Abstract
BEYOND THALASSOCRACIES evaluates and rethinks the manner in which archaeologists approach, understand, and analyse the various processes associated with culture change connected to interregional contact, using as a test case the world of the Aegean during the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1100 BC). We compare and contrast various aspects of the phenomena of Minoanisation and Mycenaeanisation, both of which share the basic underlying de- ning feature of material culture change in communities around the Aegean.
This change was driven by trends manifesting themselves in the dominant palatial communities of each period of the Bronze Age. Over the past decade, our understanding of how these processes developed and functioned has changed considerably.
Whereas current discussions on Minoanisation have already been informed by more recent theoretical trends, especially in material culture studies and post-colonial theory, the process of Mycenaeanisation is still very much conceptualised along traditional lines of explanation. Since these phenomena occurred in chronological sequence, it makes sense that any reappraisal of their nature and signi- cance should target those regions of the Aegean basin that were a ected by both processes, highlighting their similarities and di erences.
Thus, here we focus on the southern and eastern Aegean, in particular the Cyclades, Dodecanese, and the north-eastern Aegean islands.