AEGAEUM 33Annales liégeoises et PASPiennes d’archéologie égéenne

KOSMOS

JEWELLERY, ADORNMENT AND TEXTILES IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE

Proceedings of the 13th International Aegean Conference/ 13e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Copenhagen,

Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, 21-26 April 2010

Edited by Marie-Louise NOSCH and Robert LAFFINEUR

PEETERSLEUVEN - LIEGE

2012

95274_Aegaeum 33 vwk I Sec11 25/04/12 09:54

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface viiAbbreviations ix

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Robert LAFFINEUR For a Kosmology of the Aegean Bronze Age 3

I. ASPECTS OF KOSMOS

Elizabeth J.W. BARBERSome Evidence for Traditional Ritual Costume in the Bronze Age Aegean 25

Jean-Claude POURSATOf Looms and Pebbles: Weaving at Minoan Coastal Settlements 31

Andreas VLACHOPOULOS and Fragoula GEORMAJewellery and Adornment at Akrotiri, Thera: The Evidence from the Wall Paintings and the Finds 35

Marie-Louise NOSCHFrom Texts to Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age 43

II. TEXTILES

Evanthia PAPADOPOULOUTextile Technology in Northern Greece: Evidence for a Domestic Craft Industry from

Early Bronze Age Archontiko 57

Malgorzata SIENNICKATextile Poduction in Early Helladic Tiryns 65

Vassilis P. PETRAKIS‘Minoan’ to ‘Mycenaean’: Thoughts on the Emergence of the Knossian Textile Industry 77

Maria Emanuela ALBERTI, Vassilis L. ARAVANTINOS, Maurizio DEL FREO, Ioannis FAPPAS, Athina PAPADAKI and Françoise ROUGEMONTTextile Production in Mycenaean Thebes. A First Overview 87

Marta GUZOWSKA, Ralf BECKS and Eva ANDERSSON STRAND“She was weaving a great Web”. Textiles in Troia 107

Margarita GLEBA and Joanne CUTLERTextile Production in Bronze Age Miletos: First Observations 113

Peter PAVÚKOf Spools and Discoid Loom-Weights: Aegean-type Weaving at Troy Revisited 121

Richard FIRTHThe Textile Tools of Demircihüyük 131

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Sascha MAUELSummarizing Results of a New Analysis of the Textile Tools from the Bronze Age Settlement

of Kastanas, Central Macedonia 139

Joanne CUTLERAriadne’s Thread: The Adoption of Cretan Weaving Technology in the Wider Southern Aegean

in the Mid-Second Millennium BC 145

Carlos VARIASThe Textile Industry in the Argolid in the Late Bronze Age from the Written Sources 155

Trevor VAN DAMMEReviewing the Evidence for a Bronze Age Silk Industry 163

Brendan BURKELooking for Sea-Silk in the Bronze Age Aegean 171

Vili APOSTOLAKOU, Thomas M. BROGAN and Philip P. BETANCOURTThe Minoan Settlement on Chryssi and its Murex Dye Industry 179

Philip P. BETANCOURT, Vili APOSTOLAKOU and Thomas M. BROGANThe Workshop for Making Dyes at Pefka, Crete 183

Thomas M. BROGAN, Philip P. BETANCOURT and Vili APOSTOLAKOUThe Purple Dye Industry of Eastern Crete 187

Helène WHITTAKERSome Reflections on the Use and Meaning of Colour in Dress and Adornment

in the Aegean Bronze Age 193

Pietro MILITELLOTextile Activity in Neolithic Crete: the Evidence from Phaistos 199

Eva ANDERSSON STRANDFrom Spindle Whorls and Loom Weights to Fabrics in the Bronze Age Aegean

and Eastern Mediterranean 207

Sophia VAKIRTZIAkr 8794: A Miniature Artifact from Akrotiri, Thera, and the “Whorl or Bead” Question

in Light of New Textile Evidence 215

Bernice JONESThe Construction and Significance of the Minoan Side-Pleated Skirt 221

Janice L. CROWLEYPrestige Clothing in the Bronze Age Aegean 231

Joanna S. SMITHTapestries in the Mediterranean Late Bronze Age 241

Abby LILLETHUNFinding the Flounced Skirt (Back Apron) 251

Valeria LENUZZADressing Priestly Shoulders: Suggestions from the Campstool Fresco 255

Eleni KONSTANTINIDI-SYVRIDIA Fashion Model of Mycenaean Times: The Ivory Lady from Prosymna 265

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Alessandro GRECOThe Background of Mycenaean Fashion: a Comparison between Near Eastern and Knossos

Documents on Sheep Husbandry 271

Joann GULIZIOTextiles for the Gods? Linear B Evidence for the Use of Textiles in Religious Ceremonies 279

Jörg WEILHARTNERGender Dimorphism in the Linear A and Linear B Tablets 287

Anne P. CHAPINDo Clothes Make the Man (or Woman?): Sex, Gender, Costume, and the Aegean

Color Convention 297

David A. WARBURTONEconomic Aspects of Textiles from the Egyptian Standpoint, in the Context of the Ancient Near East 305

Katherina ASLANIDOUSome Textile Patterns from the Aegean Wall-Paintings of Tell el-Dab‘a (‘Ezbet Helmi):

Preliminary Reconstructions and comparative Study 311

Emily Catherine EGANCut from the Same Cloth: The Textile Connection between Palace Style Jars and Knossian

Wall Paintings 317

Fritz BLAKOLMERBody Marks and Textile Ornaments in Aegean Iconography: Their Meaning and Symbolism 325

Elisabetta BORGNARemarks on Female Attire of Minoan and Mycenaean Clay Figures 335

III. JEWELLERY

Eleni SALAVOURAMycenaean “Ear pick”: A Rare Metal Burial Gift, Toilette or Medical Implement? 345

Birgitta P. HALLAGERPins and Buttons in Late Minoan III Dresses? 353

Ute GÜNKEL-MASCHEKReflections on the Symbolic Meaning of the Olive Branch as Head-Ornament in the Wall

Paintings of Building Xesté 3, Akrotiri 361

Cynthia COLBURN Bodily Adornment in the Early Bronze Age Aegean and Near East 369

Evangelos KYRIAKIDISHow to see the Minoan Signet Rings. Transformations in Minoan Miniature Iconography

379Julie HRUBY

Identity and the Visual Identification of Seals 389

Konstantinos KOPANIASRaw Material, Exotic Jewellery or Magic Objects? The Use of Imported Near Eastern

Seals in the Aegean 397

Salvatore VITALEDressing Up the Dead. The Significance of Late Helladic IIIB Adornments from Eleona

and Langada at Kos 407

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Petya HRISTOVA Overlaying Mycenae’s Masks in Funerary and Living Contexts of Symbolic Action: Jewellery for Body Adornment, Portraits, or Else? 417

Judit HAAS-LEBEGYEVConstructions of Gendered Identity through Jewellery in Early Mycenaean Greece 425

Maia POMADÈREDressing and Adorning Children in the Aegean Bronze Age: Material and Symbolic Protections

as well as Marks of an Age Group? 433

Robert Angus K. SMITH and Mary K. DABNEY Children and Adornment in Mycenaean Funerary Ritual at Ayia Sotira, Nemea 441

Lena PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI Gold and Ivory Objects at Mycenae and Dendra Revealed. Private Luxury and/or Insignia Dignitatis 447

Jeffrey S. SOLES The Symbolism of Certain Minoan/Mycenaean Beads from Mochlos 457

Walter MÜLLER Concepts of Value in the Aegean Bronze Age: Some Remarks on the Use of Precious Materials for Seals and Finger Rings 463

Anastasia DAKOURI-HILD Making La Différence: The Production and Consumption of Ornaments in Late Bronze Age Boeotia 471

Jacke PHILLIPS On the Use and Re-Use of Jewellery Elements 483

Dora CONSTANTINIDIS and Lilian KARALI Floral or Faunal? Determining Forces on Minoan and Mycenaean Jewellery Motif Selection with a GIS 493

Magda PIENIĄŻEK Luxury and Prestige on the Edge of the Mediterranean World: Jewellery from Troia and the Northern Aegean in the 2nd Millennium B.C. and its Context 501

Ann-Louise SCHALLIN Mycenaean Jewellery and Adornment at Midea 509

Thanasis J. PAPADOPOULOS and Litsa KONTORLI-PAPADOPOULOU Specific Types of Jewellery from Late Bronze Age Tombs in Western Greece as Evidence for Social Differentiation 515

Jane HICKMAN Gold and Silver Jewelry Production in Prepalatial Crete 523

Elisabeth VÖLLING, Nicole REIFARTH and Jochen VOGL The Intercultural Context of Treasure A in Troy - Jewellery and Textiles 531

Naya SGOURITSA Remarks on Jewels from the Mycenaean Settlement and Cemetery at Lazarides on Eastern Aegina 539

Constantinos PASCHALIDIS Reflections of Eternal Beauty. The Unpublished Context of a Wealthy Female Burial from Koukaki, Athens and the Occurrence of Mirrors in Mycenaean Tombs 547

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

Elizabeth SHANK The Jewelry worn by the Procession of Mature Women from Xeste 3, Akrotiri 559

Helena TOMAS Alleged Aegean Jewellery from the Eastern Adriatic Coast 567

IV. ADORNMENT

Carole GILLIS Color for the Dead, Status for the Living 579

Marcia NUGENT Natural Adornment by Design: Beauty and/or Function? Botanic Motifs of the Bronze Age Cycladic Islands 589

Anna SIMANDIRAKI-GRIMSHAW and Fay STEVENS Adorning the Body: Animals as Ornaments in Bronze Age Crete 597

Vassiliki PLIATSIKA Simply Divine: the Jewellery, Dress and Body Adornment of the Mycenaean Clay Female Figures in Light of New Evidence from Mycenae 609

Eugenio R. LUJÁN and Alberto BERNABÉ Ivory and Horn Production in Mycenaean Texts 627

Josephine VERDUCI Wasp-waisted Minoans: Costume, Belts and Body Modification in the Late Bronze Age Aegean 639

Angelos PAPADOPOULOS Dressing a Late Bronze Age Warrior: The Role of ‘Uniforms’ and Weaponry according to the Iconographical Evidence 647

Mary Jane CUYLER Rose, Sage, Cyperus and e-ti: The Adornment of Olive Oil at the Palace of Nestor 655

Louise A. HITCHCOCK Dressed to Impress: Architectural Adornment as an Exotic Marker of Elite Identity in the Eastern Mediterranean 663

Karen Polinger FOSTER The Adornment of Aegean Boats 673

Cynthia W. SHELMERDINE Mycenaean Furniture and Vessels: Text and Image 685

Thomas G. PALAIMA Kosmos in the Mycenaean Tablets: the Response of Mycenaean ‘Scribes’ to the Mycenaean Culture of Kosmos 697

Annette Højen SØRENSEN A Toast to Diplomacy! Cups in Diplomacy and Trade: the Case of Minoica in Cyprus and the Levant, 2000-1500 BC 705

Iphiyenia TOURNAVITOUFresco Decoration and Politics in a Mycenaean Palatial Centre: The Case of the West House

at Mycenae 723

Maria C. SHAW Shields made of Cloth? Interpreting a Wall Painting in the Mycenaean Palace at Pylos 731

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

Olga KRZYSZKOWSKA Worn to Impress? Symbol and Status in Aegean Glyptic 739

John G. YOUNGER Mycenaean Collections of Seals: The Role of Blue 749

Nancy R. THOMAS Adorning with the Brush and Burin: Cross-Craft in Aegean Ivory, Fresco, and Inlaid Metal 755

Anaya SARPAKI and Melpo SKOULA Case Studies of the Ethnobotany of Adornment and Dyeing in Crete: Insights for a Dialogue with Archaeological Models in Greece 765

Jason W. EARLE Cosmetics and Cult Practices in the Bronze Age Aegean? A Case Study of Women with Red Ears 771

Aikaterini PAPANTHIMOU and Ioannis FAPPAS Ceremonial Adornment and Purification Practices in Mycenaean Greece: Indigenous Developments and Near Eastern Influences 779

Caroline ZAITOUN The “Immanent” Process of Cosmetic Adornment. Similarities between Mycenaean and Egyptian Ritual Preparations 789

Katherine M. HARRELL The Weapon’s Beauty: A Reconsideration of the Ornamentation of the Shaft Grave Swords 799

“QU’IL EST PERMIS DE RIRE ...”

Thomas G. PALAIMAKO Ko 2010 Cloth Fragments of the Rapinewiad 807

GOLD AND IVORY OBJECTS AT MYCENAE AND DENDRAREVEALED. PRIVATE LUXURY AND/OR INSIGNIA DIGNITATIS*

Gold and Ivory objects are known in the Aegean scholarship since the excavation of the Shaft Graves. They did not attract much attention since their small corpus consisted of mundane objects such as ivory combs from the Shaft Graves, an ivory button decorated with gold nails from the area of the Grave Circle A or the bronze sword with the gold and ivory pommel from the tholos tomb at Dendra.1 Some inlays in the shape of waz lilies, from the island Delos2 where traces of gold are still attached, betray the connection with furniture. The Linear B archives provide ample evidence for wooden furniture (beds, chests, chairs, footstools) decorated with ivory pieces (e-re-pa/erepatejo).3 The wooden pyxis from Shaft Grave V at Mycenae, decorated with relief dogs standing on ivory plinths and ivory rectangular inlays in vertical rows on the edges,4 provides a rare material example of a standard practice. According to the texts ivory was adorned with gold (ku-ru-so/kurusojo), silver or kyanos (blue glass)5 but the excavation finds are not very illuminating on the way these adornments were applied.

The gold and ivory bowl from Dendra comes from chamber tomb 10, an impressive structure found unplundered, while the roof has collapsed into the chamber. Two pits were opened at the far end of the chamber. Pit I contained the amassed bones of a single individual and Pit II only burial gifts. The grave furnishings on the floor of the chamber and the pits include a gold cup, a silver cup with a broad ornamented gold rim, a silver goblet decorated with a frieze of water birds flying and a silver spoon found inside it, a gold signet ring with a scene of women in front of a shrine CMS I 191, sealstones, gold jewellery (necklaces, earrings), silver or tinned goblets and bronze scale pans.6 It seems that a secondary burial of the remains of the dead was practiced here.7 The tomb is dated in the LH IIB-IIIA1 period, the final stage of the early mycenaean era and it is contemporary with the rich burials of local rulers and their kin in the tholos and elaborate chamber tombs in the Argolid and other sites of the Greek Mainland.8

* Acknowledgements. My warm thanks go to M. Kontaki and P. Feleris for the conservation of the objects and the digital reconstruction of the larnax, to S. Sakkari for the drawings of the objects and the reconstruction of the griffin scene, to Irene Miari for the photographs, to I. Sotiropoulou, I. Karapanagiotis, Ch. Brekoulaki for Appendix I, to Th. Athanassiou for Appendix II and to C. Shelmerdine for sending me her paper ahead of publication. I owe the pictures of the Tanagra larnax and the figurine to V. Aravantinos and the Thebes Museum.

1 J.-C. POURSAT, Catalogue des ivoires mycéniens du Musée National d’Athènes (1977) 9, 135; Y. SAKELLARAKIS, Tο ελεφαντόδοντο και η κατεργασία του (1979) 69-70.

2 J.-C. POURSAT, Les ivoires mycéniens. Essai sur la formation d’un art mycénien (1977) 47-48; I. TOURNAVITOU, “The mycenaean ivories from the Artemision on Delos,” BCH 119 (1995) 516.

3 O. KRZYSZKOWSKA, “Furniture in the Aegean Bronze Age,” and Y. SAKELLARAKIS, “Mycenaean footstools,” and in G. HERRMANN (ed.), The furniture of Western Asia. Ancient and Traditional (1996) 105-110, 85-103; K.S. LAPATIN, Chryselephantine statuary in the ancient Mediterranean world (2001) 35; C.W. SHELMERDINE in this volume.

4 POURSAT (supra n. 1) 62 pl. XVIII; S. HOOD, The Arts in Prehistoric Greece (1978) 114 fig. 100.5 M. PANAGIOTAKI, L. PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI, G. CHATZI, E. MANGOU, Y. MANIATIS,

M. TITE, “A Glass workshop at the Mycenaean Citadel of Tiryns in Greece,” in Annales du 16e Congrès de l’association internationale pour l’histoire du verre (2003) 15-17.

6 A.W. PERSSON, New tombs at Dendra near Midea (1942) 59ff, fig. 66-104, 117, pl. III-VII.7 B. WELLS, “Death at Dendra. On Mortuary practices in a Mycenaean Community,” in R. HÄGG & G.

NORQUIST (eds), Celebrations of Death and Divinity in the Bronze Age Argolid (1990) 135, fig. 13; C. GALLOU, The Mycenaean Cult of the Dead (2005) 118.

8 L. PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI, “Dishonouring the dead: The plundering of the tholos tombs in the early palatial period and the case of the tholos tomb at Mygdalia hill (Petroto) in Achaea,” in H. CAVANAGH, W. CAVANAGH and J. ROY (eds), Honouring the Dead in the Peloponnese, Proceedings of the Conference held in Sparta 23-26 April 2009, CSPS Online Publication 2 (2011) 501-502 with references.

448 Lena PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI

A.W. Persson in his publication gives a short description of the excavation circumstances along with two pictures of the gold and ivory bowl found in Pit II. He explains that for the removal of the bowl from the shaft they had to pour molten wax over it (Pl. CVa-b) and the surrounding earth to preserve its shape.9 There are very few later references to this bowl, all citing Persson and his description10. In 2001 it was “rediscovered” in the Treasury of the National Archaeological Museum and inventoried (NM 15865). The cleaning of the object in the Laboratory, removing the hardened wax, was really a painstaking and difficult operation, given the fragile nature of the object (Pl. CVc-e). It revealed that there are two very thin leafs of gold pressed again each other to form a shallow bowl with an out turned lip, 2,1 cm in height and 9,3 to 10,8 cm in diameter. An ivory ring, cut from the pulp cavity of the tusk 1,4cm in height and 0,4 to 0,8 thick, is placed under the rim, keeping the gold leafs in place. It was originally covered by them. Small dots in a row are discerned in the upper and the lower perimeter of the ring. Only four of these holes, two at each side, are pierced through.

The gold and ivory bowl offers an additional small touch of luxury in a grave full of precious grave furnishings. It could be described as a delicate object of personal use, a luxurious toilet implement, made to meet a special need. Costly materials are involved but they are rather used in a makeshift manner. The bowl is used as a receptacle since traces of a reddish substance found in the interior, mixed with wax, proved by anlysis to be red ochre (see Appendix I, p. 453-454). The use of such substances, found in mycenaean cemeteries, as cosmetics, has already been suggested.11 The gold minuscule pyxis-locket (diam. 1,2 cm) from the tholos tomb at Dendra12 still preserves a compact calcite substance in the interior. Yellow ochre was found in abundance inside the gold cup found in grave Γ associated with the burial of the warrior whose face was covered with an electron mask in Grave Circle B at Mycenae. Its symbolic value remains a matter of speculation.13

If the term private luxury may be applied to the gold and ivory bowl of Dendra, the so called ivory “sceptres” in the form of figure of eight shield (NM 7635, 7636), may be classified as insignia dignitatis. They are still inscribed with their excavation numbers (52-375, 376, 377, 378, 379), signifying the year 1952 of the excavation (Pl. CVI-CVIII). They were found outside the Acropolis at Mycenae, in the area of the Prehistoric cemetery,14 and close to a shallow pit that was found empty. Numerous pieces of gold foil were scattered in the dig.15 They could be, as exactly the excavator A.J.B. Wace puts it, the remnants of a rich LH II grave. He also remarked that the largest figure of eight shield, the one with three superimposing elements (Pl. CVIII), one of them thought to be pierced, “resembles a caduceus, and may have been a sceptre or a herald’s staff” adding that the shields may have also been part of a piece of

9 PERSSON (supra n. 6) 91-92 no 40, fig. 101-102.10 SAKELLARAKIS (supra n. 1) 69; POURSAT (supra n. 2) 47; P. REHAK and J. YOUNGER, “International

Styles in Ivory Carving in the Bronze Age,” in E.H. CLINE and D. HARRIS-CLINE (eds), The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium, Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Symposium, Cincinnati, 18-20 April 1997, Aegaeum 18 (1998) 247.

11 A. PAPAEYTHIMIOU-PAPANTHIMOU, Τελετουργικός καλλωπισμός στο Προϊστορικό Αιγαίο (1997) 109-110; S. SOTIROPOULOU, V. PERDIKATSIS, C. APOSTOLAKI, A. KARYDAS, A. DEVETZI, K. BIRTACHA, “Lead pigments and related tools at Akrotiri, Thera, Greece. Provenance and application techniques,” JAS 30 (2010) 1-11.

12 A.W. PERSSON, “The Royal Tombs at Dendra near Midea,” 39, pl. XXVII, to be published by E. KONSTANTINIDI-SYVRIDI. A project for the analysis of pigments and/or cosmetics in the Mycenaean Collection of the National Archaeological Museum is under way with the collaboration of Ch. Brekoulaki and S. Sotiropoulou.

13 G. MYLONAS, Ο Ταφικός Κύκλος Β των Μυκηνών (1973) 74 pl. 58, M.B. SAKELLARIOU, “De l’ocre dans la tombe Γ du cercle B de Mycènes,” in Philia Epi to G. MYLONAS (1989) 15-18.

14 A.J.B. WACE, “Excavations at Mycenae, 1939,” BSA 45 (1950) 209, fig. 2; M. ALDEN, The Prehistoric Cemetery: Premycenaean and Early Mycenaean Graves (Well Built Mycenae 7, 2000) 14 fig. 4; SP. IAKOVIDIS and E. FRENCH, Archaeological Atlas of Mycenae (2003) 52.

15 A.J.B. WACE, “Excavations at Mycenae,” BSA 48 (1953) 8 pl. 4; POURSAT (supra n. 1) 70-71, no 244 pl. XX; SAKELLARAKIS (supra n. 1) 69; D. DANIELIDOU, Η οκτώσχημη ασπίδα στο Αιγαίο της 2ης χιλιετίας (1998) 200-201: E 51, E 52; ALDEN (supra n. 14) 496-508; A. VLACHOPOULOS, “Ακρόλιθος μυκηναϊκός ‘κούρος’ από τη Γρόττα Νάξου,” in D. DANIELIDOU, ΔΏΡΟΝ. Τόμος τιμητικός για τον καθηγητή ΣΠΥΡΟ ΙΑΚΩΒΙΔΗ (2009) 107-108.

GOLD AND IVORY OBJECTS AT MYCENAE AND DENDRA REVEALED 449

furniture. The ivory griffin plaque (NM 7634) was found alongside the ivory shields (Pl. CIX).16

A sacred emblem, the personification of a war goddess, a weapon and a symbol of royal power, all these attributes apply to the figure of eight shield, well known in Aegean Art. It may be the central object of worship or an integral part of a ritual.17 Model ivory shields were used as inlays in furniture or as pendants.18 One of the Prehistoric Cemetery shields may have recalled the “κηρύκειον” that the god Hermes usually holds with perplexed snakes facing each other on top.19 But scepters in the minoan-mycenaean world, as we know them from iconography, are simple long staffs held by gods or mortals of royal status as symbols of authority.20 The gold sheathing of a wooden long shaft from Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae21 is still preserved. Actual ivory “sceptres” in the Aegean and in Cyprus are ivory rods with a pomegranate on top, like the one from Nauplia or with an eagle’s head like the one from Thebes.22 The ivory rod (NM 2819) from the Cyclopean tholos tomb at Mycenae, dated in the LH II period, comes from Chr. Tsountas’ excavations (Pl. CXa-b). It is partly preserved and mended from fragments, pres. l. 19,1 cm, diam. 1-1,1 cm. Wace mentions it briefly in his catalogue of the tomb’s finds,23 stating that it is similar to the rod from chamber tomb 529 at Mycenae.24 Large pieces of gold foil, inventoried under the same number may once have covered the rod, in this case we could have a real gold and ivory “sceptre.”

Recent cleaning and restoration of the figure of eight shields in the Laboratory verified that the ivory was covered with gold foil since some tiny particles still survive on the objects and are still visible with naked eye. All five figure-of eight shields are carved in the round. The surface and the sides are badly decayed, cracked and split revealing the dentine layers of the mature elephants that produced the ivory25 (Appendix II, p. 455). They all have a flat tenon at the base in order to stand upright. The height of the four shields is almost identical, around 16cm, while the width varies from 12,1 to 7 and the thickness from 5,4 to 3,1 cm.

The new restoration provided us with a different image of the more elaborate and well preserved piece (NM 7635, 52-375). The hole seems now to be largely reduced and is attributed only to the natural decay of the object (Pl. CVIII). It is about 29, 3 cm in height, the lower disk measuring 9,6cm, it is10cm wide and 5cm thick. The well preserved tenon is 4x6x2,7 cm in size and its surface has been left deliberately rough with engraved parallel channels. What we may have here is the figure of an eight shield surmounted on a boulder or alternatively crowned with a disk, either way a unique representation whose meaning is open to speculation. Considering the first case, boulders or sacred baetyls are relevant to the size of the disk in the ivory shield. In ritual scenes they are associated with humans, buildings or vegetation.26 In the Landscape miniature fresco in the West House at Akrotiri, the artist indiscriminately depicted

16 WACE (supra n. 15) pl. 5; POURSAT (supra n. 1) 69-70 no 242 pl. XX.17 DANIELIDOU (supra n. 15) 83-101, P. REHAK, “The Mycenaean ‘Warrior Goddess’ revisited,” in R.

LAFFINEUR (ed.), POLEMOS. Le contexte guerrier en Égée à l’âge de Bronze. Actes de la 7e Rencontre égéenne internationale, Université de Liège, 14-17 Avril 1998, Aegaeum 19 (1999), 232-236, P. WARREN, “Shield and Goddess in Minoan Crete and the Aegean,” in A. KARETSOU (ed.), Pepragmena of the 8th International Cretological Congress, A3 (2000) 457-470.

18 POURSAT (supra n. 2) 98-100, I. TOURNAVITOU, The Ivory Houses at Mycenae (BSA suppl. 24, 1995) 157-159, O. KRZYSZKOWSKA, The Ivories and objects of Bone, Antler and Boar’s tusk (Well Built Mycenae 24, 2007) 27 pl. 5.

19 LIMC VIII.1 Suppl., 728.20 K. KRATTENMAKER, “Palace, Peak and Sceptre,” and T. PALAIMA, “The Nature of the Mycenaean Wanax:

Non-Indo-European Origins and Priestly Functions,” Ruler, 57-58 and 135-138. 21 G. KARO, Die Schchtgräber von Mykenai (1930/33) 84, fig. 20.22 N. KOUROU, “Sceptres and maces in Cyprus before, during and immediately after the 11th century,” in V.

KARAGEORGHIS (ed.), Cyprus in the 11th century (1994) 204-217; VLACHOPOULOS (supra n. 15) 107-108. 23 A.J.B. WACE, “Mycenae. The Tholos Tombs,” BSA 25 (1921-1923) 291; POURSAT (supra n. 1) 107 pl. XXXV.24 A.J.B. WACE, Chamber tombs at Mycenae (1932) 105.32; POURSAT (supra n. 1) 104 no 330 pl. XXXIV.25 O. KRZYSZKOWSKA, “Ivory in the Aegean Bronze Age: Elephant tusk or Hippopotamus ivory,” BSA 83

(1988) 212-213, EAD., Ivory and related materials. An Illustrated Guide (1990) 33-37.26 J. YOUNGER, “Tree tugging and omphalos hugging on Minoan Gold Rings,” and L. GOODISON, “What

all this about Oak or Stone?: Trees and Boulders in Minoan Religion,” in A.L. D’AGATA and A. VAN DE MOORTEL, Archaeologies of Cult. Essays on Ritual and Cult in Crete in Honor of Geraldine C. Gessell (Hesperia Suppl. 42, 2009) 43-49, 51-57.

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oval or “figure of eight” pebbles on the river banks.27 The second hypothesis leads us to the shield frieze in the Cult Center at Mycenae where a rosette on top has been interpreted as the “head” of the warrior goddess or simply a hanging device.28 On the three handled jug from Poros, Crete the semicircle and the radiating lines on top of the shield are thought to be tufts of hair, as in the so called “gorgoneion” from Knossos, the shield embodying again the war goddess.29 Rosettes may be used as solar symbols, signifying also kingship.30

The ivory shields are not the only element that has to be accounted in this context. The griffin plaque (NM 7634), pres. length 28.8cm, pres. h. 11.3 cm, 0,5-0,9 cm thick, is equally filled with religious and royal symbolism (Pl. CIX). The griffin has the body of lion and the head and wings of an eagle, combining the powers of both. It is considered a guardian associated with deities and royal palaces. Adopted from the Near East, it is widely integrated in the artistic and symbolic vocabulary of the Aegean.31

The griffin plaque is part of a greater composition that would fit well on the long side of a wooden chest. It is made of exceptionally large pieces put together and attached to a wooden panel by means of ivory pegs still in situ. It depicts a standing griffin, not in a reclining posture but rather striding to the left. It is confronted with another animal, of which one paw is clearly visible and a tiny part of a second is still preserved. From the existing evidence there is no way to tell whether the other animal, of similar stature, is a griffin or a lion. Both animals are standing on a rocky landscape that fills the background of the scene. Three rows of highly stylized rocks, typical in aegean art32 are discerned. An ivory band below the rocks denotes the end of the panel while the upper part is missing.

The griffin plaque belongs to the same league with the contemporary ivory pyxis from the Athenian Agora, depicting griffins attacking deer33 and the partly preserved, ivory pyxis lid from Tiryns with the animated lion/griffin combat scene34 dated in the LH II-IIIA1 period. An attempt to reconstruct the scene is now made, drawing parallels from the seal imagery or the wall paintings. The cut at the head does not permit to say whether the heads are facing each other but the available space points to the idea that they are actually turned backward in opposite directions. Taking into consideration the absence of a central element we may assume that we have here a so called Throne Room type representation. The partly preserved side panel, which has drawn little attention, presents a different case. A wing and part of a bending beak had been thought to belong to a large bird (?), a motif not to be found in ivory carving. As I see it this panel has preserved a Lion Gate type scene, not uncommon in seal carving either with lions or with griffins.35 In ivory carving we may mention the mirror handle from Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae where two crouching lions, shown in profile, share a head in frontal view36 and the mirror handle with two heraldic lions, their front paws on an altar and their heads turned backward from the votive deposit of the Sanctuary of Athena on the Acropolis of Ialysos on Rhodes.37 A tentative reconstruction of the side panel was attempted after these scenes but

27 Miniature Wall Paintings, 34; C. TELEVANTOU, Ακρωτήρι Θήρας. Οι Τοιχογραφίες της Δυτικής Οικίας (1994) 263 col. pl. 3

28 I. KRITSELI-PROVIDI, Τοιχογραφίες του Θρησκευτικού Κέντρου των Μυκηνών (1982) 54-59 pl. ΣΤ, fig. 13; Aegean Painting, 138-140.

29 WARREN (supra n. 17) 463-465 pl. 8-9.30 N. MARINATOS, “Rosette and Palm on the Bull Frieze from Tell El-Dab’a and the Minoan Solar Goddess

of Kingship,” in M. BIETAK, N. MARINATOS, C. PALYVOU (eds), Taureador Scenes in Tell El-Dab’a (Avaris) and Knossos (2007) 145-150; EAD., “The indebtedness of Minoan Religion to Egyptian Solar Religion: Was Sir Arthur Evans right?,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 1:1 (2009) 22-28.

31 POURSAT (supra n. 2) 64-68, 83-84; M. MARTHARI, “The Griffin Jar from Ayia Irini, Keos and its relationship to the pottery and frescoes from Thera,” in L. MENDONI and A. MAZARAKIS-AINIAN (eds), Kea-Kythnos: History and Archaeology (1998) 139-154; GALLOU (supra n. 7) 50-51, M. BIETAK and C. PALYVOU, “A large griffin from a royal citadel of the early 18th Dynasty at Tell el Dab’a,” in KARETSOU (supra n. 17) 99-108.

32 Miniature Wall Paintings, 33-34. 33 POURSAT (supra n. 2) 25 pl. 1.34 O. KRZYSZKOWSKA, “Mycenaean Ivories from Tiryns,” Tiryns XIII (2005) 183-184, 199 pl. 1,5. 35 R. LAFFINEUR, “Iconography as evidence of social and political status,” in EIKΩN 105-111 pl. XXIV.36 POURSAT (supra n. 1) 62 pl. XVIII and K. PASCHALIDIS this volume.37 J. ARUZ, K. BENZEL, J. EVANS (eds), Beyond Babylon. Art , Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium BC

(2008) cat. no 174 (T. Marketou).

GOLD AND IVORY OBJECTS AT MYCENAE AND DENDRA REVEALED 451

this resulted to rather not well balanced composition. The griffin plaque has already being considered “stiff and static in composition, clumsy in the treatment of details”38 and maybe this is actually the case. Alternatively the problem may be solved if the side panel does not share the same ground with the central scene. In this alternative reconstruction the griffin plaque has a Π shape with a central scene and two panels on the sides In any case the reconstruction give us an approximate length of 80 cm and at least 20 cm height for the complete ivory plaque and an idea of the size of the chest or coffin the griffin plaque was attached to (Pl. CXc).

A tentative new interpretation may be put forward for the use of the ivory shields and the griffin plaque as the decoration of a wooden chest, or a coffin in this case, belonging to an important person. This could approximately be 1m in length, including the legs, with a width of 45 cm and a height of 60 cm, approximately the assumed dimensions of a wooden coffin in Katsambas tomb 2 on Crete.39 Wooden coffins or biers and chests were actually attested in minoan-mycenaean graves40 starting from the Shaft Graves and the bronze casings in Grave III (NM 147-150) that are thought to have covered the legs of a chest or a coffin. A drawing from the Panayotis Stamatakis reports in the archives of the National Museum41 present these particular objects among the Grave III furnishings on the side of the shaft, two at the north east end and two at the north west and provides additional evidence that the casings were not directly associated with the skeletal remains of those buried and belong rather to a piece of storage furniture in funerary use.42

The four ivory shields could have stood upright on the four corners of a larnax with flat roof in the manner of the clay figurines on the larnax from chamber tomb 6 in Tanagra in Boeotia (Pl. CXIa) dated in the LH IIIB period.43 This small larnax (63 cm in length, 29 in width and 45 in height) belonged to a young person. Sockets at the four corners of the larnax are meant for the attachment of the figurines. The unique figurines, used as finials (Pl. CXIb) present a a hybrid creature, between a bird and a butterfly, a so called soul-bird44 surmounted on a disc decorated with ivy leaf, the disk springing from horns of consecration. In the same tomb there are also found as isolated grave furnishings, found on top of the cover of a larnax45 and we may anticipate such a use for the shields too, at least one of them. The disk, as a separate element of the composition, is noted both in the Tanagra figurines and the NM 7635 ivory shield at Mycenae with no parallels elsewhere. There is only the case of the two motifs, the star-rosette and the butterfly being both present, on the prow of the ships of the miniature fresco in the West House at Akrotiri, Thera, as emblems.46 In the reconstruction the griffin plaque is placed in the middle of the long side of the larnax, covering its length between the legs, as a relief frieze, in the manner of the more elaborate painted frieze of the Ayia Triadha sarcophagus that belonged to one of the first Mycenaean rulers on Crete.47

The proposed tentative reconstruction (Pl. CXIIa-b) incorporates all the elements and presents a wooden coffin decorated with emblematic figures, an “Ivory Grave” glittering with

38 KRZYSZKOWSKA (supra n. 34) 183. 39 C. LONG, The Ayia Triada Sarcophagus. A study of Late Minoan and Mycenaean Funerary Practices and Beliefs

(1974) 17-19. 40 P. MUHLY, “Furniture in the Shaft Graves: The occurrence of wood in Aegean Burials of the Bronze Age,”

BSA 91 (1996) 206-211 with references.41 L. PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI, A. NAFPLIOTI, J.H. MUSGRAVE, A.J.N.W. PRAG, “Mycenae Revisited:

The human remains from Grave Circle A at Mycenae Part 3. Behind the masks: A study of the bones of Shaft Graves I-V,” BSA 105 (2010) 160-161 fig. 3.

42 L.V. WATROUS, “The Origin and Iconography of the Late Minoan Painted Larnax,” Hesperia 60 (1991) 284-288.

43 G. SPYROPOULOS, Prakt (1969) 8-13 pl. 2, 7b; ID., Prakt (1971) 8-9 pl. 9a; K. DEMAKOPOULOU and D. KONSOLA, Archaeological Museum of Thebes (1981) 84 pl. 4; GALLOU (supra n. 7) 39-40 fig. 22.

44 S. IMMEWRWAHR, “Death and the Tanagra Larnakes,” in J. CARTER and S. MORRIS (eds), The Ages of Homer. A Tribute to Emily Townsend Vermeule (1995) 117.

45 V. ARAVANTINOS, “Les nécropoles mycéniennes de Tanagra,” in A. PASQUIER and V. ARAVANTINOS (eds), Tanagra. Mythe et Archéologie (2003) 73-74 cat. No 27.

46 Miniature Wall Paintings, 132-133 pl. 168, 170; TELEVANTOU (supra n. 27) 286, 335 col. pl. 4.47 B. BURKE, “Materialization of Mycenaean Ideology and the Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus,” AJA 109 (2005)

403-422, L. PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI, “The gold ring said to be from the Acropolis of Athens,” in DANIELIDOU (supra n. 15) 592-593.

452 Lena PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI

gold. Thus we have a piece of exceptional importance, a real insignium dignitatis, if not necessarily of the deceased person, certainly of his high status family. We can imagine the impact that a such an extravagant display of precious material, used in an original way, would have on those participating in the funerary rites. The occasion of death is a socially accepted venue for the manifestation of power and status and at Mycenae even stray finds as the Acropolis Treasure from the Grave Circle A area48 or this “Ivory Grave” from the Prehistoric Cemetery give an idea of the level of wealth offered to the dead to enhance the prestige of the living in the early Mycenaean period.

Lena PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDI

48 L. PAPAZOGLOU-MANIOUDAKI, A. NAFPLIOTI, J.H. MUSGRAVE, R.A.H NEAVE. D. SMITH, A.J.N.W. PRAG, “Mycenae Revisited Part 1. The human remains from Grave Circle A at Mycenae: Stamatakis, Schliemann and two New Faces from Shaft Grave VI,” BSA 104 (2009) 233-242.

GOLD AND IVORY OBJECTS AT MYCENAE AND DENDRA REVEALED 453

Appendix I

Physicochemical study of the sample 15865 from DENDRA

Experimental

Optical microscopy:The sample was observed and photographed under microscope in white reflected light and in

fluorescence (under a mercury lamp and with the use of a filter cube: Excitation=BP 390-420 / Beam Splitter=FT 425 / Emission=LP450)

FTIR spectroscopy: Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy has been applied in two micro samples of 1-2 mg,

mechanically separated under stereomicroscope without any treatment. FTIR spectra were acquired using a Biorad FTS 175 FTIR spectrophotometer. The samples were

mixed with anhydrous KBr, then pressed into pellets of ~150 mg and measured in transmission mode in the spectral mid -IR range from 4000 to 400 cm-1 with 4 cm-1 spectral resolution. The spectra have been converted in absorbance mode; a base line correction has been applied; the spectra have been normalised and shifted to be displayed in the same graph for ease of comparison with reference spectra.

High Performance Liquid Chromatography:High Performance Liquid Chromatography was carried out in one micro sample of 1-2mg using a

HPLC, Thermoquest system consisting of P4000 quaternary HPLC pump, SCM 3000 vacuum degasser, AS3000 auto sampler with column oven, Reodyne 7725i injector with 20μl sample loop and Photodiode-Array Detector (PDA) UV 6000LP.

Results and discussion

Optical microscopy:

Figure 1. Microphotographs in white reflected light (on the left) and in fluorescence (on the right).

The intense yellowish fluorescence emitted from the organic enclosing material does not allow to attribute any fluorescence to the red pigment.

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FTIR spectroscopy:

Figure 2. FTIR spectrum of the sample 15865 and reference spectra of beeswax, kaolinite, quartz and red ochre.

The figure depicts the FTIR spectrum of the sample 15865 as well as reference spectra of the most clearly identifiable compounds: kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4): a naturally occurring clay, often found as a major component in earth pigments; quartz, also usually found in earth pigments, red ochre displaying practically the characteristic peaks of kaolinite and silicates (quartz) and beeswax.

In the FTIR spectra of the sample, wax which is recognized as the consolidating material that includes a red pigment, is identified based on its characteristic vibrational signature: (3600-3200 cm-1: O-H stretching bands; 3000-2800 cm-1: C-H stretching bands; 1760-1700 cm-1: C=O stretching bands; 1480-1300 cm-1: C-H bending bands; 1300-900 cm-1: C-O stretching bands; 750-700 cm-1: C-H torsion bands). Kaolinite is identifiable via the characteristic peaks (3730-3560cm-1: OH stretching bands; 1100-1000 cm-1: asymmetric Si-O-Si stretching bands and 910-830 cm-1: Si-O stretching bands). Quartz is present with the characteristic asymmetric Si-O-Si stretching band at 1100-1000 cm-1. The red observed colour of the pigment allows us to assume that aluminosilicates (kaolinite and quartz) may be major compounds of a red ochre, given that not any evidence for other red inorganic or organic pigment (not any natural organic colouring compound was detected in HPLC) has been obtained through the analysis of the three microsamples of 1-2 mg each.

Physicochemical characterisation of the sample has been carried out at the “Ormylia” Foundation – ArtDiagnosis Centre by Sophia Sotiropoulou (Optical microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy) and Ioannis Karapanagiotis (HPLC-PDA).

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Appendix II

Physical characterization of the ivory objects

The elephant ivory, as a raw material, derives from the tusks, the animal’s upper second incisors. The elephant tusks are continuously growing, moderately curved teeth of subcircular cross section. They consist mainly of dentine, a dental tissue which is relatively easy to carve, making ivory a convenient raw material for sculpted objects. A thin layer of cement covers the outer tusk surface, while an enamel cap usually covers the tusk tips of juvenile individuals. The tusks grow by dentine deposition in the conical pulp cavity.

The Mycenaean shield-like art objects are curved along the longitudinal axis of the tusk, presumably close to its periphery. They generally consist of dentine; a patchy cement layer is visible only on the specimens 52/379 and 52/375. The artist has taken advantage of the convex outer surface of the dentine layers to reproduce the outer convex surface of the shields.

In the specimens mentioned before (52/379 and 52/375) a particular pattern unique to proboscidean ivory, the Schreger pattern, is visible in the transverse sections of the tusk, exposed at the both ends of the shields. The Schreger pattern is the macroscopic manifestation of the dentine internal structure. It consists of two sets of radiating spiral lines that intersect with each other, forming the Schreger angles. The Schreger pattern has been used in the proboscidean genus-level taxonomy, as well as for the forensic discrimination of ivories that come from fossil or extant elephants (TRAPANI & FISHER 2003). The Schreger lines in both examined specimens form obtuse angles of more than 100° near the cement/dentine junction. Since both extant elephant genera (Elephas and Loxodonta) exhibit obtuse angles in their ivory cross sections (ESPINOZA & MANN 1993), the measured Schreger angles do not permit us to infer the taxonomic identity of the ivory.

The griffin plaque NM 7634 was also cut along the longitudinal axis of the tusk. Both of the faces exhibit the characteristic pattern of proboscidean dentine in longitudinal section, consisting of V-shaped layers with their apices directed to the apex of the tusk. This pattern results from the incremental growth of the dentine, which is deposited as imbricating cones that open towards the pulp cavity.

Thanassis ATHANASSIOU Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology, Athens

Ivory cross section on the specimen 52/375, exhibiting the Schreger pattern. Two Schreger angles are plotted on the photograph.

References:

ESPINOZA E.O.N., MANN M.J. (1993): The history and significance of the Schreger pattern in proboscidean ivory characterization. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 32: 241-248.

TRAPANI J., FISHER D.C. (2003): Discriminating proboscidean taxa using features of the Schreger pattern in tusk dentin. Journal of Archaeological Science, 30: 429-438.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Pl. CVa-b The gold and ivory bowl from Dendra as found.Pl. CVc-d The gold and ivory bowl from Dendra after conservation.Pl. CVe Drawing of the gold and ivory bowl.Pl. CVI-CVII Ivory figure of eight shields from the Prehistoric Cemetery at Mycenae and their

respective drawings.Pl. CVIIIa The complex figure of eight shield during conservation.Pl. CVIIIb-e The shield after conservation (front, rear and side views) and its drawing.Pl. CIXa-c The griffin plaque from the Prehistoric Cemetery at Mycenae and its drawing.Pl. CXa-b The ivory rod and gold foils from the Cyclopean Tholos tomb at Mycenae.Pl. CXc Tentative reconstruction of the scene on the griffin plaque. Pl. CXIa The larnax with finials from the cemetery of Tanagra in Boeotia.Pl. CXIb Figurine of the “soul bird” from Tanagra.Pl. CXIIa-b Tentative reconstruction of a wooden larnax decorated with figure of eight shields and

the griffin plaque.

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CV

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CVII

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CIX

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