Comparative Chronology of Late Bronze Age Southern Greece and Southern Italy

The idea behind the project entitled "The Comparative Chronology of Late Bronze Age Southern Greece and Southern Italy" is to provide the basic framework for comparative archaeological, historical and anthropological studies. Its ambitious task is to offer the synchronisation of the Late Bronze Age phases in the Aegean (Late Helladic/Late Minoan I - Late Helladic/Late Minoan IIIC) with those of the Middle, Late and Final Bronze Age (Bronzo Medio, Recente and Finale) in Italy, as detailed and precise as possible according to the state of research. Evidence for Bronze Age contacts between Greece and Italy are found mainly in the Southern regions of both countries. Various classes of material can be used to correlate the Italian and Greek chronological systems, because they are common to the archaeological record of both Italy and Greece. The study will take into consideration mainly pottery (Mycenaean, Minoan and local Italian), but also various types of metal artifacts. Stratified sites, which have been excavated and published according to modern standards, will form the main basis of the study. The archaeological material will be classified, dated and incorporated into a database in a standardised way. This will provide the necessary working tool for the inter-regional synchronisations.