The Mycenaean palatial period can be compared to the peak of the Cretan Second Palace period of Late Minoan (LM) I, in terms of both its length and splendour. It lasts for around 150 years, from the appearance c.1350 bc of the palaces at Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Thebes until their disappearance c.1200 bc. In terms of relative chronology, it includes a first phase (Late Helladic (LH) IIIA2), defined by a ceramic style that comes to an end in the last third of the fourteenth century bc (M. Wiener, BSA 98, 2003, 239–50; D. Aston, in Gauss 2011, 1–12). The following phase (LH IIIB), which spans the thirteenth century bc, is itself subdivided in two parts (B1 and B2), separated by significant destructions, particularly at Mycenae and Tiryns. Around 1200 bc, the palaces are destroyed, never to be rebuilt; all signs of the existence of an administration (writing on tablets, sealings) disappear.