Strategies of Pottery Acquisition in the Mycenaean Palace at Pylos
Strategies of Pottery Acquisition in the Mycenaean Palace at Pylos

Summary/Abstract: This paper focuses on pottery acquisition strategies at the Mycenaean palace at Pylos, analysing mostly the final period of its existence. By the 13th century BC the palace at Pylos, after 300 years of development, was a complex, bureaucratic, administrative, and industrialized institution. The strategy of the pottery acquisi‑ tion by the palace is demonstrated to be a network of co‑dependence between the palace, the ‘royal’ potter and other contracted manufacturers. They were specialized craftsmen who cooperated with the palace under different conditions. The pottery industry was affected by a hierarchy of producers directed by the palace, as the ‘royal’ potter supported the king in fulfilling his duties and enjoyed special privileges. Underlying the model is the use of the theory of entanglement. Outlining the wide web of dependences between things and humans involved in the Pylian pottery industry reflects the internal complexity and gradual evolution of the system.

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