This course is primarily intended to introduce students to the material evidence (art and archaeology) of the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age in the Aegean (c.3000-1100 B.C.), and the historical questions that have emerged as study of these periods has developed. It will also attempt to address certain questions, principally the causes for the emergence of the palace states in the second millennium B.C., the nature of the palace societies and state structures that emerged, and the reasons for the eventual disappearance of this kind of state. Minoan, Mycenaean and Cycladic art is considered in relation to questions of religious political authority, as well as ‘culture’ and ethnicity. 

REQUISITES: Pre-requisite Modules: HS2123

• A broad knowledge of the relevant material evidence from the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age in Crete, the Cyclades and Mainland Greece.
• A broad knowledge of the theories, questions and debates surrounding the formation and collapse of the Aegean Palatial States.
• An ability to assess critically the relative importance of key factors relevant to these questions, such as social stratification, metalworking, storage, redistribution and external influence.
• An ability to analyse the functions and nature of Aegean Bronze Age palace states.
• An ability to assess critically the relevant archaeological evidence in relation to the above questions.
• An ability to assess critically the significance of the documentary evidence from the Linear B tablets and the Homeric poems in relation to these questions. 

20 1hour lectures, 3 1hour seminars, 1 day-long museum trip (to Oxford, Ashmolean museum).

The lectures present an outline of major topics and themes in the archaeology and historiography of the Aegean Bronze Age, and provide a framework for the interpretation of the evidence by introducing the main debates that have shaped research into the subject. They should be thought of as a useful starting-point for further discussion and independent study. Slides and, where appropriate, handouts are used to illustrate the material discussed.

The seminars provide an opportunity for students to analyse and discuss key issues and topics in the module, and to get feedback on their ideas from the tutor and their peers. Seminars will be directly linked to the first two units of assessment (Handouts with material for study and suggestions for preparatory reading will be circulated prior to the seminars.

The museum trip is an opportunity for students to look in detail at artefacts from the Aegean Bronze Age, and to reflect on the way in which the period has been studied and presented in the modern world. The work done on the trip is used as the basis for discussion in the first seminar and provides the basis for the subsequent object biography (1^st unit of assessment).

Independent study enables students to familiarise themselves with the primary source material and the most important modern debates on the subject. A reading list is provided, with guidance on key items of reading for major themes and lecture topics.

Coursework feedback tutorials provide students with an opportunity to get feedback and guidance on all aspects of their written work.

• observation and analysis of a variety of different types of archaeological evidence
• observation and visual analysis
• assimilating and synthesising complex information and ideas
• critical thinking skills, such as analysing and evaluating evidence, critiquing interpretations or arguments, and challenging assumptions
• constructing and defending arguments based on evidence
• clear, accurate and effective communication of ideas and arguments in writing and in debate
• employing basic skills and conventions in the presentation and use of archaeological evidence
• bibliographic and referencing skills
• team-working and contributing to group discussions
• using IT resources effectively
• independent working and time management

Assessment consists of one essay (50%), one book precis (25%) and one object biography (25%).

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

Students who fail the module will normally be expected to resit the failed component(s) in the summer resit period.

• The historiography of the subject, from Heinrich Schliemann to Colin Renfrew (and beyond);
• Relative chronology, cultural labels and material culture;
• Regionalism in the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age of the Aegean and the question of cultures and ‘ethnic’ groups (Minoan, Mycenaean, Cycladic);
• The emergence of complex societies (and states) in Crete and the mainland;
• The nature of the ‘palaces, both during Crete during the Old and New Palaces and on the ‘Mycenaean’ mainland;
• External relations both with Egypt and with the ‘palaces’ of Northern Syria; Aegean art (including the Thera frescoes);
• The date of the Thera eruption, and its implications for East Mediterranean chronology;
• Aegean religion (including regional differences);
• Aegean scripts and literacy (including the decipherment of Linear B);
• The uses of Homer, and whether to treat the subject as ‘Aegean prehistory’ or Homeric archaeology;
• The destruction of the palaces, the end of the Aegean world and its legacy in later times. 

Bintliff, J. 2012. The Complete Archaeology of Greece: From Hunter Gatherers to the Twentieth Century AD. Oxford and Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. (chapters on the Bronze Age)

Broodbank, C. 2013. The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Emergence of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World. London: Thames and Hudson. (chapters 7, 8 and 9)

Cline, E.R. (ed.) 2010. The Oxford Handbook of the Aegean Bronze Age. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Cullen, T. 2001. Aegean Prehistory: a review. Boston: Archaeological Institute of America.

Dickinson, O.T.P.K. 1994. The Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Preziosi, D. and L. Hitchcock. 1999. Aegean Art and Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shelmerdine, C.W. ed. 2008. The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 

See the module handout for full reading list