A very short introduction to

some interesting features of

MYCENAEAN PALACE CULTURE

Take a look at the megalithic construction of Mycenaean walls and tombs, or see a (somewhat speculative) reconstruction of the palace at Pylos.

A full set of armor from the Mycenaean period has been discovered at Dendra; you will see that it included a helmet made of boars' teeth, rather than the Corinthian helmet (from the Archaic period), in which later artists frequently depicted Homeric warriors.

The centralized economy of the palaces produced archives of administrative documents, written in Linear B (the language is Greek; the script is referred to as Linear B).

Mycenaean artisans produced, among other things, a variety of figurines, frescoes, intricate gold work, decorated swords, and fine pottery. After the destruction of Mycenaean palace culture, there was a marked decrease in population and the quality of artistic production diminished seriously. In fact, for two hundred years there was no figural art; the return of figural art is heralded in the appearance of a horse on a 10th century ceramic pot.