The Early Helladic II-III Transition at Lerna and Tiryns Revisited: Chronological Difference or Synchronous Variability?

by Erika Weiberg and Michael Lindblom

Hesperia, Volume 83, Issue 3
Page(s): 383-407
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.83.3.0383
Year: 2014
VIEW ONLINE

ABSTRACT:

Lerna and the Lower Citadel of Tiryns are key sites for understanding the Early Helladic II-III transition in the northeastern Peloponnese. We argue that the differences between the two settlements do not reflect chronological variation, but rather the ways in which each settlement responded to events ca. 2200 B.C. The ceramic and architectural sequences are used to illustrate the divergent strategies practiced by the inhabitants of each site. Lerna III-IV epitomizes the renegotiation of social values during a period when centralized decision-making and coordination of economic activities was disintegrating. Activities in the coeval Lower Citadel of Tiryns, on the other hand, reflect the maintenance of continuity in a domestic setting.