Iliria

Illyrians, Italians and Mycenaeans : Trans-Adriatic contacts during

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Harding Anthony F. Illyrians, Italians and Mycenaeans : Trans-Adriatic contacts during the Late Bronze Age. In: Iliria, vol. 4,
1976. Premier colloque des Etudes Illyriennes (Tirana 15-20 septembre 1972) – 1. pp. 157-162;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/iliri.1976.1176

https://www.persee.fr/doc/iliri_1727-2548_1976_num_4_1_1176

Fichier pdf généré le 19/03/2019

Anthony F. HARDING (Cambridge)

ILLYRIANS, ITALIANS AND MYCENAEANS:

The Adriatic Sea was, during the latter part of the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age,
the scene of a considerable amount of travelling and trading. Each of the main ethnic groups
living on its coasts — Illyrians in Albania and Dalmatia, Mycenaeans in Greece and possibly
South Italy, and Italians — was in contact with each of the others, and the sea must have formed
the connecting link even between Illyria and Greece. The researches of our Albanian colleagues
in recent years have brought to light a fair quantity of new material dating to this period and
exemplifying this pattern ; some of it, especially the part that is obviously Mycenaean, has been
recognised and studied (notably by M. Korkuti in his article in «Studia Albanica» for 1970,
and before that by Prof. Hammond in «Epirus»), while other parts of it, notably the non-Greek
bronzes, have received no detailed treatment. In this short contribution, I should like to discuss
some of these bronzes, with particular reference to parallels in Greece and Italy. That I am able
to do this is in no small measure due to the friendly services of Albanian colleagues, who have
provided me liberally with the information, both published and unpublished, that has gone
into making up this paper. I should like to single out for special mention Frano Prendi, to whom
my sincere thanks are due.
At the International Congress in Belgrade last year, I argued that the amber trade to Greece,
which seems to have been entirely sea-borne during the earlier Mycenaean period, was
channelled through Central Europe and down the Adriatic by 1250 B.C. It is, therefore, no surprise
that amber beads have now been found in a very Late Bronze Age context in Albania, with
imported Greek pottery of Late Helladic IIIC. I refer to the important finds at Barç, which
we have now been able to see in the exhibition here in Tirana. The shapes of these beads are still
unknown to me; the occurence of amber in eastern Albania must be seen in connection with
other amber finds in Greek Epirus and the Ionian islands, dating to a similar, though rather
earlier, phase. This is precisely what makes one suppose that the amber trade came down the
Adriatic at this period. On the other side of the Adriatic, amber finds are not very common at
this period — some pieces in the Terramare, a few from Central Italy, and very little from the south ;
in Apulia, for instance, only at Bisceglie and Torre Castelluccia, where some of the beads are of
the barrel type, wellknown in Late Mycenaean Greece, is amber known at this time. We have
already heard from Drs. Lo Schiavo and Bietti- Sestieri about the amber finds of the 1 1th century;
it is in this same connection that the amber from the Mati valley and in north and north-west
Greece should be seen. The trading-pattern of the 1 1th and succeeding centuries was established,
however, in the 12th or even 13th.
Ambers serves as a preliminary to my main discussion, because it was undeniably an object
of trade. Its origin on the Baltic coast is no longer a matter for speculation. With bronzes,
however, to which I turn now, the situation is very different: there is almost no means of knowing
for sure the place of manufacture of a bronze object, and one can only utilise its distribution
pattern. The classes I shall submit to this treatment are mainly the arms of Late Bronze Age
Albania, which are especially suitable for study because of their distinct morphological features
and their comparative frequency.
158 Anthony F. Harding

Prof. Hammond has made a preliminary classification of the bronze swords of type Ila from
Albania. On the basis of further research, it is now possible to descry their analogies more
precisely. There are three examples of classes of swords which have precise parallels in Italy, while
there are many more general analogies. Two of these relate to Jugoslavia, where swords from
Dalmatia as well as the interior correspond to pieces of Treviso and Allerona types; one is
from Greece, where a sword from Achaea is identical to Southern examples of the Allerona
class. However, it is the Albanian finds which I wish to discuss in detail, and I mention these
others merely as corroborative evidence.
The sword on the right of fig. 1 is a Mycenaean im-:
port from the Mati valley. On the left, a sword from Ka-
kavi rather unusal with apparently a raised ridge in bronze
at the point where the gripplates would have stopped.
This feature is unique, but the sword in general is of the
«Paneuropean» Ha variety, with good parallels in both
Italy, Jugoslavia and . Greece as well as in Central Europe.
The type is too widespread for its place of origin to be
determined. With the centre sword, however, from Vajzë
tumulus B. one can be more definite1. It seems to be a
typical, albeit short, member of the Graditsa2 class, which
is also known from Bitola3 and from Phocis4. The long
pommel spur, which is so characteristic of this type, relates
the group to Italian pieces of Allerona5 type. However, the
group is of such consistency within itself, and its
distribution apparently so limited (to the Greek border area) that
one may be justified in thinking in term of the work of a
single smith.
The sword from Rrethe-Bazje6 in the Mati valley, on
view in Tirana Museum, has a marked contraction at the
base of the grip, a rivet at the extreme end of the grip, and
ridges on the blade. All these features are exactly paralleled
on a recently published sword from near Zadar7, and the
two swords are in fact so close that they could well have
come from the same workshop. The former feature,
moreover, is found quite frequently: for instance on a
unpublished sword in Thessaloniki Museum, on the swords
from Tiryns and Siteia, and, most important, on the early
FiS- * iron swords of type Ila — there is one from Vajzë in Tirana
Museum, unpublished so far as I know. It is likely, then,
that this type with the contraction at the base of the grip, belongs after the Bronze Age proper.
An unpublished sword from Vodhinë in Tirana museum has an extended hilt-plate and
ridges on the blade features seen on a sword from Bulgaria8 and on one of the swords from Kal-
lithea9 in Achaea (grave A), as well as on swords with pommel-targ of Graditsa type. These
resemblances are, however, no more than general. The sword said to come from Shkodër10,

1) All three swords are illustrated in Shqipêria Arkeologjike (1971), p. 24, sight.
2) «Antiquity» 35 (19M), pi. XVI.
3) §tip Museum Catalogue (1971), 82 no. 216.
4) PPS1956, no. 9.
5) V. Bianco Peroni, Le spade nclV Italia continentale (1970), nos. 153 ff.
6) «Studia Albanica» (1964), 102 pi. XII: 1.
7) Bato 'lé in «Adriatica» (1970), fig. 1,2.
8) PZ 1970, 36, Abb. 2:1. (Pavelsko)
9) AM 55 (1960) 43, Beil 27, 1-2.
10) PPS1956.no. 27.
 1 1 1 y r i an s , Italians and Mycenaean- 1 59

at present in the British Museum again has general similarities to Italian and Greek pieces; it
may be close to an unprovenanced fragment in Belgrade11.
As we have been able to see in the special exhibition, there are several other swords of this
type from Albania, notably that from Barç, which Zh. Andrea classified in Coiiing's group II,
but these I have not yet had the opportunity. The connections of these pieces are not clear on
first glance.
Two swords remain for discussion: — the short sword from Kakavi12, with wide shoulder,
blade outlined with channels that contract towards the top, many rivet-holes, and «fish-tail»
terminal, ist most similar to a piece found in the river Sava in Bosnia13. With this sword at
Kakavi were an iron knife with bronze rivet and a pair of iron tweezers, both of which suggest that
this type too should bet dated to a time later than the Bronze Age. A similar picture emerges
from study of the sword from Vodhine14 with engraved spirals on its midrib. I have not seen this
sword myself and have to rely on the rather indifferent published photograph which I show
here. This piece shows again, as in the case of the first swords discussed, the slight contraction
at the base of the grip, but this sword seems to have the typical «Paneuropean» formation. The
nearest parallels which I can cite are the bronze sword from Vergina15, which has iron rivets,
and, so far as one can judge from the publications, the swords from Orchomenos16, which is
Geometric in date, and (possibly) Tsesanna, though Prof. Hammond is unable to confirm this.
The collective evidence from these swords provides clear indications that all three areas
under consideration were in contact in so far as products of the same workshops are found in
each of them. Though one cannot often say whether or not a particular smith was responsible
for more than one piece, the general picture is clear: the cut-and-thrust sword of type Ila re
laced earlier varieties, including Mycenean types, in Albania as well as in Greece and elsewhpre
in Europe; and so far from there being a local type of sword, which we might designate «Illyrien»
the traditions in Albania seem to have followed rather closely those in adjacent areas to norath
west and south.
Another class of evidence treated in Prof. Hammond's monumental work is the Bronze
Age spearheads of the Epirote regions. Since he wrote, however, further examples have come
to light, espeacially in Albania, and the class deserves further mention here since clear regional
types can be distinguished (Fig. 2). One type that may turn out to be distinctively «Illyrian»
is known from Pazhok and the Mati valley17: it has a flat, straight-sided blade with ridges
outlining the socket, and a squared blade-base that joins the socket at right-angles. Since this type
was unknown before its recent discovery in Albania, it is a matter of some interest that the
reserve collection of the British Museum possesses an identical spearhead, coming without clouser
provenance from Italy. It is slightly shorter and wider, but all the essential features are
represented. There is no certain example from Greece, but there is one possible spearhead of this type
from the Epirus18. The presence of this rare type at either side of the Adriatic seems to be very
significant.
Another interesting type, much discussed but not yet fully appreciated, is the «fiddle-sha~
ped» spearhead, of which examples have been found in Albania at Vodhinë, Çepune and
Pazhok19: at the latter site the example is a very long piece and dates presumably to the Early
Iron Age. Prof. Hammond has recently20 tried to date this type to the Middle Bronze Age,
largely because a dagger of apparently Middle Minoen type was found in grave 16 at Vodhinë,
overlying grave 17, where the spearhead was found. The dagger is admittedly problematical,

11) D. Garasanin, Katalog Metala (1 954), 57, no. 7064, Taf. LX: 5.
12) BSA 66(1971), pi. 34, 1.
13) «Starinar» 5th series, 3, 1930, 208 f., fig. 2.
14) BSA 66 (1971), pi. 34, 2.
15) «A. Delt.» 17(1961/2), A 242, pi. 146
16) PPS 1956, 113 no. 10.
17) Shqipëria Arkeologjike, pi. 25, boldour left.
18) Epirus (1967), fig. 23 J.
19) Shqipëria Arkeologjike, pi. 25, top left
20) BSA 66 (1971), 233.
160 Anthony F. Harding
 lllyrians, Italians and Mycenaeans 161

but the spearhead is less so. A new, or at any rate unpublished, example in Greece is both
associated and distinguished by the facetted or many-sided socket seen on the Albanian pieces.
It comes from Achaea, and was apparently found with a sword of type Ila and with LH IIIC
pottery, though the details and circumstances of the find are not known to me. At all events,
it seems clear that this type of spearhead must date to the years around 1200 B.C. I show a
distribution of the type, which illustrated it preponderance in the north and west of Greece,
if the few exemples we posses are any guide. Strangely, this form, with its very pronounced
concavity of the blade, is not known from either Jugoslavia or Italy — well north on Jugoslavia come,
a few pieces that ressemble the Parga type, but nothing similar to the fiddle-shape as such.
The type with slight concavity, on the other hand, is known in both these areas as well as in
Central Europe. It also occurs in Albania, and an example has been tentatively identified in Italy.
One of the Albanian pieces is from Maliq21, another, very long, from Pazhok, with facetted
socket, and clearly Iron Age in date. Greek examples aie mainly in the north and north-west,
where they date, on Kephallenia at any rate to LH III C. A sub-group is known from Crete,
and it is to this subgroup that the Italian example seems to belong. It is, as far as I know,unpu-
blished, and is reputed to come from Elba. I have no reason to doubt this provenance, and this
occurence would provide striking confirmation of the theory, suggested by the Myc. sherds at
Luni sul Mignore that the Mycenaeans tried to exploit the mineral wealth of Etruria and even
Elba. In Jugoslavia this general type is common in hoards dating to Ha A.
Of the other types of spearhead, the small leaf-shaped javelin point is too widespread to
rouse special interest; it occurs in Greece, Albania and Jugoslavia, though not in Italy. Other
specifically, Illyrian types were on view in the exhibition, but these I have not yet had the opor-
tunity to study, nor are they published.
Further contacts with Greece are visible in the double-axe series, which is represented by one
large example of Kilindir type, are of Hemones type (especially common in Jugoslav Macedonia)
and a single «Mycenaean» double-axe which comes from a site near Butrinti. This last piece
has an oval shaft-hole, and is clearly a member of the well-known type that is especially well
represented in Epirus: this must have been the product of a local workshop.
I have barely touched on the wealth of material which links Greece and Italy in the 12th-
11th centuries B.C.: its most obvious representatives are Mycenean pottery in Italy and Italian
bronze-types in Greece (especially swords, fibulae, Peschiera daggers etc.). I turn now to consider
the significance of these trading patterns in economic and cultural terms. I have refered here
to «Illyrian» finds, meaning those from Late Bronze Age Albania, in deference to the belief of
Albanian !>pecialists that Illyrian culture began to form during the Bronze Age. The evidence
we have examined has no little bearing on this general problem, and I hope our Albanian
colleagues will bear with me while I mention the following relevant considerations.
The bronze industries of Late Bronze Age Albania correspond very closely to those of
northwest Greece, and to a lesser extent Greece in general. It is hard to point to a single class of bronze
objects that can be called definitely «Albanian» before the developed Early Iron Age. Most of
the material is inspired from, if not produced, outside Albania. The Mycenaeans were clearly
in close contact with at any rate southern Albania: they may even have settled there. And
whoever lived in the other parts was quite content to adopt the dress, working implements, and
methods of warfare of the other Adriatic countries. The Late Bronze Age was evidently a time of
much movement, when fashion was in a state of flux, and visits across the Adriatic were
frequent. Pottery remained, it is true, traditional, but pottery seems to have been the cultural
element in prehistoric societies least susceptible of charge over long periods. The Late Bronze Age
wares of at any rate South Albania are very smililar to those of north-west Greece : in particular,
the fine painted ware with geometrical patterns in dark paint on a light base is closely
paralleled in Greek Epirus and in Macedonia, where it is usually called Boubousti ware. It is seen by
Frano Prendi as a distinctive element of Illyrian culture at the time of the beginning of the Illyrian
«bel âge.»
In view of the wide distribution of this ware — and it surely cannot be considered Illyrian
in Greek Macedonia — and, conversely, the wide areas of Later Illyrian territory in Jugoslavia

21) Shqipëria Arkeologjike, pi. 25, top right.

11 — 178
162 Anthony F. Harding

where it is absent, I should like to ask our Albanian colleagues just what elements of the archeo-
logical material of the 12th century can be shown to be Illyrian in the sense of being restricted
to the Illyrian area. Not only the pottery, but also the bronzes show in fact the adoption in
Albania of the prevalent European fashions in dress and warfare. In my view, the Late Bronze Age
cultures of Albania cannot be called Illyrian per se: other considerations must be used if one is
to say that these people were Illyrians. The archaeological case for the presence of «Illyrians»
in Albania in the Late Bronze Age is as yet not proven.