A Group of Late Helladic IIIB 2 Pottery from Mycenae

Abstract

L.H. IIIB 2 has until recently been ill-served in archaeological publication, for two reasons. Firstly it does not seem to have been the custom in this period in mainland Greece to put much pottery in tombs. Secondly at settlement sites the period ended in a vast destruction which was preceded by either evacuation or plundering. This resulted in debris levels containing a mass of sherd material (often of earlier periods) but few restorable pot,s and thus of no interest to early excavators. Until 1966 practically the only L.H. IIIB 2 material of settlement type readily available for comparison was that from Schliemann's excavations at Mycenae illustrated in Mykenische Vasen , and the sherds from the same group in the British Museum Catalogue. The discovery at Tiryns in 1957 of deep and extensive debris of this period (which has now been published in outline) concentrated attention on the period and has enabled some studies of historical importance to be made.