This volume takes a refreshing approach to the question of the significant changes in trade that occurred on mainland Greece and Crete during the transition between the Late Bronze Age (LBA; 1300–1100 BC) and the Early Iron Age (EIA; 1100–700 BC). Although Sarah C. Murray acknowledges that imports, collapse, and the transition between the LBA and the EIA have featured prominently in recent debates, she stresses that this book is as much about the process of interpreting the data as it is about these themes. By meeting her goal of immersing the datasets in larger-scale conversations and interrogating them in a novel way, she creates a new model for trade and the role of imports during the transition between the LBA and the EIA in Greece and Crete.

Contrary to commonly received ideas, Murray argues that imports as finished products did not play a significant role in trade or the creation of status during the LBA. Instead, trade was driven by commodities. She further argues that although all the data point to a large decrease in the number of imported objects in Greece at the end of the thirteenth century BC and an increase again in the eighth century BC, this was due to a decrease in population in Greece rather than to a disruption in trade routes or to a close tie between these imports and the creation of status at LBA palaces.

The volume is divided into six main chapters that present and analyze the data. These are preceded by an introduction and succeeded by a conclusion. The introduction clearly lays out the author's approach and argument and contextualizes the book in related debates. The clarity of the introduction, and the book as a whole, makes it broadly accessible to a wider audience beyond experts and specialists in Aegean archaeology. Chapter 1 examines the textual evidence from Greece, Egypt, and the Near East during the LBA and the EIA. She concludes that although the textual evidence gives us glimpses of long-distance trade that connects with various debates and issues, it is unhelpful for explaining the change in import numbers between the LBA and the EIA. Chapter 2 presents the imports in Greece during the periods in question and assesses them quantitatively and qualitatively. Murray argues that the number of imports decreases significantly after the thirteenth century BC, and that there is a distinct change in the type of imports, their depositional contexts, and their cultural meaning between the LBA and the EIA. Chapter 3 focuses on analyzing the patterns derived from the archaeological evidence, questioning their reliability, and highlighting problems with them and their wide acceptance by scholars. Murray concludes that a reductionist approach that solely examines imports as finished products is flawed, and that to understand trade and the role of imports, we need also to explore the differences in the reasons for trade. She suggests that LBA trade was driven by commodities and not finished products. Chapter 4 tests the validity of her observations and conclusions by focusing on bronze as an example of commodity exchange, and it summarizes the evidence of Greek exports around the Mediterranean. Murray concludes that the acquisition of raw materials rather than finished products drove LBA trade. Chapter 5 presents the lynchpin of Murray's argument. She scrutinizes the demographic evidence for the period, showing that population decreased precipitously at the end of the thirteenth century BC and did not increase again until the eighth century BC. By combining demographic data with numbers of imports, Murray argues that the number of imports per capita did not change between the thirteenth and the eighth centuries BC. She continues this line of reasoning to contend that Greece was not cut off from the rest of the Mediterranean, as has been suggested, but that the decrease in population led to a correlating decrease in buying power and demand for objects. Chapter 6 fleshes out Murray's conclusions from the earlier chapters, presents her synthetic view of trade during the LBA and EIA, and summarizes her three main conclusions: (1) Mycenean palatial elite members were not reliant on imports to create or legitimize their status, (2) Greece was not isolated during the period of transition from the LBA to the EIA, and (3) the trading model that emerged in the eighth century BC was extremely different from that of the LBA in scale and structure. Murray outlines these points in her brief conclusion.

This volume masterfully deals with complex issues and large volumes of data. Not only does this book add a much-needed update to the discussion of trade and society during this important transitionary period, but it will change the ways in which scholars address the issues of this period.