The Upper Interface Twenty-five Years Later. The Northeast Aegean Islands and the West Anatolian Coast during the Late Bronze Age
2023
Abstract
This paper reviews interpretations of the East Aegean-West Anatolian Interface conceptualised originally by Penelope Mountjoy in 1998. By addressing material culture aspects of the Upper Interface, with particular attention to pottery, tomb architecture and grave assemblages, seals, and personal adornments, we discuss the validity of Mountjoy's seminal proposal.
Firstly, we consider the Interface as an intercultural contact space, leading to a variety of narratives and intercultural outcomes. We then discuss the Mycenaeanisation process in the Upper Interface in relation to the preceding period of cultural contacts with Crete (usually defined as Minoanisation), and we conclude by elaborating a new concept of the Central Interface.