L’économie, entre objets et textes

The economy of Greek Bronze Age societies is almost exclusively known through the archaeological record. Writing appears on Crete as early in the Middle Minoan II period (ca. 1800-1700 BC), with two successive scripts, Cretan hieroglyphic and Linear A, which coexist for some time; neither is deciphered. Clay tablets written in a third script called Linear B appear at Knossos ca. 1450 BC. They record purely economic matters. For ca. 250 years, until the destruction of Mycenaean palaces, the historian is thus able to use both epigraphic and archaeological data to reconstruct a picture of the palace economy. Apparent contradictions sometimes result from the comparison of both sets of data; moreover, for a number of topics, the documentation provided by these two sources do not overlap. The texts provide us with precious information about various activities which do not leave much archaeological trace. In some cases, like textile production, the archaeological record can be partially matched with information from the texts. In spite of those limits, these sources allows us to draw, through the prism of palatial economic control, a picture of economic activities and the relationships between Mycenaean palaces and the populations they were ruling