IIIC Pottery and Its Relation to Cypriote Fabrics, OpArch. 3, 1944, 194ff. Mackeprang (1938) = M. P. Mackeprang, Late Mycenaean Vases, AJA. 42, 1938, 537ff. 1 e. g. Wace, BSA. 51, 1956, 105 fig. 2. 2 I thank Lord William Taylour for permission to make preliminary use of material from his excavations at Mycenae. Though these defini-tions are primarily my own, the development of all my study of Mycenaean pottery owes a great deal to continual discussion over the material with Mrs, W. J. Craig,

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E. WACE FRENCH, THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC 133 THE FIRST PHASE OF LH IIIC Discussions from the earliest, including that of Furumark (1941, 1944), to the most recent, that of Desborough (1964), about the pottery of LH IIIC have been hampered by the lack of a full stratigraphic sequence from a settlement site and by lack of a sufficient quantity of pottery to allow any form of numerical analysis. The term LH IIIC was first used by Mackeprang (1938) who assigned to this group pottery of the Close Style and the wares of the Granary Class that accompany it. That these two groups of pottery belong to LH IIIC goes without question, but they must be defined with care. The term Granary Class should only be applied to the types of pottery so described by Wace, BSA. 25, 1921—23, 51 ff., types which were found whole and in situ on the floor of the East Basement of the Granary. It must not be extended to cover other pottery from within the Granary, either from the fill or from beneath the floors, as this is often of earlier date and type. Further confusion has arisen because, until 1957 at least (when the West Wall deposit at Tiryns was discovered), it was not realized that two destructions involving burning could be identified at Mycenae and Tiryns. Previously all pottery from burnt levels within the Citadels (and frequently from elsewhere as well) had been equated with the pottery from the destruction level of the Granary1. This problem was analysed by Alin (1962), and he makes it quite clear how little evidence there is for LH IIIC on the mainland. Furumark's (1944) definition of his LH IIIC la depends totally on the presence in certain groups of pots of his 'sub-IIIB' style. The assignment of many pots to this group can, on recent evidence, be seen to be incorrect and Furumark's groupings will therefore require total revision. Desborough (1964)5 summed up the situation correctly when he said: »What, then, are the new elements which distinguish the emergence of LH IIIC, and where in the Mycenaean world did they originate ? There is an initial difficulty here, in that stratification evidence linking LH IIIB with a new style is only very rarely found, and in particular is not yet available in the Argolid«. Desborough inclines to the view — put forward by Furumark — that the Close Style is an early manifestation of LH IIIC but he concludes cautiously: »Furthermore, it may well be that the Close Style is not the earliest manifestation of LH IIIC in the Argolid; here, most unfortunately, it seems that we have not sufficient evidence to be sure« (1964) 6. The recent work at Mycenae has provided just such a sequence and the new material from Mycenae and Tiryns has given a bulk of pottery of LH IIIB and IIIC on which numerical analysis can be based. As the new Mycenae sequence and the pottery from it will require detailed study before it can be fully presented in publication, certain important deductions are presented here2. Special abbrevations besides those used in AA. 1968: Alin (1962) = P. Alin, Das Ende der My-kenischen Fundstätten auf dem Griechischen Festland. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology I (1962) Desborough (1964) = V. d'A. Desborough, The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors (1964). Furumark (1941) = A. Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery (1941). Furumark (1944) = A. Furumark, The Mycenae-an IIIC Pottery and Its Relation to Cypriote Fabrics, OpArch. 3, 1944, 194ff. Mackeprang (1938) = M. P. Mackeprang, Late Mycenaean Vases, AJA. 42, 1938, 537ff. 1 e. g. Wace, BSA. 51, 1956, 105 fig. 2. 2 I thank Lord William Taylour for permission to make preliminary use of material from his excavations at Mycenae. Though these defini-tions are primarily my own, the development of all my study of Mycenaean pottery owes a great deal to continual discussion over the material with Mrs, W. J. Craig,

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