Phosphate Analysis and Evidence for Industry at Iklaina: Implications for Mycenaean Economies and State Formation

Abstract

The intent of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the settlement organization, site function, and extent of industrial activity at Iklaina, a late Bronze Age Mycenaean site located in southwest Greece, through phosphate analysis carried out on samples collected from both the excavated and unexcavated areas of the site. I conducted phosphate analysis on a total of 52 samples from the center of the site and the surrounding area to determine the scope of economic activity and clarify the organization of the site by examining the distribution and concentration of phosphate across the site. The phosphate results were compared to the results from the archaeological excavations to identify evidence for particular economic activities and understand how spaces for certain activities were potentially segregated at Iklaina. Determining the extent of the site’s economic activity is necessary to clarify Iklaina’s role in the regional settlement hierarchy and its relationship to Pylos, the state capital, over time. This is significant for understanding processes of Mycenaean state formation since the extent of Iklaina’s economic activity depends somewhat on the degree of Pylian state centralization, along with the structure of local social systems and regional interactions. This would affect the way that the site was organized and how it functioned in the settlement hierarchy, which may reflect competition between the two sites or centralized control exerted by Pylos. My analysis of the distribution and concentrations of phosphate at Iklaina suggest that it was a fairly well-developed industrial center that appears to have been an economically specialized site with differentiated administrative, residential, and industrial spaces. This degree of complexity seems to support Iklaina’s higher position in the settlement hierarchy, where it may have been in competition with Pylos before the unification of the Pylian state after Iklaina’s destruction; however, the exact nature of Iklaina and its relationship to Pylos is still uncertain. Overall, these results provide a greater context for understanding the nature of Mycenaean economies and the development of the Pylian state in Messenia.