Communication Uneven

This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the
24th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona
in 2018. The specific aim of both the session and this volume was to measure
acceptance of, and resistance to, outside influences within Mediterranean
coastal settlements and their immediate hinterlands, with an open time range,
but with a particular focus on the processes not reflecting simple commercial
routes, but taking place at an intercultural level, in situations of developed
connectedness. Following a general discussion of the theoretical and long-
lasting facets of the discussion on communication, and of some of the reasons
for its unevenness, the contributions in the volume give a wide and
stimulating view of the ongoing debate about Mediterranean interaction and
communication. The papers' timespan is large: from the Late Neolithic of
Crete, in the 5th - 4th millennium BCE, to the Macedonian conquest of Thrace,
in the 4th century BCE. Most contributions, however, focus on the Middle to
Late Bronze Ages, as this is a phase of particularly intense communication,
which matches the interests and connections of the editors. The geographic
frame extends from the Central Mediterranean to Thrace, Cyprus and the Levant,
with an important focus on Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Other papers, more than
specific areas, instead discuss the figures of some of the actors of the
intra-Mediterranean interregional communication, and the nuances of their
roles: warriors and merchants.