Early Iron Age economies

Book section : Chapter

The centuries after the so-called collapse of the Mycenaean palace administration from the twelfth to the eighth centuries BCE saw several transformations of social and economic structures. These had an impact on the economic performance in the period. It is also significant that during this period there was no attempt to restore palatial administration, but instead Early Iron Age communities built new social and economic relationships on household units that could be understood as adaptable social-political organisations with fluid boundaries. Moreover, the Early Iron Age should not be seen as a period of stagnation but one characterised by adaptive and resilient features. These led to the well-documented visibility of the archaeological record of the eighth century BCE.

Authors: Lemos, IS

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Host title: The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
• Pages: 15-28
• Chapter number: 2
• Series: Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World
• Place of publication: Cambridge
• Publication date: 2022-07-21
• Edition: 1st
• DOI: 10.1017/9781108265249.002
• EISBN: 9781108265249
• ISBN-10: 1108417264
• ISBN-13: 9781108417266
• Language: English
• Keywords: climate change; storage; Early Iron Age Greece; SBTMR; palace economies; Linear B; social resilience; bioarchaeology; household; network mobility
• Subtype: Chapter