AFTER THE COLLAPSE of the palatial system, in roughly 1200 BC, the Greeks lost some of the most important aspects of their Mycenaean culture. This alone would have had profound consequences for their social and political structures. But in addition during the period starting at the end of the Late Bronze Age and before 750 BC, they lost not only the ability to write (or better to record) but also to create narrative art: both images and the written worddisappeared from the archaeological record.

There was of course an interlude – although only a short one – in this gloomy post-palatial situation during the middle of the LH IIIC period when a few communities in the Aegean managed to reorganise themselves – though on a much smaller scale than before – and to re-establish communication with each other so that goods and ideas briefly travelled within and outside the area. But this did not last for long and by the end of the Late Bronze Age destruction and abandonment of settlements once more marks the archaeological record (Desborough 1964: 20, 228; Deger-Jalkotzy 1994: 14, 19–21; Lemos 1998: 45–8).

There is no doubt that for the next two generations life was not easy for the survivors, but towards the end of the Sub-Mycenaean period, some communities appear well established with organised cemeteries which belonged to permanent settlements, indicating that conditions were settled and gradually improving. Yet, we know that, with one exception, these communities did not produce any written evidence or many images (Lemos forthcoming b). Such images as there are in these areas consist of isolated figures of animals – usually horses and birds – which are mostly drawn in the more hidden areas of the vases, such as under the handles (Desborough 1952: 23–62; Kopcke 1977; Coldstream 1988; Papadopoulos 1990: 20–3). Only in Crete did figured decoration continue to appear at least on the pottery, and probably without a gap. Thus Crete – perhaps because of the strong Minoan tradition – is different from the rest of the Aegean (Coldstream 1988: 23–30).

In the past, one of the reasons for this lack was thought to be the fact that during this period Greek communities were in an isolation which brought with it artistic stagnation (Snodgrass 1971: 2; Desborough 1972: 15–16, 340, 353).