The Linear B tablets from Knossos known as the Lc series record textile production targets for central and western Crete for a specific range of textiles called te-pa, pa-we-a, and tu-na-no. The production targets for wool textiles differed according to the groups assigned to fulfill the targets; these groups were designated according to ethnicity and occupation. A comparison of the total target for noncollector workers in central Crete with the individual targets suggests that the annual planned ta-rasi-ja production did not equal the mere sum of individual targets but constituted a predefined amount of cloth. This provides an answer to why only some places in Crete were submitted to the ta-ra-si-ja obligation; it also suggests that the target was only part of the textile-production obligations for work groups in Crete.
The Mycenaean Administration of Textile Production in the Palace of Knossos: Observations on the Lc(1) Textile Targets
By Marie-Louise B. Nosch
American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 115, No. 4 (October 2011), pp. 495–505
© 2011 Archaeological Institute of America