The Middle Helladic (MH) period is often seen as a period of relative obscurity, a ‘bleak backwater’ (p. 1) located between the abortive developments of the Early Helladic period and the rise of the Mycenaean palace state. Aside from the development of the Shaft Graves at the end of the period, MH Greece is generally under-represented in archaeological discussion. While W. is the not the first to consider the MH period as worthy of further attention (see papers by S. Voutsaki or the recent volume Mesohelladika, for example), hers is one of the first monographs to focus specifically on this period, and the first to focus on the role of religion in particular. The lack of discussion on MH religion is unsurprising given the scarcity of evidence but, as any archaeology student knows, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. W.'s commendable aim is to re-evaluate the evidence for religion (moving beyond traditional indicators such as objects of ritual significance or evidence for cult places) to suggest its importance in the major developmental shift that is the emergence of Early Mycenaean society in the late MH and early Late Helladic (LH) period.
The first chapter encompasses several diverse theoretical issues: the relation between religion and ideology, definitions of religion, previous approaches to Mycenaean religion and the applicability of cross-cultural analogies. With regard to definitions of religion and their suitability to the archaeology of religion, W. advocates an approach based on the works of B. Saler; essentially, that there can be no conclusive definition of religion and that definitions need to be contextually based. This frees the discussion to encompass not just the traditional material evidence for religion (cult places, votives, etc.) but evidence from other social and cultural contexts. In particular, W. utilises this approach to include burial evidence, countering previous approaches which consider burial ritual as being not ‘strictly-speaking’ religious (p. 36). This approach sets this book apart from previous considerations of MH religion, and incorporates the relevance of social and political ideology to religious views in a wider sense. W. also believes that the use of cross-cultural parallels and historical analogies can widen horizons and offer alternative explanations to underlying processes of social change. These approaches play an important role in her argument in subsequent chapters.
Chapter 2 considers the transition from EH to MH, focusing mainly on the causes of the destructions at the end of EH II/III. W. provides a detailed discussion of the traditional but controversial view of the ‘coming of the Greeks’ and the introduction of Indo-European language and culture, although ultimately concludes that the issue remains open. What is innovative here is her assertion that, from EH III, part of the population of Greece was nomadic, and the values of this culture gave rise to developments in MH. This argument puts a more positive spin on the dearth of material evidence for the MH period; as shown in the next chapter, W. argues (pp. 121–2) that the sparsity of MH material evidence is a deliberate choice made by the mainland population of the time who discouraged displays of individual wealth in favour of a common identity. Most crucially for W.'s argument, and tying in with her arguments in the preceding chapter, is the development of tumuli in EH III-LH I. While the religious significance of this development is explored in the next chapter, W. uses cross-cultural comparisons to argue for the connection between nomadic cultures and the development of burial mounds.
Chapter 3 considers evidence for religion and cult activity in the MH period. W.'s focus at the start of the chapter is the more ‘traditional’ evidence for religious activity – cult equipment and cult places. For the former, their occurrence is rare and there seems to be no common pattern for their dispersal; for cult places the argument is similarly bleak: W. asserts that ‘there is no indisputable evidence for the existence of sanctuaries in the Middle Helladic period’ (p. 78). Instead, utilising the methodology set out in the introductory chapter, she argues that we can find evidence for religious practices in this period in the domestic and, specifically, funerary spheres. The main focus of the chapter is her persuasive discussion on the religious purpose of tumuli. She argues that tumuli are a material form of history which invoke the land and the past, and that their association with earlier habitations, their use as family memorials and the use of domestic food vessels as funerary jars, are all indicative of an agricultural population concerned with their relationship to the land in which they lived and died, and whose ancestors ensured agricultural prosperity. The atypical evidence from the MH site of Kolonna on Aegina – with an economy based on mercantilism rather than agriculture – is considered as the exception which proves this rule.
Chapter 4 is the shortest in the book and covers the transition from the M-LBA on the Greek mainland. W. argues that these changes – specifically changes in burial habits – are indicative of changes in land use and ownership, and can be related to developments in social organisation. In particular, W. suggests an increase in competition and violence, related to a rise in settlement numbers, population growth and, provocatively, the invention of the sword and a new way of fighting (p. 142) as factors in the restructuring of communal ritual life.
The focus of the final chapter is religion and society in LH I, in particular the Shaft Graves from Mycenae. While hardly a new topic, W. manages to draw new insights from well-covered ground, arguing that religion is now more closely connected to social prestige and political power, in contrast to the preceding MH period. In particular, she argues that symbolism in the Shaft Graves is related to a wider ideological shift linked to a rise in militarism (ethnographic parallels are again utilised, this time from India). The Shaft Grave burials represent elites who come to dominate due to innovations in warfare, and solidified this position through ritual (feasting, selective appropriation of Minoan symbolism) and the creation of new cults (W. reads some of the male burials as warriors allied with a war deity and the women as ritual specialists). This link between religion and military prowess is also argued for the sanctuary site of Mount Kynortion, where she argues that ritual dedicated to a warrior deity is utilised by the new elites for political consolidation. Evidence for religion outside of the Argolid is sparse, and hence its discussion is short. However, W. does argue for a reconstruction of elite networks and new concepts of status based on developments in burials in locations such as Messenia.
Overall, the book is well presented, with a detailed and up-to-date catalogue of burials which will be of great value to scholars. The text is illustrated by drawings by S. von Hofsten, although more illustrations, particularly photographs, would have been beneficial, especially for those coming to the study of the MH for the first time.
While some of the arguments may seem a little tenuous (such as the female burials in the Shaft Graves as ritual specialists of an imported Minoan goddess, while the sparsity of evidence beyond the Argolid in LH I draws into question the validity of W.'s argument for mainland Greece as whole) they are nevertheless well argued and feasible interpretations. In a monograph of such detail, some arguments are inevitably more persuasive than others, and overall W. has written a convincing, detailed and original account of Greek culture and religion in the Middle Bronze Age. The book does an excellent job of re-evaluating the evidence to present a thought-provoking and coherent reinterpretation which will make a valuable contribution to discussions of both the Middle Helladic period and early Greek religion.
