Hesperos. The Aegean Seen from the West: Proceedings of the 16th International Aegean Conference

The 16th International Aegean Conference/Rencontre egeenne

internationale encompasses all the geographical regions west of the

Aegean (Western Mainland Greece, the Ionian islands and the Adriatic,

Italy, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic islands),

giving prominence to those focal points and traits of the local

civilizations which interact with their Aegean counterparts of the 3rd

and 2nd millennium BC, not excluding their Neolithic background.

Some of the issues for which HESPEROS opens the floor to discussion are

the nature of Mycenaean presence in Iberia, the spread of the early

technology of bronze across the Mediterranean, the expansion of

phenomena connected with the Cetina culture , the local productions and

the Mediterranean trade network of goods, such as the industry of amber,

glass and murex, the distribution of tumuli and their social

implications as monuments for the local elites, the lack of local

manufacture of Italo-Mycenaean pottery in Sicily, the nodal role of the

Balkans in a connecting cultures process, the documentation of

Cycladic elements as far away as the Ionian islands, and the aspects of

the metallurgical koine across the LBA Adriatic and the Aegean,

not neglecting the examination of traditional questions, such as the

nature of Mycenaean imports in Italy, the spread of matt-painted pottery

in the SW Balkans and the degree of Mycenaeanization of Epirus.