Economy and Commodity Production in the Aegean Bronze Age

This Element is a comparative analysis of Minoan and Mycenaean domestic economies through their agricultural and non-agricultural products.

Catherine E. Pratt (Author)

9781009454674, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 January 2025

86 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 0.8 cm, 0.276 kg

This Element does not discuss every aspect of the economy. Rather, it focuses on the first stage of an economic cycle − that of production. Two of the major guiding questions are: What products were the Bronze Age palatial states concerned with producing in surplus? And how did the palatial states control the production of these essential commodities? To answer these questions, the Element synthesizes previous work while interspersing its own conclusions on certain sub-topics, especially in light of recent archaeological data that help to fill out a picture incomplete based on textual evidence alone. With these goals in mind, this Element brings together both textual and archaeological data to reconstruct the internal economy and the production of commodities under the purview of Minoan and Mycenaean palatial states.

1. Introduction
2. Commodity production
3. Minoan palatial era
4. Mycenaean palatial era
5. Postpalatial era
6. Summary and conclusions
References.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]