The Rise Of Ancient Greek Culture Began A Century Earlier Than We Thought
Of all the ancient cultures and civilizations that scholars know most about, ancient Greece takes the cake. However, there are no surviving historical records between 1200 and 760 B.C.
This period has been referred to as a “dark age” due to the lack of written records following the societal and political collapse of much of the Mediterranean.
The Greek iron ages took place within this period. But since no documents are available, historians have only been able to work with a timeline that uses pottery styles from Athens as its basis.
It is believed that the iron ages started in 1025 and ended in 700 B.C. The Greek Renaissance occurred from 760 B.C. to 700 B.C., emerging in the last period of the iron ages.
During this era, the civilization experienced rapid economic and population growth. It saw the establishment of alphabetic writing, Greek city-states, and Greek colonies abroad. These major developments happened in just 60 years, making the period a rather extraordinary one.
But new research from Assiros and Sindos in northern Greece and Zagora on the island of Andros suggests that this timeline of the Greek iron age is wrong.
After studying pottery, researchers determined that the Greek dark ages were much shorter and the Greek Renaissance lasted much longer than previously thought.
The findings show that Greek society was quicker to recover from the societal collapse than what was assumed in the past.
In 2013, a team of archaeologists exploring the ancient town of Eleon, discovered a vessel in a shrine dating to the last half of the 12th century B.C.
tilialucida – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
The vessel was crushed into pieces on the floor of the shrine. It featured concentric circles around a central axis on its surface.
The concentric circles are a hallmark of the protogeometric pottery style, which the researchers believe emerged in Athens during the latter half of the 11th century B.C.
After carefully analyzing these pottery pieces, along with other Greek pottery fragments found at sites that were destroyed during wars, they established dates for the Greek iron ages.
Generally, the protogeometric pottery period was believed to be from 1025 to 900 B.C., the early geometric was from 900 to 850 B.C., the middle geometric was 850 to 750 B.C., and the late geometric, which is equivalent to the Greek Renaissance, was 760 to 700 B.C.
But the team challenged this timeline and argued that the protogeometric style originated during the 12th century B.C. in northern Greece instead.
They examined thin sections of the pottery pieces under a microscope and conducted chemical analyses on the vase to show that it was imported from the lower Axios Valley. The Eleon vessel was also found among Mycenaean pottery dating to the 12th century B.C.
Traditionally, Mycenaean pottery was believed to be produced from the 16th to 11th century B.C. and was followed by the protogeometric style. However, the discovery at Eleon suggested that the two styles actually co-existed for 100 years.
So, the dark ages of Greece would be much shorter and the new start to the iron ages and the Greek Renaissance would be placed 100 years earlier than previously thought.
For instance, the protogeometric period would begin around 1,150 B.C. and end around 1,105 B.C. instead. The Greek Renaissance would’ve started in 870 B.C. and ended in 700 B.C., spanning almost 200 years and becoming much longer.
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