1st Edition

The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age Continuity and Change Between the Twelfth and Eighth Centuries BC

By Oliver Dickinson Copyright 2007
    316 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    320 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Following Oliver Dickinson’s successful The Aegean Bronze Age, this textbook is a synthesis of the period between the collapse of the Bronze Age civilization in the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BC, and the rise of the Greek civilization in the eighth century BC.

    With chapter bibliographies, distribution maps and illustrations, Dickinson’s detailed examination of material and archaeological evidence argues that many characteristics of Ancient Greece developed in the Dark Ages. He also includes up-to-date coverage of the 'Homeric question'.

    This highly informative text focuses on:

    • the reasons for the Bronze Age collapse which brought about the Dark Ages
    • the processes that enabled Greece to emerge from the Dark Ages
    • the degree of continuity from the Dark Ages to later times.

    Dickinson has provided an invaluable survey of this period that will not only be useful to specialists and undergraduates in the field, but that will also prove highly popular with the interested general reader.

    Introduction  1. Terminology and Chronology  2. The Collapse of the Bronze Age Civilization  3. The Postpalatial Period  4. The Structure and Economy of Communities  5. Crafts  6. Burial Customs  7. Trade, Exchange, and Foreign Contacts  8. Religion  9. Conclusions

    Biography

    Dr Oliver Dickinson recently retired as Reader Emeritus from the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Durham, where he taught from 1976–2005. He is a specialist in Greek prehistory.

    "A worthy text for use in the classroom. It is a good segue from a course in Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology to one in Greek Archaeology and it is the text I will now use for that purpose." - BMCR

    "This book is an admirable synthesis of work that has appeared in print, conferences, and exhibitions over the past twenty years. . . Dickinson has created both a readable narrative and a useful reference (or text) book covering the period formerly known as the Dark Age." - Michael Sugerman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst in NECJ 36.4 (2009)