Northern Slaves and the Origin of Handmade Burnished Ware: A Comment on Bankoff et al. (JMA 9 [1996] 193-209)

Abstract

For more than 20 years Handmade Burnished Ware has been known to occur at sites on the Greek Mainland and some of the islands in association with the end of LH IIIB and LH IIIC. Its origins have been traced to various regions in Northern Greece, the Balkans and Italy. Numerous theories have been put forward to explain the presence of these foreign elements in Mycenaean Culture. Basically all theories can be grouped into two opinions. One group of scholars interprets this pottery as evidence for the presence of a foreign ethnic component (e.g., Deger-Jalkotzy 1983), variously seen as conquerors, settlers, traders or mercenaries. Others interpret Handmade Burnished Ware as belonging to the Mycenaean cultural sphere and either attribute it to a pastoral element of the society, or see it as representing household production in times when the specialized pottery workshops declined in importance (e.g., Small 1990).