An Island Polity: The Archaeology of Exploitation in Melos
Colin Renfrew, J. Malcolm Wagstaff
CUP Archive, Apr 8, 1982 - Social Science - 361 pages
The Greek island of Melos in the Cyclades has been inhabited for at least five thousand years. Two periods of its history are well documented: the late Bronze Age, when it supported an important urban centre at Phylakopi and the late fifth century BC, when as an independent city-state it briefly defied and was then destroyed by the expansionist power of Athens. The case of Melos is thus relevant to the understanding of the processes of early state-formation and of the integration of small-scale societies into larger political units. As the contributors to this volume show, a small island provides a very suitable area - clearly defined, self-contained - in which to examine the processes of social, cultural and economic change and the forces - sometimes gradual and almost imperceptible in their effect, sometimes sudden and dramatic - by which changes are initiated.
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
THE HISTORY OF SOCIETY IN MELOS
4a Latin possessions in 1207
Geomorphological evolution during the late
Island resources and their limitations
Traditional land use
interaction intensification and
Gazetteer of Melian placenames
Other editions - View all
activity Adamas Aegean Agiasmata Agios agricultural Agrilia alluvial alluvium Ancient Melos archaeological artefacts Athenian Athens ation barley bifaces Bintliff 1977a blades cemetery centre century BC cereals chapter Chatzidakis 1972 chipped stone Chora plain classical cores Crete crops cultivated Cycladic islands debitage density deposits Duchy of Naxos early bronze age east economic erosion evidence excavations exploitation exports figure flakes Greece Greek hillslope important indicate Kastro Kimolos labour input laharic land late bronze age Mackenzie 1897a macrocore mainland material Melian Melos code ment Minoan Mycenaean Naxos neolithic nucleated Nychia and Demenegaki obsidian organisation Palaiochori period phase Phylakopi Plaka political population pottery prehistoric prismatic blades probably production quarries region Renfrew rhyolite sample settlement pattern sherds slopes soil spatial subsistence suggest survey terrace Thucydides Tournefort Triovasalos Trypiti tuffs volcanic wheat Zephyria