Archaeologies of Cult: Essays on Ritual and Cult in Crete

Edited by Anna Lucia D’Agata, Aleydis van de Moortel & M.B. Richardson

City: Princeton

Year: 2009

Publisher: American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Series: Hesperia Supplement 42

Description: Paperback, xxix & 321 p., b/w ill., maps, tables, 28x21,5 cm

Abstract

Twenty-five years after Colin Renfrew’s seminal book, The Archaeology of Cult, was published, the study of ritual and religion in Crete remains one of the most vital and debated areas of research in Old World prehistory. For the present volume, 25 specialists in the archaeology of the island have been invited to bring the subject up to date. Their multivocalist discourse ranges in time from the Bronze to the Iron Age and includes, in five diverse sections, unpublished finds, theoretically-informed discussion of ritual behavior, and innovative reconstructions of sacred landscapes.

Contents

List of illustrations

List of tables

Foreword by James D. Muhly

Preface by Aleydis Van de Moortel and Anna Lucia D’Agata

Biography of Geraldine C. Gesell, by M.B. Richardson

Bibliography of Geraldine C. Gesell

Anna Lucia D’Agata, ‘Introduction: How many archaeologies of cult?’ [1-8].

PART I: RITUAL AND RELIGION

Joanne M.A. Murphy, ‘Gods in the house? Religious rituals in the settlements of south central Crete’ [11-17].

Eleni Hatzaki, ‘Structured deposition as ritual action at Knossos’ [19-30].

Pascal Darcque & Aleydis Van de Moortel, ‘Special, ritual, or cultic: A case study from Malia’ [31-41].

John G. Younger, ‘Tree tugging and omphalos hugging on Minoan gold rings’ [43-47].

Lucy Goodison, ‘“Why all this about oak or stone?”: Trees and boulders in Minoan religion’ [51-57].

Anaya Sarpaki, ‘Harvest rites and corn dollies in the Bronze Age Aegean’ [59-67].

PART II: PLACES OF CULT

Jean-Claude Poursat, ‘Cult activity at Malia in the Protopalatial period’ [71-78].

T.F. Cunningham & L.H. Sackett, ‘Does the widespread cult activity at Palaikastro call for a special explanation?’ [79-97].

Lucia Alberti, ‘Rethinking the Tomb of the Double Axes at Isopata, Knossos’ [99-106].

Birgitta P. Hallager, ‘Domestic shrines in Late Minoan IIIA2-Late Minoan IIIC Crete: Fact or fiction?’ [107-120].

Metaxia Tsipopoulou, ‘Goddesses for “Gene”? The Late Minoan IIIC shrine at Halasmenos, Ierapetra’ [121-136].

Leslie Preston Day, ‘Ritual activity at Karphi: A reappraisal’ [137-151].

Nancy L. Klein & Kevin Τ. Glowacki, ‘From Kavousi Vronda to Dreros: Architecture and display in Cretan cult buildings’ [153-167].

PART III: RITUAL OBJECTS

Philip P. Betancourt, ‘Additions to the corpus of Early Cretan figurines: Was there a nude goddess in Early Minoan Crete?’ [171-178].

Christine Morris, ‘Configuring the individual: bodies of figurines in Minoan Crete’[179-187].

George Rethemiotakis, ‘A Neopalatial shrine model from the Minoan peak sanctuary at Gournos Krousonas’ [189-199].

Gerald Cadogan, ‘Tubular stands in Neopalatial Crete’ [201-212].

Iphiyenia Tournavitou, ‘Does size matter? Miniature pottery vessels in Minoan peak sanctuaries’ [213-230].

Mieke Prent, ‘The survival of the goddess with upraised arms: Early Iron Age representations and contexts’ [231-238].

PART IV: SACRED LANDSCAPES

Jennifer Moody, ‘Environmental change and Minoan sacred landscapes’ [241-249].

Alan Peatfield, ‘The topography of Minoan Peak sanctuaries revisited’ [251-259].

Steven Soetens, ‘Juktas and Kophinas: Two ritual landscapes out of the ordinary’ [261-268].

Lucia Nixon, ‘Investigating Minoan sacred landscapes’ [269-275].

PART V: CONTINUITY IN CONTEXT

James Whitley, ‘The Chimera of continuity: What would “continuity of cult” actually demonstrate?’ [279-288].

References

Index