Mycenaean Pottery in the Rhodope Region. Origin, Regional Context and Socio-Economic Foundations

This contribution is dealing with Mycenaean pottery from the settlement sites of Dragoyna in the Rhodopes and Koprivlen in the Mesta Valley. The production regions of that pottery could be established by means of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), and we compare the earlier results of Dragoyna with the new ones from Koprivlen. These results give us the opportunity to re-evaluate the development of contacts between the eastern Balkans, the northern Aegean and Mycenaean Greece. Two economic-historical periods can be discerned. The earlier one comprises the phases LH IIB and IIIA1 and is characterised by the importation of Mycenaean pottery and Mycenaean weapons from the regions of the rising and expanding Mycenaean palace state in the framework of directional exchange of products. This could have been linked to gold mining in the Rhodopes. The later period lasted from approximately LH IIIB to LH IIIC Early. During that time Mycenaean pottery from different production regions reached the eastern Balkans, some from northern Aegean workshops, some from the Mycenaean south. In contrast, imports or imitations of late palatial or post-palatial weapons are not attested.