Mycenaean ‘gold-embroidery’ and questions of craftsmanship: a combined archaeological, archaeometric and experimental approach

This paper offers a combined archaeological, archaeometric and experimental approach to a demanding gold-working technique attested in Early Mycenaean Greece (seventeenth-fifteenth centuries BCE). The technique, known as ‘gold-embroidery’ consisted in the application of hundreds or thousands of tiny L-shaped gold bars (< 1 cm long) on the organic hilts and pommels of bronze daggers and swords for decorative purposes. The technique required exceptional skills and was used only for adorning prestigious weapons. It is encountered in some of the wealthiest tombs of the Aegean Bronze Age, including the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, several tholoi, the Griffin Warrior tomb at Pylos, etc. In this paper, emphasis is laid on the experimental reconstruction of the technique. The reconstruction has been based on microscopic observations and data acquired through archaeometric analysis. Our goal was to identify the various stages of manufacture. Particularly important was the creation of special tools, which helped us to deal with the minute size of the gold pieces and the delicate movements involved in this technique.