Grains sans rois, rois sans grains? Réflexions sur la relation entre agriculture, stockage et sociétés hiérarchisées dans le monde égéen

The archaeological documentation of agricultural practices in the Aegean Bronze Age has made it possible to recognize a central role for staple storage facilities, especially those which quantitatively exceed the needs of a household. In this paper, some case studies are reviewed that highlight the hermeneutic potential of such a complex theme and show that it remains an open question. In fact, alternative explanations to the economic model of redistribution, suggested by Polanyi, emphasize on the one hand the role played by wetlands as food reserves for the first urban centers and, on the other hand, that the few Mycenaean granaries could suggest a situation of fragility, rather than power, at the end of the palatial age.