The excavations by Klaus Kilian in the Lower Citadel of Tiryns between 1976 and 1983 led to a major reassessment of the Mycenaean postpalatial period (LH III C 12th/11th century BC. The postpalatial period was preceded by the late palatial period (LH III B2), which had ended at several sites in a destruction horizon. This was also the end of the Mycenaean palace system with its Linear B script, its sealing system and its specific social and economic structure. Kilian’s excavations in the Lower Citadel of Tiryns, however, led to the conclusion that LH III C was by no means a "dark age", but has to be regarded as an important historical era in southern Greece. Kilian’s well documented large-scale excavations yielded a whole series of settlement horizons, which are regarded as a “Leitstratigraphie” of the postpalatial period. Of particular importance is a sequence of cult buildings from LH III C.Tiryns Vol. 17.2 presents the architectural remains and the stratigraphy of the Lower Citadel between LH III C Early (middle) and LH III C Late, also the architectural remains and the stratigraphy of Kilian’s excavation in the Lower Town-Northwest (LH III C Early). The settlement horizons of the Lower Citadel and of the Lower Town-Northwest are reconstructed, the building techniques at the Lower Citadel and the Lower Town-Northwest are discussed. After offering a model for the development of the overall settlement at Tiryns between the late palatial period and the Early Iron Age, an evaluation of the economy is given. Integrated into this discussion were the available archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data. Finally, the site is compared with other settlements of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 12th and 11th century BC. The sites in the Argolid and the Corinthia - Mycenae, Midea, Asine and Korakou - are discussed in detail, the settlements of today’s Greece, Cyprus and the Turkish western coast are considered in an overview. Regarding Cyprus, Kilian’s theory that the LC III A settlements structurally show parallels to Tiryns in LH III C is picked up. weiterlesen