Knossos Monastiriako Kephali Tomb and ‘Deposit’

Edited by Laura Preston

City: London

Year: 2013

Publisher: British School at Athens

Series: BSA Studies 22

Description: Hardback, 125 p., 73 figs, 11 tables, 29,7x21 cm

Abstract

The archaeological sites on the Monastiriako Kephali hill analysed in this volume include the earliest known mortuary activity at the key Minoan centre of Knossos on the island of Crete. Two Bronze Age sites are presented, known as the ‘Tomb’ and the ‘Deposit’, originally excavated in the 1930s but until now never published in detail. The ‘Tomb’ represents the earliest known funerary site at Bronze Age Knossos, established in the late Prepalatial period and continuing in use until the Neopalatial. The function of the nearby ‘Deposit’ site is more ambiguous, but a mortuary interpretation is also possible for the phases contemporary with the ‘Tomb’, and is almost certain for the subsequent Late Minoan II–III era.

This volume presents the excavated material held principally in the Stratigraphical Museum at Knossos. The stone artefacts, human remains, faunal remains, glyptic material and ceramics are described and discussed by Don Evely, Rebecca Gowland, Valasia Isaakidou, Olga Krzyszkowska and Laura Preston respectively, and the sites are placed within the broader framework of Minoan mortuary practices at Knossos during the second millennium BC.

Contents

List of abbreviations [vii]
List of figures [ix]
List of tables [xii]
Preface [xiii]

1. Laura Preston, ‘Introduction’ [1-5]

2. Laura Preston, ‘The Monastiriako Kephali Tomb (Tl 1.1 and 1935/3): the archival, published, and material evidence’ [7-12]

3. Laura Preston, ‘The Monastiriako Kephali Tomb: the ceramic material and stratigraphy’ [13-53]

4. The Monastiriako Kephali Tomb: the non-ceramic material [55-73]

Don Evely, ‘The stone vases and worked stone’ [55-60]
Olga Krzyszkowska, ‘The seal’ [60-63]
Valasia lsaakidou, ‘The faunal material’ [63-67]
Laura Preston and Don Evely, ‘Other materials’ [67-68]
Rebecca Gowland, ‘The human skeletal remains’ [68-73]

5. The Monastiriako Kephali Deposit (1935/2 and 1935/4) [75-99]

Laura Preston, ‘The published, archival and material evidence’ [75]
Laura Preston, ‘The ceramic material’ [75-84]
Don Evely, ‘The stone material’ [84-99]
Laura Preston and Don Evely, ‘Other materials’ [99]

6. Laura Preston, ‘Conclusions’ [101-104]

Appendix A: Monastiriako Kephali Deposit Stratigraphical Museum box labels [105-111]
Appendix B: Monastiriako Kephali Deposit Stratigraphical Museum box labels [113-114]
Appendix C: Inventory of human skeletal material in the Tomb [115-117]

References [119-121]
Index [123-125]