Funerary Pithoi in Bronze Age Crete
Their Introduction and Significance at the Threshold of Minoan Palatial Society
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7577018 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Giorgos Vavouranakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 197-222 |
| Publication date | 2014-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.3764/aja.118.2.0197 |
| OpenAlex | W2611416126 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 22 |
Toward the end of the third millennium B.C.E., Minoan funerary customs changed, and people began to favor the use of clay receptacles—pithoi or larnakes—for the bodies of the dead. This article offers a comprehensive study of the funerary pithoi of the period, comprising a review of the available material and its classification, distribution, and dating, the relation of container to tomb types, and the specific use of pithoi within funerary ritual. It also assesses the importance of pithoi as an investment in terms of the material wealth that they represent and the knowledge of the complex techniques of handling dead bodies that they require. Finally, it examines the symbolic connotations of the pithos and argues that its wide adoption was part of a general turn toward the concept of the regeneration of life. This concept shifted the emphasis of the funerary realm toward the social dimension—namely, toward the reallocation of the roles and resources of the dead among the living. Such a shift helped people come to terms with contemporary social reality and shaped the agency of emerging elites, which led to the establishment of the first Minoan palaces and transformed Crete from a series of kin-based communities to a group of proto-states
Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Beaker · Bronze Age · Period (music · Realm · Social science · Sociology · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History
Primary State Formation Processes on Bronze Age Crete
The Gathering
The long life of pithos burials during the Proto- and Neo-palatial period in Crete
Housing the Dead
Pithos Burials on the Greek Mainland during the Bronze Age
Volume 118 (2014) Index
A space for time
Too many secondary burials in Minoan Crete
The death of collective tombs in Middle Bronze Age Crete
The Rites of Passage
Feasts
The Prepalatial Cemeteries at Mochlos and Gournia and the House Tombs of Bronze Age Crete
Idéogrammes archéologiques non identifiés du Linéaire B
Chronique de fouilles
Recherches sur le peuplement des montagnes de Crète
Ληνοί Μινωικοί. Installations minoennes de traitement des produits liquides
The meaning of the built environment
Feasting and Fasting
Some Chronological Problems in the Middle Minoan Dark-on-Light Pottery of Eastern Crete
Excavations on the Island of Mochlos, Crete, in 1908
The Foundations of Palatial Crete
Culture and Communication
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,75 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2025 (12) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |