eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

is the no-man’s land between the Mycenaean Civilisation of the past and the Classical
Civilisation to come (cf Snodgrass [1971] 2000, xxiv). Rather than considering the period
and place in these terms, this work has embraced a respect for the period and the extant
material evidence for what it is – the fragments of past lives, the existence of which are
important and valuable for themselves, even if not to the way history has tended to see them.
One of the main points to come from this research is that although generalisations can be
made, the particular should not be forgotten. From the case studies, a step back can be taken,
allowing the period as whole to be grasped and changes throughout to be apprehended, but
hopefully this occurs with a deeper sense of the period than would otherwise be possible. It is
hoped that an appreciation of the complexity of Arkadia in the LBA and EIA can be achieved,
alongside a respect for the people and an understanding of something of what it may have
been like to experience these times and places. Nonetheless, through charting the differences
in the places in which people engaged in activity apparent over time, enhanced by the case
studies, the idea of change and transition is one that was always going to be addressed. The
conclusions of each chapter have discussed ways in which change was made manifest, the
transformations in the way people and communities negotiated their surroundings,
worshipped their gods, (Chapter 4) treated their dead (Chapter 5) and organised themselves
into settlements (Chapter 6).
For the LBA, it is postulated that settlements in Arkadia were on top of steep-sided,
defendable hills (Salavoura 2005), and certainly there is a pattern of settlements situated on
top of hills distinguishable on and around the Mantinean plain (Ptolis Gortsouli (27), Nestani-
Paniyiristra (30), Loukas-Ayios Yioryios (31), Merkovouni-Ayiolias (32) Chapter Six). This
may suggest that individual communities inhabited the plain, sharing certain aspects of it,
perhaps grazing rights for example, who came together to cooperate on certain occasions,
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