‘The Chicken or the Egg?’ Interregional Contacts Viewed Through a Technological Lens at L ate B ronze A ge T iryns, G reece

Summary This paper reviews the environmental circumstances of the ostrich and its eggs, in order to provide a geographical overview of past human usage and modification of ostrich eggshells in the A egean and, more specifically, at T iryns, while placing this craft in its contemporary context in the L ate B ronze A ge M editerranean basin. This ostrich shell evidence from T iryns is contextualized and analysed through the approach of the chaîne opératoire in order to understand the material in the framework of T iryns' L ate B ronze A ge craft activities, and within the L ate B ronze A ge A egean network of contacts that brought this material to T iryns in the first place.