The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

Ann Brysbaert [+–]

University of Leiden

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Ann Brysbaert is Professor of Ancient Technologies, Materials and Crafts and Principle Investigator of the ERC SETinSTONE project (Leiden University, 2015-2020). Previously, she has been PI of one of the sub-projects of “Tracing Networks” (Leicester University, 2008-2013). Her main research interests are linked to pre-industrial technologies, materials and social practices, painted plaster, pyrotechnological and relating crafts, and combining material culture with landscape approaches in economies of building. Apart from her monograph (2008: Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. The Case of Painted Plaster. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 12.London: Equinox Press), her recent publications include five edited volumes on these themes. The most recent two are: Constructing Monuments, Perceiving Monumentality and the Economics of Building. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Built Environment. Leiden: Sidestone Press (2018: edited with V. Klinkenberg, A. Gutièrrez Garcia-M. and I. Vikatou); and Building BIG – Constructing Economies: from Design to Long-Term Impact of Large-Scale Building Projects. Heidelberg: Propylaeum (in press: edited with J. Pakkanen).

PAPERBACK PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2015

In the past, Bronze Age painted plaster in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean has been studied from a range of different but isolated viewpoints. One of the current questions about this material is its direction of transfer. This volume brings both technological and iconographic (and other) approaches closer together: 1) by completing certain gaps in the literature on technology and 2) by investigating how and why technological transfer has developed and what broader impact this had on the wider social dynamics of the late Middle and Late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean.

This study approaches the topic of painted plaster by a multidisciplinary methodology. Moreover, when human actors and their interactions are placed in the centre of the scene, it demonstrates the human forces through which transfer was enabled and how multiple social identities and the inter-relationships of these actors with each other and their material world were expressed through their craft production and organization.

The investigated data from sixteen sites has been contextualized within a wider framework of Bronze Age interconnections both in time and space because studying painted plaster in the Aegean cannot be considered separate from similar traditions both in Egypt and in the Near East.

This study makes clear that it is not possible to deduce a one-way directional transfer of this painting tradition. Furthermore, by integrating both technology and iconography with its hybrid character, a clear ‘technological style’ was defined in the predominant al fresco work found on these specific sites. The author suggests that the technological transfer most likely moved from west to east. This has important implications in the broader politico-economic and social dynamics of the eastern Mediterranean during the LBA. Since this art/craft was very much elite-owned, it shows how the smaller states in the LBA, such as the regions of the Aegean, were capable of staying within the large trade and exchange network that comprised the large powers of the East and Egypt. The painted plaster reflects a very visible presence in the archaeological record and, because it cannot be transported without its artisans, it suggests specific interactions of royal courts in the East with the Aegean peoples. The painted plaster as an immovable feature required at least temporary presence of a small team of painters and plasterers. Exactly this factor forms an argument in support of travelling artisans, who, in turn, shed light onto broader aspects of contact, trade and exchange mechanisms during the late MBA and LBA.

Series: Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology

Preliminaries

List of Figures [+–] vii

In the past, Bronze Age painted plaster in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean has been studied from a range of different but isolated viewpoints. One of the current questions about this material is its direction of transfer. This volume brings both technological and iconographic (and other) approaches closer together: 1) by completing certain gaps in the literature on technology and 2) by investigating how and why technological transfer has developed and what broader impact this had on the wider social dynamics of the late Middle and Late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean. This study approaches the topic of painted plaster by a multidisciplinary methodology. Moreover, when human actors and their interactions are placed in the centre of the scene, it demonstrates the human forces through which transfer was enabled and how multiple social identities and the inter-relationships of these actors with each other and their material world were expressed through their craft production and organization. The investigated data from sixteen sites has been contextualized within a wider framework of Bronze Age interconnections both in time and space because studying painted plaster in the Aegean cannot be considered separate from similar traditions both in Egypt and in the Near East. This study makes clear that it is not possible to deduce a one-way directional transfer of this painting tradition. Furthermore, by integrating both technology and iconography with its hybrid character, a clear ‘technological style’ was defined in the predominant al fresco work found on these specific sites. The author suggests that the technological transfer most likely moved from west to east. This has important implications in the broader politico-economic and social dynamics of the eastern Mediterranean during the LBA. Since this art/craft was very much elite-owned, it shows how the smaller states in the LBA, such as the regions of the Aegean, were capable of staying within the large trade and exchange network that comprised the large powers of the East and Egypt. The painted plaster reflects a very visible presence in the archaeological record and, because it cannot be transported without its artisans, it suggests specific interactions of royal courts in the East with the Aegean peoples. The painted plaster as an immovable feature required at least temporary presence of a small team of painters and plasterers. Exactly this factor forms an argument in support of travelling artisans, who, in turn, shed light onto broader aspects of contact, trade and exchange mechanisms during the late MBA and LBA.

List of Tables [+–] ix

List of Abbreviations [+–] xi

Acknowledgements [+–] xiii

(Prologue): A Tale of ‘Frescoes’ [+–] 1-14

This chapter introduces the problems to be explored in the book and outlines the methodology followed. It explains the organization of chapters and stresses that the approach is interdisciplinary arguing that combining multiple approaches will produce the best methodology to obtain meaningful answers to any archaeological question. Since iconography, technology, art, use and many other issues are forms of a society’s expression, all have to be taken together to gain the clearest picture of just what constitutes that social expression. Due to space limitations, the scope of this research cannot investigate all possible angles of approaching painted plaster, but it seeks to bring them somewhat closer together.

The Power of Technology, Knowledge and Social Agency [+–] 15-44

This chapter discusses existing ideas and theories about what technology is, how it is interwoven with human action and how the concept of the chaîne opératoire aids in demonstrating this relation between technology and human action. It discusses and looks into who artisans were, how they were organized in pre-industrial societies, and what their social identities may have been. It also touches upon the advantages and disadvantages of applying modern concepts to past societies, concepts such as ‘parttime’ versus ‘full-time’ labour, and being ‘attached’ or ‘independent’ as a worker. Since the main focus of this book is on painted plaster, and technology is another focus, here is the appropriate place to familiarize ourselves with some basic relevant terminology relating to the technology of painted plaster (see also the glossary). Furthermore, all consecutive steps of paintings on plaster are sketched here. Finally, some definitions relating to a social approach to technology will elucidate both social and technological aspects encountered when focusing on ancient technologies as an all-encompassing concept (on why I consider definitions methodologically necessary here, see Costin 2005: 1078-79). Apart from the definitions, this chapter is divided into several more sections for clarity. The way that these sections overlap and link is meant to reflect how people are really central to this discussion and how they form the connector throughout. Human agency, in fact, weaves this chapter together.

Technological Style and the Power of Technology and Knowledge [+–] 45-51

This chapter with issues of iconography, technology and style in visual art expressions. It briefly touches upon what each of these is, how they were studied separately in the past, and why they can and should be treated together when investigating visual art forms. Technology is seen as an integral part of the aesthetic forms of any material culture, as much as iconography and style are, and their interrelationship is indicated with the concept of ‘technological style’.

Archaeometric Approaches to Technologies and Materials [+–] 52-76

This chapter outlines and explains how an interdisciplinary study of the technology of painted plaster by means of a scientific multivariate analysis, combined with experimental replication, may reveal multiple strands in social relationships influencing and crisscrossing each other. The core of these relationships reflects human action in all its variety and colour, and it is exactly this human ‘way of life’ that we want to understand better in archaeological research. Ultimately, one of the reasons for studying human action is to attempt to answer questions about why people acted the way they did. The point is to explain the social phenomena that are expressed in the material culture under study (see Chapter Two), to understand the processes of interaction between society, culture, artifacts and landscape and, by so doing, to also refine our ways of understanding.

Painted Plaster in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean [+–] 77-110

Since the chronological framework here (Middle and Late Bronze Ages) is under intense debate, a brief overview of the relevant discussion is presented. This, however, does not attempt to solve any chronological questions through its technological focus but, somehow, has to take a standpoint in the debate. Therefore, the last section of this chapter outlines the chronological framework chosen for this work and briefly explains its arguments.

Analyzed to Bits: Technological and Iconographic Transfer [+–] 111-146

In combining data from scientific analysis and experimental replication, this chapter presents and discusses the material culture remains of painted plaster at three levels: production, distribution and consumption. Moreover, it indicates the degree of interrelation of these painted plaster remains both technologically and, to a lesser extent, iconographically, and how other material remains and technologies may influence the former. Consequently, patterns of material transfer, mobility and cross-craft interaction are demonstrated. It further shows that the triptych of technology, iconography and style is clearly interwoven, forming an Aegean painting craft as a ‘technological style’ in its own right. This chapter is subdivided into six sections which resemble an onion structure where each section forms a layer moving deeper into the matter. First, all macroscopic observations are presented according to a method outlined previously (Brysbaert 2002b). This is followed by a discussion of the features observed microscopically by means of a range of different microscopes. The mineralogical identification of plaster and pigments by means of XRD analysis is the next layer revealing the multiple scope of this material, and this is followed by the dissection of the blue pigments. After a discussion of chronological issues relating to blue pigments, the theoretical and hypothetical discussions of technological transfer are illustrated with supportive material evidence. Finally, two non-destructive approaches are discussed: the testing of non-destructive instrumental analyses and the usage of experimental replication studies as a nondestructive technique in the study of painted plaster.

Considering Material Culture and Social Identities [+–] 147-185

This chapter is subdivided into six sections which resemble an onion structure where each section forms a layer moving deeper into the matter. First, all macroscopic observations are presented according to a method outlined previously (Brysbaert 2002b). This is followed by a discussion of the features observed microscopically by means of a range of different microscopes. The mineralogical identification of plaster and pigments by means of XRD analysis is the next layer revealing the multiple scope of this material, and this is followed by the dissection of the blue pigments. After a discussion of chronological issues relating to blue pigments, the theoretical and hypothetical discussions of technological transfer are illustrated with supportive material evidence. Finally, two non-destructive approaches are discussed: the testing of non-destructive instrumental analyses and the usage of experimental replication studies as a nondestructive technique in the study of painted plaster.

Technology and Social Agency of Painted Plaster [+–] 186-195

This final chapter demonstrates the importance of studying human agency in the context of painted plaster in order to illuminate the importance of technology and trade in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. It also shows how socio-political and economic changes in pre-industrial societies have had a direct impact upon the changes in material culture as a way of expressing, confirming and manipulating social identities and relationships.

End Matter

Bibliography [+–] 199-242

Glossary [+–] 243-244

Index [+–] 245-258

Plate Section

Plate Section [+–] 1-12

PAPERBACK PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2015 In the past, Bronze Age painted plaster in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean has been studied from a range of different but isolated viewpoints. One of the current questions about this material is its direction of transfer. This volume brings both technological and iconographic (and other) approaches closer together: 1) by completing certain gaps in the literature on technology and 2) by investigating how and why technological transfer has developed and what broader impact this had on the wider social dynamics of the late Middle and Late Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean. This study approaches the topic of painted plaster by a multidisciplinary methodology. Moreover, when human actors and their interactions are placed in the centre of the scene, it demonstrates the human forces through which transfer was enabled and how multiple social identities and the inter-relationships of these actors with each other and their material world were expressed through their craft production and organization. The investigated data from sixteen sites has been contextualized within a wider framework of Bronze Age interconnections both in time and space because studying painted plaster in the Aegean cannot be considered separate from similar traditions both in Egypt and in the Near East. This study makes clear that it is not possible to deduce a one-way directional transfer of this painting tradition. Furthermore, by integrating both technology and iconography with its hybrid character, a clear ‘technological style’ was defined in the predominant al fresco work found on these specific sites. The author suggests that the technological transfer most likely moved from west to east. This has important implications in the broader politico-economic and social dynamics of the eastern Mediterranean during the LBA. Since this art/craft was very much elite-owned, it shows how the smaller states in the LBA, such as the regions of the Aegean, were capable of staying within the large trade and exchange network that comprised the large powers of the East and Egypt. The painted plaster reflects a very visible presence in the archaeological record and, because it cannot be transported without its artisans, it suggests specific interactions of royal courts in the East with the Aegean peoples. The painted plaster as an immovable feature required at least temporary presence of a small team of painters and plasterers. Exactly this factor forms an argument in support of travelling artisans, who, in turn, shed light onto broader aspects of contact, trade and exchange mechanisms during the late MBA and LBA.

Reviews

This book is an extremely important piece of research that opens up new vistas in the study of painted plaster in the ancient Aegean and its influence and appearance throughout the eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age. The author has clearly opened the door for a relatively new and refreshing course of research.
Aren M. Maeir, Bar-Ilan University, American Journal of Archaeology, 114.3, July 2010

While the title emphasizes the ‘power of technology in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean’, the originality of the book relies on its subtitle, the ‘painted plaster’, where the author has to offer first-hand observations. As claimed in the introduction, Brysbaerst’s prime interest is to provide new insights into the whole tissue of interaction between human and social agency, technological production, and the transfer of knowledge within the eastern Mediterranean, through a multidisciplinary approach. Furthermore, the author argues that her present work combines issues of iconography, technology and style, moving a step forward from the traditional stylistic and iconographic studies.
Hariclia Brecoulaki, Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity (KERA), The National Research Foundation, Athens, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.12.27

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

The Power of Technology in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

The Case of the Painted Plaster

Ann Brysbaert [+–]

University of Leiden

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