Collective Memory and the Mycenaeans: The Argolid, Messenia, and the Mani Compared

Summary

The concept of collective memory has received some attention in archaeology, but has not been systematically applied to processes of state formation and sociopolitical change. In this paper I model the evolution of collective memory systems in Greece from the Neolithic to Iron Age, with a focus on Mycenaean regions. The Argolid, Messenia, and the Mani – using The Diros Project’s excavations of a Mycenaean “ossuary” at Ksagounaki as a primary example – vary in terms of how collective memories were created and put to use, as reflected in long-term differences in mortuary practice. A collective memory model can also be employed to help explain differences in Mycenaean versus Minoan state formation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Long-Term Settlement Dynamics and Land Use on the Mani peninsula of Southern Greece

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