The 16th International Aegean Conference/Rencontre égéenne
internationale encompasses all the geographical regions west of the
Aegean (Western Mainland Greece, the Ionian islands and the Adriatic,
Italy, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic islands),
giving prominence to those focal points and traits of the local
civilizations which interact with their Aegean counterparts of the 3rd
and 2nd millennium BC, not excluding their Neolithic background.



Some of the issues for which HESPEROS opens the floor to discussion are
the nature of Mycenaean presence in Iberia, the spread of the early
technology of bronze across the Mediterranean, the expansion of
phenomena connected with the Cetina “culture”, the local productions and
the Mediterranean trade network of goods, such as the industry of amber,
glass and murex, the distribution of tumuli and their social
implications as monuments for the local elites, the lack of local
manufacture of Italo-Mycenaean pottery in Sicily, the nodal role of the
Balkans in a “connecting cultures” process, the documentation of
Cycladic elements as far away as the Ionian islands, and the aspects of
the metallurgical koine across the LBA Adriatic and the Aegean,
not neglecting the examination of “traditional” questions, such as the
nature of Mycenaean imports in Italy, the spread of matt-painted pottery
in the SW Balkans and the degree of “Mycenaeanization” of Epirus.