Dr Eleftheria Pappa (DPhil Oxon), Visiting Research Assistant, University of California Santa Barbara, Department of History, will address the topic “Globalisation paradigms and the Aegean – Iberian connections in the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age transition”, as part of the Dialogos lecture series of the Netherlands Institute at Athens.
Abstract
For at least three decades, ideas on early contacts and trips linking Iberia and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age transition (from an eastern Mediterranean
chronological perspective) have been postulated on the basis of isolated finds with a putative Aegean provenance and perceived similarities between actual material culture
in the Aegean and its representations in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula. These contacts are thought to predate the settlement of the Iberian coasts by Near Eastern
groups of people, but also post-date the flourish of the Late Bronze Age international trade and exchange. Conceptualising the type, frequency and impact of such putative contacts, led to the formation of hypotheses that fall under or approximate ‘globalisation paradigms’, which were adopted by archaeologists initially from the social/political/economic sciences. The speaker will revisit an old debate under new terms, summarizing recent evidence and theories and evaluating the most suitable
models of interpretation.