The Value of all that Glitters: Beads in the Tombs around Pylos, Greece

Summary

This paper aims to explore the value of faience and glass in Bronze Age Pylos with a view to reconstructing the wealth and status of the people with whom they were buried.

These beads must have been imported to Pylos as finished objects since none of the raw materials are found locally and we have no evidence for their manufacture or production at Pylos. Indeed our analysis of a sample of the vitreous beads shows that some of these beads, or at least their substance, originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia. As imported substances these beads connect to recent discussions on the Mycenaean political economy that stress control of trade and access to exotic and highly crafted objects as major power strategies in legitimizing elevated social positions.

In contemporary Egypt and Mesopotamia, glass and faience had very different values with glass having a higher value and more limited distribution than faience. By examining the distribution of the beads in the tombs and the value of other objects found with them, we will be able to recreate a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the value to these objects and the wealth and status of the people buried around Pylos.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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