Animals of a Late Bronze Age Household at Mycenae, Greece

Research and writing two articles on the use and treatment of animals in Late Bronze Age Mycenae in Greece.Animals played vital roles as symbols, resources and individuals in Late Bronze Age societies. My research uses a context-based approach to elucidate human-animal interactions at Mycenae, Greece in the Late Bronze Age. I employ zooarchaeology to study how ceramic artisans lived with and used animals at the height of the palatial period at Mycenae (LHIIIA2, 14th c. BCE). I focus on faunal remains recovered from a well in the craft-producing household of Petsas House. The well remains are a significant source of evidence about animal lives, as texts and household evidence of animals are rare at Mycenae. With NEH support, I will write two articles to clarify how animal and human lives were intertwined in a Mycenaean household. I will use a life history approach to study household management of animals and domestic faunal refuse. This will challenge current views of human-animal boundaries at Mycenae and reveal how animals were a part of the household in life and death.