postMycenaean

PostMycenaean is a term used in archaeology and ancient history to describe the period in the Aegean region and surrounding areas that follows the collapse of the Mycenaean palatial civilizations at the end of the Bronze Age. The label denotes a transitional phase rather than a single, tightly defined era and is commonly associated with the Early Iron Age in Greece, typically dated roughly from 1100 to 800 BCE, with regional chronologies varying.

In this period, the large palace-centered economies declined or disappeared, and settlement patterns shifted toward smaller, rural communities. Material culture reflects both Continuity and change: some Mycenaean influences persist, while new styles and practices emerge, including late Bronze Age-to-Iron Age pottery developments that are sometimes categorized as Submycenaean or Protogeometric. The introduction and spread of iron use also mark broader changes in technology and daily life.

Writing largely disappears in the late Bronze Age and reappears in the Greek world during the 8th century BCE with the adoption of the Greek alphabet, linking post-Mycenaean communities to later Archaic developments. The post-Mycenaean landscape shows changes in trade networks, fortifications, and burial practices, with notable regional differences among the Cyclades, Crete, the Peloponnese, and other parts of the Aegean.

Scholarly usage varies: some scholars treat postMycenaean as part of the broader Early Iron Age or Dark Ages, while others reserve the term for transitional subperiods between the late Bronze Age and the rise of classical Greece. The concept helps frame the cultural and political transformations that ultimately led to the emergence of city-states, renewed literacy, and urbanization in the first millennium BCE.