From Thebes to Mycenae: exploring divergent vitreous industries in Mycenaean Greece

拟议的项目是对公元前1600-1050年迈锡尼世界的玻璃和相关玻璃材料进行跨学科的调查。通过重点研究迈锡尼和底比斯宫的玻璃工业，这项研究的主要目的是为玻璃工业的结构和运作提供模型，并比较其生产的技术和经济方面。玻璃作为一种独立材料在东半球的技术起源和演变，人们对此知之甚少。公元前二千年中期，中东和埃及出现了成熟的玻璃工业，由于其大规模生产，一直与玻璃器皿的制造联系在一起。然而，迈锡尼的玻璃工业与其当代的玻璃生产中心是不同的，因为几乎只生产玻璃装饰品。迈锡尼人的玻璃主要有深蓝色和绿松石颜色，其形状属于典型的迈锡尼人珠宝的图像剧目。尽管有证据表明，通过不同的文化接触，手工艺和工业之间存在互动，但考古证据和一定程度上的分析证据表明，玻璃工业是独立运作的。迄今为止，对于迈锡尼的玻璃工业是否涉及初级生产，人们知之甚少。为了帮助回答这个问题，来自迈锡尼和底比斯宫殿的玻璃的科学分析将被用来探索迈锡尼玻璃技术的进化阶段。为了进行进一步的比较，迈锡尼附近的美的卫城和迈锡尼领地北部周边的遗址、爱奥尼亚群岛的菲基斯和洛克里斯以及迈锡尼世界远东的塞浦路斯也将包括在内。之所以选择这些地区，是因为玻璃制品的丰富性和多样性，以及它们参与了青铜时代晚期的动态货物贸易。化学和显微结构表征与定向微量元素分析将作为一种手段，用于表征迈锡尼世界上最广泛的年代良好的玻璃文物的原材料。通过识别玻璃原料中的微量元素判别因素，并将其与其地质来源联系起来，可以识别玻璃行业的独立程度。原材料、原料玻璃、成品玻璃制品的采购将在近东、地中海和欧洲的玻璃行业贸易网络中进行审查。通过追踪迈锡尼宫殿国家和爱琴海城市中心之间更广泛的文化联系，迈锡尼玻璃工业的独立程度将被定义。这将进一步阐明在迈锡尼周边或迈锡尼统治之外的遗址中，令人费解的罕见的迈锡尼玻璃。此外，还将说明玻璃交流的模式，重点介绍技术转让和玻璃生产中心之间的工业互动程度，并最终概述地中海和欧洲青铜时代后期的经济和管理制度内可能出现的玻璃生产和流通垄断。这一强大的方法可以描绘出同时存在的玻璃行业的具体技术特征，从而确定明确的生产区。这项研究将区分技术传统相似但实践不同的行业，这些行业来自当地环境、不同的文化背景、功能需求、想法和信仰。鉴于旧世界没有明确界定的玻璃作坊遗迹，这项研究在迈锡尼和史前研究以及古代玻璃研究中具有至关重要的意义。

The proposed project is an interdisciplinary investigation of glass and allied vitreous materials in the Mycenaean World, c. 1600-1050 BC. By focusing on the vitreous industries at the palaces of Mycenae and Thebes this study principally aims to provide models for the structure and operation of the vitreous industries and compare technological and economic aspects of their production. The technological origins and evolution of glass as an independent material in the Old World are only vaguely known. The mid-second millennium BC sees the appearance of fully-fledged glass industries in the Middle East and Egypt, which has always been associated with the making of glass vessels due to their large scale production. Nevertheless, the Mycenaean glass industry is set apart from its contemporary glass-producing centres due to the almost exclusive manufacture of glass ornaments. Mycenaean glass is mainly found in dark blue and turquoise colour and its forms fall into the iconographic repertoire of the typical Mycenaean jewellery.Despite evidence of interaction amongst crafts and industries through diverse cultural encounters, the archaeological and to an extent, analytical evidence, has demonstrated an independent operation of glass industries. To date there is little understanding as to whether the Mycenaean glass industry involved primary production. To help answer this question, scientific analyses of glass from the Palaces of Mycenae and Thebes will be used to explore the evolutionary stages of Mycenaean glass technology. To allow further comparison the acropolis of Midea in the vicinity of Mycenae and sites in the northern periphery of the Mycenaean dominion, Phokis and Lokris, the Ionian islands, and Cyprus in the far east of the Mycenaean World will also be included. These regions have been selected due to the abundance and diversity of vitreous objects and their involvement in a dynamic trade of goods in the Late Bronze Age.Chemical and microstructural characterisation in conjunction with targeted trace element analysis will be used as a means of characterising raw materials of the widest collection of well-dated glass artefacts across the Mycenaean World. By identifying trace element discriminants in glass raw materials, and linking these to their geological sources, the degree of independence of vitreous industries can be identified. Procurement of raw materials, raw glass, finished glass objects will be examined within the trade networks of vitreous industries in the Near East, Mediterranean and Europe. By tracing the broader cultural contacts amongst Mycenaean palatial states and urban centres in the Aegean, the degree of independence of the Mycenaean glass industry will be defined. This will further elucidate the puzzling infrequence of Mycenaean glass in sites of the Mycenaean periphery or outside the Mycenaean dominion. In addition, patterns of glass exchange will be illustrated, technology transfer and the extent of industrial interaction amongst glass-producing centres will be highlighted and ultimately, an outline of possible monopolies in glass production and circulation will be provided within the economic and administration systems of Mediterranean and Europe in the Late Bronze Age. This powerful methodology can delineate specific technological characteristics of concurrent vitreous industries and thus define clear-cut production zones. The research will discriminate amongst industries with similar technological traditions but with divergent practices arising from local environments, diverse cultural contexts, functional needs, ideas and beliefs. Given the absence of securely defined remains of glass workshops in the Old World the research is of crucial significance in Mycenaean and prehistoric studies as well as in ancient glass studies.