Inaugurating the Court-Centred Building? A MM IIIB Feasting Deposit at Neopalatial Sissi, North-Central Crete
Ilaria Caloi
Recent excavations undertaken at Sissi, North-Central Crete, by the Belgian School at Athens uncovered parts of a court-centred building, whose function has been interpreted as largely ceremonial. In the east wing of this building, a Neopalatial deposit was found, comprising 176 entire and fragmentary objects. This deposit is very significant for two reasons. First, it is a closed and structured deposit assigned to the Middle Minoan IIIB phase, and hence its chronology is important in reconstructing both the local and North-Central Crete ceramic sequences. Second, the stratigraphic position of the deposit and the composition of the assemblage, including a high number of conical cups, two imports and ritual equipment, suggest that it is the result of ceremonial consumption. The pottery analysis has allowed to interpret it as a feasting deposit, resulting from a communal ceremonial event. In this paper, first the ceramic material of the deposit is presented, then the chronology and the function/s of the deposit are discussed. I will argue that the deposit constitutes a terminus ad quem for the construction date of the east wing of the court-centred building at Neopalatial Sissi.
Caloi I. 2018, Inaugurating the Court-Centred Building? A MM IIIB Feasting Deposit at Neopalatial Sissi, North-Central Crete, SMEA NS 4, 7-40.