Ricerc@Sapienza

This volume has its origin in a similarly entitled session organised at the 24th Annual Meeting of the European
Association of Archaeologists in Barcelona in 2018. The specific aim of both the session and this volume was
to measure acceptance of, and resistance to, outside influences within Mediterranean coastal settlements
and their immediate hinterlands, with an open time range, but with a particular focus on the processes not
reflecting simple commercial routes, but taking place at an intercultural level, in situations of developed
connectedness. Following a general discussion of the theoretical and long-lasting facets of the discussion on
communication, and of some of the reasons for its unevenness, the contributions in the volume give a wide
and stimulating view of the ongoing debate about Mediterranean interaction and communication. The papers’
timespan is large: from the Late Neolithic of Crete, in the 5th - 4th millennium BCE, to the Macedonian
conquest of Thrace, in the 4th century BCE. Most contributions, however, focus on the Middle to Late Bronze
Ages, as this is a phase of particularly intense communication, which matches the interests and connections of
the editors. The geographic frame extends from the Central Mediterranean to Thrace, Cyprus and the Levant,
with an important focus on Crete and Mycenaean Greece. Other papers, more than specific areas, instead
discuss the figures of some of the actors of the intra-Mediterranean interregional communication, and the
nuances of their roles: warriors and merchants.