Palatial towns. The Economic Organisation of Mycenae and Thebes during the LH IIIA2 and IIIB (c. 1400 – 1200 BC)

The book is the result of the Marie Curie IEF Fellowship held by the author at the University of Sheffield 2012 - 2014. It address the question of the interpretation of two of the main Mycenaean centres, Mycenae and Thebes (1400 - 1200), on the basis of both archaeological and textual evidence. All the publications related to the buildings within the two ancient settlements have been revised to propose a new analysis of their contents, according to common grids of indicators for the various relevant activities: storage of grains, of pottery and mixed storage, and production/manufacture of textiles, ivory items, jewellery and pottery. This analysis is then coupled with the study of the Linear B texts that have been found inside these structures, to outine a possible pattern of economic and administrative organisation. As result, it seems that all the buildings within the two Mycenaean towns were somehow related to the palatial operations, and that most of them acted as multi-task, non specialised offices, combinig different type of storage with a variegated administrative activity. The two centres then can be seen as a whole as two 'palace-towns'.