Helladic chronology
Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a historical framework. Whereas Minoan chronology is specific to Crete, the cultural and geographical scope of Helladic chronology is confined to mainland Greece during the same timespan. Similarly, a Cycladic chronology system is used for artifacts found in the Aegean islands. Archaeological evidence shows that civilization developed at the same time across the region, so the three schemes align chronologically. They are grouped together as "Aegean" in terms such as Aegean art and, rather more controversially, Aegean civilization.
The systems derive primarily from changes in the style of pottery, which is a benchmark for relative dating of associated artifacts such as tools and weapons. On the basis of style and technique, Evans divided his Cretan Bronze Age pottery finds into three main periods which he called Early, Middle and Late Minoan. These were sub-divided into phases and some of those into sub-phases. The Helladic and Cycladic schemes were devised later and have similar sub-divisions. Evans' system has stood the test of time remarkably well but his labels do not provide firm dates because change is never constant and some styles were retained in use much longer than others. In fact it is partly this lack of dates that has been the strength of Evans's system; several of the dates Evans believed have certainly changed, and others remain under discussion, though within fairly narrow ranges, but the scheme just adjusts for such changes. Some pottery can be dated with reasonable precision by reference to Egyptian artifacts whose dates are more certain.
Helladic society and culture have antecedents in Neolithic Greece when most settlements were small villages which subsisted by means of agriculture, farming and hunting. The gradual development of skills such as bronze metallurgy, monumental architecture and construction of fortifications brought about the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The Late Helladic is sometimes called the Mycenaean Age because Mycenae was then the dominant state in Greece. At the end of the Bronze Age, Aegean culture went into a long period of decline, termed a Dark Age by some historians, as a result of invasion and war.
Etymology
The three terms Cycladic, Helladic, and Minoan refer to location of origin. Thus, Middle Minoan objects might be found in the Cyclades, but they are not on that account Middle Cycladic, just as an Early Helladic pot found in Crete is not Early Minoan. The scheme tends to be less applicable in areas on the periphery of the Aegean, such as the Levant or North Africa. Pottery there might imitate Aegean cultural models and yet be locally manufactured.Background
has found evidence, primarily in the form of pottery, that a broadly similar way of life was spread over mainland Greece, the Cyclades and Crete as the Neolithic Age was superseded by the Bronze Age before 3000 BC. Evidence increases through Bronze Age strata with social and economic development seen to develop more quickly. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations, the Aegean peoples were illiterate through the third millennium and so, in the absence of useful written artifacts, any attempt at chronology must be based on the dating of material objects. Pottery was by far the most widespread in terms of everyday use and also the most resistant to destruction even when broken, as the pieces, or "sherds", survive. Given the different styles and techniques used over a long period of time, the surviving pots and shards can be classified according to age. As stratified deposits prove which of similar objects from other sites are contemporary, they can therefore be equated chronologically.Periodisation
The Early, Middle and Late scheme can be applied at different levels. Rather than use such cumbersome terms as Early Early, archaeologists follow Evans' convention of I, II, III for the second level, A, B, C for the third level, 1, 2, 3 for the fourth level and A, B, C for the fifth. Not all levels are present at every site. If additional levels are required, another Early, Middle or Late can be appended. The Helladic chronology is subdivided as:| Period | Approximate date |
| Early Helladic I | 3200–2650 BC |
| Early Helladic II | 2650–2200 BC |
| Early Helladic III | 2200–2000 BC |
| Middle Helladic I | 2000–1900 BC |
| Middle Helladic II | 1900–1700 BC |
| Middle Helladic III | 1700–1550 BC |
| Late Helladic IA | 1550–1500 BC |
| Late Helladic IB | 1500–1450 BC |
| Late Helladic II | 1450–1400 BC |
| Late Helladic IIIA | 1400–1300 BC |
| Late Helladic IIIB | 1300–1200 BC |
| Late Helladic IIIC | 1200–1050 BC |
Settlements of the Helladic period
These are the estimated populations of hamlets, villages, and towns of the Helladic period over time. Note that there are several problems with estimating the sizes of individual settlements, and the highest estimates for a given settlements, in a given period, may be several times the lowest.| City/settlement | 3700 BC | 3400 BC | 3100 BC | 2800 BC | 2600 BC |
| Agios Dimitrios | 120–180 | 120–180 | |||
| Askitario | 90–135 | 90–135 | |||
| Eutresis | 1,600–2,400 | 1,600–2,400 | |||
| Lerna | 200–700 | 200–700 | |||
| Manika | 6,000–15,000 | 6,000–15,000 | |||
| Raphina | 600–900 | 600–900 | |||
| Thebes | 4,000–6,000 | 4,000–6,000 | |||
| Tiryns | 1,180–1,770 | 1,180–1,770 |
Early Helladic (EH)
The Early Helladic period of Bronze Age Greece is generally characterized by the Neolithic agricultural population importing bronze and copper, as well as using rudimentary bronze-working techniques first developed in Anatolia with which they had cultural contacts. The EH period corresponds in time to the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Important EH sites are clustered on the Aegean shores of the mainland in Boeotia and Argolid or coastal islands such as Aegina and Euboea and are marked by pottery showing influences from western Anatolia and the introduction of the fast-spinning version of the potter's wheel. The large "longhouse" called a megaron was introduced in EHII. The infiltration of Anatolian cultural models was not accompanied by widespread site destruction.Early Helladic I (EHI)
The Early Helladic I period, also known as the "Eutresis culture" c. 3200–2650 BC, is characterized by the presence of unslipped and burnished or red slipped and burnished pottery at Korakou and other sites. In terms of ceramics and settlement patterns, there is considerable continuity between the EHI period and the preceding Final Neolithic period ; changes in settlement location during the EHI period are attributed to alterations in economic practices.Early Helladic II (EHII)
The transition from Early Helladic I to the Early Helladic II period or Korakou culture c.2650–2200 BC, occurred rapidly and without disruption where multiple socio-cultural innovations were developed such as metallurgy, a hierarchical social organization, and monumental architecture and fortifications. Changes in settlement during the EHII period were accompanied with alterations in agricultural practices.Early Helladic III (EHIII)
The Early Helladic II period came to an end at Lerna with the destruction of the "House of the Tiles", a corridor house. The nature of the destruction of EHII sites was at first attributed to an invasion of Greeks and/or Indo-Europeans during the Early Helladic III or Tiryns culture period c.2200–2000 BC ; however, this is no longer maintained given the lack of uniformity in the destruction of EHII sites and the presence of EHII–EHIII/MH continuity in settlements such as Lithares, Phlius, Manika, etc. Furthermore, the presence of "new/intrusive" cultural elements such as apsidal houses, terracotta anchors, shaft-hole hammer-axes, ritual tumuli, and intramural burials precede the EHIII period in Greece and are in actuality attributed to indigenous developments, as well as continuous contacts during the EHII–MH period between mainland Greece and various areas such as western Asia Minor, the Cyclades, Albania, and Dalmatia. Changes in climate also appear to have contributed to the significant cultural transformations that occurred in Greece between the EHII period and the EHIII period.Middle Helladic (MH)
The Middle Helladic, represents the Middle Bronze Age in Greece. It was a period of cultural retrogression, which first manifested in the preceding EHIII period. The Middle Helladic period corresponds in time to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Settlements draw more closely together and tend to be sited on hilltops. Middle Helladic sites are located throughout the Peloponnese and central Greece as far north as the Spercheios River valley. Malthi in Messenia and Lerna V are the only Middle Helladic sites to have been thoroughly excavated.Pottery
The MH is characterized by the wide-scale emergence of Minyan ware, which may be directly related to the people whom ancient Greek historians called Minyans; a group of monochrome burnished pottery from Middle Helladic sites was conventionally dubbed "Minyan" ware by Troy's discoverer Heinrich Schliemann.Gray Minyan ware was first identified as the pottery introduced by a Middle Bronze Age migration; the theory, however, is outdated as excavations at Lerna in the 1950s revealed the development of pottery styles to have been continuous. In general, painted pottery decors are rectilinear and abstract until Middle Helladic III, when Cycladic and Minoan influences inspired a variety of curvilinear and even representational motifs.
Pottery is the most abundant object found from the Middle Helladic period, and it is matt-painted pottery that begins to appear during this period. While Minyan pottery is made on a wheel that produces sharp designs and shapes, matt-painted pottery is sculpted by hand and has dull paint applied.
Matt-painted pottery of the Middle Helladic period demonstrates continuity with stylistic motifs that can be traced back to the Early Helladic Period and even other Aegean cultures. Patterns like oblique lines, zigzags, lozenges, running dogs, spiraliforme, and circles and triangles alternating one another beneath the rim on Middle Helladic pottery have been found to be inspired by Cycladic pottery motifs. Spiraliforme and griffon motifs can also be traced back to Crete. However, patterns like lozenges and pendent-style triangles on matt-painted pottery are a continuation of stylistic motifs from the Early Helladic period, and the addition of vertical fringed lines on pottery is a novel advancement of the Middle Helladic period. With the majority of designs and motifs on Middle Helladic pottery being Cycladic in influence, it can be assumed that the Middle Helladic culture and Cycladic culture interacted with one another heavily.