Defenses and Wealth
Mycenaean culture consisted of fortified city centers and surrounding farm settlements. There is some debate about how much power the main capital of Mycenae had over the other urban centers (and indeed, whether it was the "main" capital), but whether it ruled over or merely had a trading partnership with Pylos, Knossos and the other cities, the material culture––the stuff that archaeologists pay attention to––was essentially the same. By the late Bronze Age of around 1400 BC, the city centers were palaces or, more properly, citadels. Lavishly frescoed structures and gold grave goods argue for a strictly stratified society, with much of the wealth of the society in the hands of an elite few, consisting of a warrior caste, priests and priestesses, and a group of administrative officials, headed by a king. At several of the Mycenaean sites, archaeologists have found clay tablets inscribed with Linear B, a written language developed from a Minoan form. The tablets are primarily accounting tools, and their information includes rations provided to workers, reports on the local industries including perfume and bronze, and the support required for defense.And that defense was necessary is certain: The fortification walls were enormous, 8 m (24 ft) high and 5 m (15 ft) thick, built of huge, unworked limestone boulders which were roughly fitted together and chinked with smaller chunks of limestone. Other public architecture projects included roads and dams.
