The rich corpus of Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy’s writings is devoted to a wide range of topics concerning the societies of early Greece from very different perspectives and with the help of all available sources. Her work begins with studies of Homeric forms of rulership, followed by her examination of Mycenaean Linear B texts on social structure and land ownership. Through the archaeological evidence she has approached the post-palatial period of Mycenaean Greece and has contributed in many studies to a fundamental understanding of this important transformative phase of the Bronze Age world into that of the Early Iron Age. This includes the study of two particular sites of this period (12th–10th century BC) advancing the knowledge of lesser-known regions. One is the late Mycenaean settlement on the Acropolis of Aigeira in the region of Achaia on the Corinthian Gulf, the other the Mycenaean chamber tomb cemetery at Elateia in Central Greece, where she worked together with Phanouria Dakoronia.

Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy has also been a prolific organiser of conferences (frequently together with other colleagues) that were dedicated to Linear B studies, the Late Helladic (LH) IIIC period of the 12th and early 11th century BC and the Early Iron Age (middle of the 11th to end of 8th century BC). Not only did she bring together renowned scholars in the field discussing current academic topics, but she also managed to publish the important volumes in a short time after the conferences and thus make them accessible to a broader academic public. She has co-organised also other conferences in her various prominent roles in the hierarchy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

We wish to make her rich oeuvre available to a broad public, who will certainly appreciate the open access. We have organised the writings of Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy into sections that cover the Late Bronze Age Aegean, Linear B, LH IIIC and the Early Iron Age, Aigeira, Elateia, editorship, and finally obituaries and laudations.

We would like to thank the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press for their cooperation and support and the various publishing houses for granting reproduction permits. Furthermore, we are grateful for the support of the OREA team, especially Bibiana Dernec for her support in obtaining publication rights as well as Natalie Savic and Valentin Jovanovic for generating the pdf-files.

Birgitta Eder and Ulrike Schuh
Vienna, 3rd Feb. 2020

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