The Late Minoan II-IIIAi warrior graves at Knossos: the burial assemblages

Author(s): Lucia Alberti

Reviewed work(s):
Source: British School at Athens Studies, Vol. 12, KNOSSOS: PALACE, CITY, STATE (2004), pp.
127-136
Published by: British School at Athens
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960771 .
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The Late MinoanII-IIIAi warrior

gravesat
Knossos:theburialassemblages
Lucia Alberti
The purposeof thisstudyis to comparethefunerary
of theLate MinoanII-IIIAi necropoleis
assemblages
orslightly
earatKnossoswiththosein contemporary
the
liertombson theMainland.1The aimis toidentify
on
features
of theassemblages
intrinsic
Crete
present
in thisphase,and to determine
whether
thesetombs
areindeedinsomewaysimilartotheMainlandtombs.
HereI shallfocuson theassociations
between
theitems
in theassemblages,
in particular,
thepottery
and shall
touchonlybriefly
on thearchitectural
features
of the
tombsthemselves.
THE LATE MINOAN NECROPOLEIS AT
KNOSSOS
The Late Minoannecropoleis
at Knossosaresituated
aroundthePalacewithina radiusof 2 km(Hood and
Smyth1981, 13, fig. 3; Alberti 1999, 167, n. 2;
Grammatikaki
1993).Most of themwereestablished
in LM II, somebeingusedonlyforabouttwogenerations,untilLM II orLM IIIAi, othersuntilLM IIIB,
andperhaps
a fewuntilthebeginning
ofLM IIIC. Some
tombsfromMavroSpilio,Gypsadesand Ailias,howtheMiddle
ever,werecutin,andhadbeeninusefrom,
Minoanperiod.Therearea fewMiddleMinoantombs
in thenecropolis
ofMavroSpilio,whichwillbe dealt
withlater.The necropolisof Gypsades(Hood and
containsonlyone MM
Smyth1981. 331), however,
tomb(Hood etal 1959,220-4),a^ theothersbelonging to LM III, whileit seemsthatthenecropolisof
Ailiasceasedtobeinuseafter
MM HI (HoodandSmyth
1981. 257) andso willnotbe analysedhere.
I shallalso lookat theKatsambasnecropolissituatednearto thepresumedsiteoftheKnossosharbour
becauseitis relatively
closetothePalace,andthecontentsof thetombshavean important
bearingon this
discovered
study(Alexiou1967,1970).The recently
tombsin thenearbycoastalarea,however,
whichcontainrichassemblages
andweapons,
including
jewellery
willnotbe examined
herebecausetheyhavebeendated
toLM I, andtherefore
do notcomewithin
thescopeof
thispaper(Muhly1992;Dimopoulou1999),although
theirdiscovery
hasconsiderably
changedourframeof
reference.
I shalldiscussonlytheLM II-IIIAi tombswithin
- about50 outofa totalofsome
thesenecropoleis
170

intheKnossosarea- omitting
themonumental
tombs,
and
make
ofdating,
whichproblems
plundering scarcity
forthiscomparison.
Of these50,1shalltake
unsuitable
a morehomogeneous
groupof 30 whichdisplayevidenceofsimilar
burialpractices.
The groupis alsolimitedbythenecessity
toincludeonlytombswhichhave
a similar
andstateofconchronology,
typeofstructure
andexcavation.
servation
Thatthereareonly30 should
notcomeas a surprise.
We mustnotforget
that,apart
fromtheZaferPapouracemetery
(Hood and Smyth
1981. 36) of 100tombs,50 ofwhichwerefoundcomtheKnossiannecropoleis
consistofvery
pletelyempty,
smallgroupsof tombs(fourin Sellopoulo,sevenin
Isopata,etc.),andsomescattered
singletombs,likethe
Acropolistomb(Hood and Smyth1981.149).In addiandmostwere
tion,mostofthemhavebeenplundered,
excavated
in theearly1900s.
The Isopatacemetery
hasa totalofeighttombs(ininT 1andtheso called"Isocludingthetwochambers
latedDeposit",ifit is a tomb),sevenofwhichbelong
toLM II-IIIAi (TABLE8.5). Sellopoulohastwooutof
four,
AyiosIoannistwo(Hood anddeJong1952;Hood
four.
Andoutofa totalof21tombs,
1956),theVenizeleio
Gypsadeshas onlytwo,to whichtwootherscan perhapsbe added,fromtheperiodbetweenLM IIIAi and
IIIA2. ZaferPapourais a specialcase:almostall ofthe
could
50tombswhichwerenotfoundcompletely
empty
be datedto LM IIIA2-IIIB, and onlya fewseemedto
datebacktothepreviousperiod;butresearch
byEleni
whom
I
thank
for
this
communicaHatzaki,
personal
tion,seemstoindicateanearlierdate,thatis LM IIIAi .
Then we havetheisolatedtombdiscoveredbyEvans
ontheAcropolis,
theonepublished
and
byHutchinson,
theKatsambascemetery
ofsixLM II-IIIAi
consisting
tombsoutofthetotalofeight.

I wishto thanktheBritishSchool at Athens,who made it possible forme to presentmy researchon this occasion and allowed me to study,in particular,the Mavro Spilio cemetery.
Special thanksalso go to those who, in our discussions over
thepast fewyears,have givenme preciousadvice and suggestions, and in particularClaudia Rutherford,who revised the
English textwithgreatcompetenceand dedication.

128

LUCIAALBERTI

of
withtheearlierMinoantradition
whichcontrasts
tombswithmultipledepositionsdatingback to the
and theMesaratholoi.In
MiddleMinoannecropoleis
Beforewe look in detailat the assemblagesin these
at Knossosall show
tombs
Middle
Minoan
the
fact,
discussthearchitectural tracesofre-useover
tombs,we shouldfirst
briefly
exceptfora few
manygenerations,
theLM II-HIAi tombs
whichdistinguish
differences
suchas the
to
rareexamplessubject specificsituations,
fromthosethatprecededthem.The MavroSpilioneof
Mavro
vault
SpilioT.
collapseduringMM HI ofthe
cropolis(Hood and Smyth1981. 251) servesas a good
(Forsdyke1927,259).
6, whichsealedoffthecontents
cutbeforethe
as itwasfirst
illustration
ofthecontrast,
is lackingforMavro
An exacttallyof thedepositions
Late Minoanperiod(Forsdyke1927). The materials
tombsundoubtedly
multi-chamber
its
Spilio,
although
- those
databletoLM II-HIAi arenotverynumerous
as is clearfromtheburialassemblages,
contained
many,
fromLM IIIA2-IHB certainly
prevail.Unfortunately, thenumberof larnakesand thefewremainsof skelLM II- IIIAi vases,notpublishedby
someinteresting
etonsrecordedat thetimeof theexcavation
(Charles
andnowintheStratigraphical
Museum,canForsdyke
Ailias,too,is an interesting
example:in
85-94).
1965,
Howeveratleast
notbe ascribedtoanytombatpresent.
werefound,manyof
one tombmorethan50 skeletons
fourtombswerein use in LM II-HIAi, and fouroththeminjarsorlarnakes
1954,166),
(CookandBoardman
of
erseitherattheendofLM IIIAi oratthebeginning
or heapedup almostas if to makepartsof thetomb
LM IIIA2.
ofthe
as in thesmallantechambers
looklikeossuaries,
whichis stillin progress, Mesaratholoi.
Analysisof thematerial,
here
tombsdiscovered
thatthemulti-chamber
indicates
theappearanceofthenew
Againstthisbackground,
often
and
were
Minoan
to
the
Middle
period,
belong
contrastas
Knossiannecropoleisprovidesa striking
withits
re-used.The single-chamber
tomb,however,
mostof thetombscontainonlyone deposition,and
dromosoftencharacterised
by inward hardlyanyof themhas morethanfourdepositions
perpendicular
of
at
Mavro
started
to
Spilioonlyat
appear
slopingwalls,
hasbeeninterpreted
thesamedate.Thisnewprocedure
ofLM II, or perhapsat theendofLM
thebeginning
bysomescholarsas evidenceof an actualMycenaean
IB.
tothis
atKnossosfromthisperiod.According
presence
tombtypeto the
The datingof themulti-chamber
Palof
the
control
had
taken
either
Mycenaeans
theory,
MiddleMinoanperiodis also confirmed
by theMM
mercenarhad
Knossos
the
rulers
at
ace or
Mycenaean
intheAiliasnecropolis,2
andbythe
II- III assemblages
iesintheirservice(Pophametal. 1974,255-7).Others
newlydiscoveredtombsat Poros.It seems,therefore, haveinterpreted
thesenewburialpracticesas merely
tombswitha commonentrance the
thatthemulti-chamber
Mainland
customs(Niemeier1985,
adoptionof
areofMinoanorigin.Therearetombsofthesametype
255)foundon Kytheradated to LM I (Coldstreamand
I am notgoingto arguehereforor againsteitherof
to makeit clearat
Huxley1972),but it is important
istolookobjectively
theseinterpretations.
Myintention
thispointthatthe tombson Cyprus,thatare someat theassociations
and particularly
at theassemblages,
areonlyapas a usefulcomparison,
timesmentioned
betweenobjectsin theCretantombs,and to compare
and areactuallystructurally
verydifsimilar,
parently
theresultswiththeirMainlandcounterparts.
ferent
(Pini 1968,figs.32-3).
tombsfoundon theMainThe fewmulti-chamber
THE KNOSSIAN BURIAL ASSEMBLAGES
from
theMinoan
different
features
landhavecompletely
from
Crete.The
andtheirshapecannotoriginate
tombs,
We can dividethe Knossiantombsintotwo groups
chamberstendto havea quite regularquadrangular basedon their
The cemand chronology.
assemblages
is alwaysperpendicular eterieswithtombs
shape,andthesecondchamber
toLM IIIAi andcontinuing
dating
Evenwhentherearethreechamtotheaxisofthefirst.
intothe subsequentperiods,such as Gypsadesand
berswitha singledromosanda largecentralchamber,
different
ZaferPapoura,containcompletely
probably
(Niemeier gravegoodswithdifferent
theyaresituatedaxiallyandperpendicularly
fromwhatwe
associations
tombson
1985,206-7,fig-69). In themulti-chamber
inLM II andcontinued
thatstarted
findinnecropoleis
thechambersalmostlooklikeartifi- untilLM
Crete,however,
HIA2atlatest,
suchas KatsambasandIsopata.
ciallyenlargednaturalcaves:theyhavean irregular The twogroupscan be distinguished
mostclearlyby
shape,buttendtobe roundandradiatefromtheantetombs
is characof
The
later
thepottery
group
shapes.
The dromosis usuallyvery
chamberor theentrance.
terisedby typesof vases such as stirrupjars,sideshort(Forsdyke1927,256,fig.8, 265,fig.19).
spoutedjars,shallowcups,spoutedcups,withnewasIn additionto the newsinglechambertombs,anbetweenthem,whiletypessuchas alabastra
sociations
otherpossiblenew elementis the appearancein the
at Knossos,thoughprobablyin a slightly
necropoleis
than
albeitfarfewer
laterphase,ofshaftandpitgraves,
thechambertombs.
2
I should liketo thankSinclair Hood forgivingme access to all
the documentationconcerningthe Ailias necropolis and for
Thesenewtypesoftombsarecharacterised
bya low
his kindnessin discussingit withme.
to
three
one
from
numberof depositions,
usually

MIDDLE MINOAN BURIAL PRACTICES AND

THE LM II-IIIA1 TOMBS

THE LA TE MINOAN II-IIIAl WARRIORGRAVES A T KN OSSOS

and piriform
jars,whichmarktheearliernecropoleis,
arelesscommon.
I shallnotdiscussthelaternecropoleis
cutfromthe
endofLM HIA1,butconsiderinmoredepththegroup
to LM II-IIIAi. A
oftombswhichbelongexclusively
goodexampleof thistypeof burialassemblageis the
tombexcavated
byHutchinson
(1956;Hood andSmyth
1981. 324), whichis one of therichestdiscoveredat
Knossos,andwhichcontainsmanytypesofitemsalso
foundinotherassemblages.
It hasa largegroupofvessels,includinga piriform
jar,somejugs and a kylix,
twosquatalabastra,a tallalabastron,
stonevases,the
cup madeof goldand silverwhichgavethetombits
stonevase and a
name,a pin,a smallcuirass-shaped
sword.The tablelistingtheitems(TABLE8.1) shows
thelargenumberofclayvessels,an elementnotalways
in Knossiantombs,andin particular
theprespresent
enceofthepiriform
and
jar,alabastra,
kylix jugs,four
of
vessels
often
associated
with
braziersin other
types
tombs.This is obviouslyone of the many"warrior
graves"fromthisperiod.The firstpersonto use the
termwasSinclairHood in the1950s,as he mentioned
duringtheConference.
Althoughthisdefinition
may
bemisleading,
ithasnowbecometraditional,
as ithighlightsin a phrasetheparticular
importance
givento
theweaponsin thewarrior
gravesfromtheendofthe
LM IB period,and thesameappliesto bronzeitems,
vases,inthe"graveswithbronzes".Wemust
especially
thatit is merelya defialwayskeepin mind,however,
nitionofconvenience.
In factinall periods,therewere
probablywarriorsin Aegeansocietyor people who
mighthavewantedtobe buriedas such,witha greater
orlesserdegreeofemphasis
on themilitary.
Thisseems
to be borneoutbytheassemblages
withweaponsand
foundin Porosand thedistribution
jewellery
recently
of weaponsin AyiaTriada and PhaistosfromEarly
Minoanto Late Minoan(La RosaandMilitello1999).

METHODOLOGY
ForthisanalysisI havelaidoutall theitemsin a table,
as hasalreadybeendoneforthistypeoftomb(KilianDirlmeier1985,1988;PoyatoHolgado and Vasquez
Hoys 1996)and as is a commonmethodin studiesof
ItalianBronze Age archaeology.
Kilian-Dirlmeier's
studygaveparticular
emphasistotheweaponsandjewin orderto tryto definethe
elleryin theassemblages
socialstatusof thedead person.Withthesamepurpose,PoyatoHolgadoandVasquezHoysentered
allthe
elements
of thetombs- tombshape,items,number
ofdepositions,
date- intoa database,whichdemonstrated
thehighvariability
oftheassemblages.
Herewecansee thatothertypesofitemsfurnish
us
withmoreinformation,
in particular
thepottery
vases
whichuntilnowhavenotbeengivenas muchattention
as themorevaluableobjects.As thevariability
of obis veryhigh,especially
jectsin theassemblages
forthe
pottery
(indeedwe oftenhaveshapesofvase,or other

129

objects,whichoccuronlyonce in themanyKnossian
tombs),I haveselectedtheitemswhichoccurmostfreIn fact,froma methodological
quently.
pointofview,it
wasnecessary
first
ofall tocategorise
as one typevases
oftengivendifferent
names,buthavinga similarfunction.For examplea set of drinking
vessels(goblets,
champagne
glasses,stemmed
cups)hasbeendefinedas
The sameappliesto piriform
kylikes.
jars,whichincludethree-handled
jarsandPalaceStylejars.In addition,all thedifferent
typesof jugs havebeencategorisedas one singlegroup.

Table 8.1: Knossos LM II-IIIAi warrior

graves:Hutchinson'sTomb assemblage.
HUTCHINSON'S TOMB
Tomb
Depositions
POTTERY
Piriform
Jar
Alabastron
Kylix
Jug
Brazier
Cup
Othertypes
BRONZES
Sword
Dagger
Spearhead
Arrowheads
Knife
Razor
Otherweapons
Vase
Otherbronzes
JEWELLERY
Beads
Ring
Pin
Seal
Kylix
STONE VASES
Bowl
Jar
Alabastron
Othertypes
TRACES of WOOD
Bier/Larnax
Box

Chamber
2/3

LUCIA ALBERTI

130

forthe weapons,we can see thatthe occurrenceof importantpieces, like the sword,is associated witha low
quantityof pottery,and this,too, is in common with
many of the Knossian tombs - the large groups of
theweapons,
bronzesin general,and mostimportantly
not
vases.
It
is
certainthat
are associatedwithfewclay
the traces of wood found here come frombiers or
larnakes;theycould be fromsmallboxes or containers.
If we look at the Katsambas cemetery(TABLE 8.3),
wheresix out of eighttombsbelong to LM II-IIIAi,
thepictureis completelydifferent
(Alexiou 1967, 1970).
There are practicallyno weapons, unless we want to
consider the two knivesfound in Tombs B and E as
such. The bronzes, too, are far fromnumerous,particularlycomparedto otherKnossian tombs.Here the

THE ASSEMBLAGES
to some
I shalladdressin particularthetablesreferring
In
five
tombs
of the more significantnecropoleis. all,
were discoveredat the Venizeleio (Hood and Smyth
1981. 71), fourof whichdated to LM II-HIAi (TABLE
8.2). There are threesingle-chambertombswithperpendicular dromos, and one shafttomb. Two of the
chambertombs contain two burials each. In this necropolis thereis quite a large numberof clay vessels,
togetherwithmainlyweapons,bronze itemsand seals.
elementis
But, of all thematerials,themostsignificant
the pottery.In factthe frequencyof alabastra,associated with piriformjars, kylikes,jugs and braziers,is
notable.Other typesof vessels are less numerous.As

Table 8.2: Venizeleio assemblages.

VENIZELEIO

T. 1

T. 2

Tomb
Depositions

Chamber
2

Shaft
1

POTTERY
Piriform
Jar
Alabastron
Kylix
Jug
Brazier
Cup
Othertypes
BRONZES
Sword
Dagger
Spearhead
Arrowheads
Knife
Razor
Otherweapons
Vase
Otherbronzes
JEWELLERY
Beads
Ring
Othertypes
Seal
Vase
STONE VASES
Bowl
Jar
Alabastron
Othertypes
TRACES of WOOD
Bier/Larnax
Box

Chamber
1?

Chamber
2

T. 5

T. 3

schistfrag.

?
(ivoryfrag.)

THE LATE MINOANII-IIIAl WARRIOR

GRAVESAT KNOSSOS

13 1

Table 8.3: Katsambas assemblages.

KATSAMBAS
Tomb
Depositions

POTTERY

Piriform
Jar
Alabastron
Kylix
Jug
Brazier
Cup
Othertypes

T. A
Chamber
61

T. B
Chamber

T. T

T. A

Chamber
1222

Chamber

T. E
Chamber

T. Z
Chamber

BRONZES

Sword
Dagger
Spearhead
Arrowheads
Knife
Razor
Otherweapons
Vase
Otherbronzes

JEWELLERY
Beads
Ring
Othertypes
Seal
Vase

STONE VASES
Bowl
Jar
Alabastron
Othertypes
TRACES of WOOD
Bier/Larnax
Box

obsidianfrag.

themajority
oftheitems,and in at
pottery
represents
leastfourcasesoutof six,we havetheclassicassociationbetween
and/orkylikes
and
piriform
jars,alabastra
itis important
tonotethetracesof
jugs.In Katsambas,
woodfrombiersor larnakesin all thetombs.We can
bed-sizedprintwas
safely
saythisbecausea rectangular
discovered
there.In at leastone case,itwasnotedthat
thewoodmusthavebeenpaintedblue.The tracesof
woodwerenotfoundin all Knossiantombs.This may
be duetothefactthatthetraceswerenotnoticedatthe
ofthe1900s,orthattheyhadnotbeenprebeginning
served,orperhapssometombsdid notcontainthem.
The necropolis
ofSellopoulohasfourtombs(Hood
andSmyth1981.28-9). Tombs1 and2 wereexcavated

#9

##
(ivoryfrag.)

in the 1970s,but havenotbeen published.Fromthe

briefnotesin Archaeological
Reportsthe two tombs,
whichwerefoundplundered,belongto the second
groupdatedto LM IIIA2 ( Hood 1958,24-5). Tombs
whichhavebeenfullypublished,
3 and4, however,
are
LM II-IIIAi (Pophametal 1974;TABLE8.4). T. 3 was
foundpartlyplundered,
whileT. 4 wasintactandcontainedthreeseparatedepositions,
eachofwhichhadits
ownassemblage.
Bothtombsarecharacterised
bya very
richandunusualsetofbronzeitems,andin particular
bya veryhighnumberofbronzevasesin comparison
to otherKnossiantombs,whichveryrarelycontained
so greatan accumulation
of themetal.We mustnot
thata veryhighpercentage
forget,
of tombs
however,

LUCIA ALBERTI

132

Table 8.4: Sellopoulo assemblages.

SELLOPOULO
Tomb
Depositions
POTTERY
Piriformjar
Alabastron
Kylix
Jug
Brazier
Cup
Othertypes

T. 3
Chamber
?

Sword
Dagger
Spearhead
Arrowheads
Knife
Razor
Otherweapons
Vase
Otherbronzes

JEWELLERY
Beads
Ring
Othertypes
Seal
Vase

T. 4 (III)

Chamber
11

BRONZES

T. 4 (II)

T. 4 (I)

(
(

?)
?)

STONE VASES
Bowl
Jar
Alabastron
Othertypes
TRACES of WOOD
Bier/Larnax
Box

at Knossos werefoundplundered.The potteryvessels

are not verynumerous,but belong to thetypesconsidered characteristicof this group: T. 3 contained two
piriformjars,fourkylikesand a jug; depositionI in T
4 had a jug, a shallowbowl, a small piriformjar,a kylix
and, probably,a conical cup and others two kylikes;
depositionsII and III containedonlyone clayvase each.
The Isopata necropolis (Evans 1914; Hood and
ifin a
Smyth198 1. 1) displaysthesame characteristics,
less homogeneousway (TABLE 8.5). Only fiveout of
seven tombscontainone or more of the threeceramic

shapes, i.e. piriformjars, alabastraand kylikes,along

withothertypeswhichare hardlyeverpresentin other
Knossian assemblages.The most significanttomb of
thegroup,however,theTomb oftheDouble Axes,contains a classic assemblage,withmanyceramic vessels,
jars,one alabastron,one
amongwhichare fourpiriform
and
one
brazier
one "ritual" goblet
three
jugs,
kylix,
with lid, besides weapons, jewellery and a steatite
rhyton.This tombis likelyto have belonged to a high
rankingperson, to judge fromits monumentalarchitecture:it had been cut out of the rock and had traces

GRAVESAT KNOSSOS
THE LATEMINOANII-IIIAl WARRIOR

133

Table 8.5:Isopataassemblages.
ISOPATA

Isolated

T. 1

T. iA

Tomb
Depositions

?
?

Chamber
?

Chamber
?

POTTERY
Piriformjar
Alabastron
Kylix
Jug
Brazier
Cup
Othertypes
BRONZES
Sword
Dagger
Spearhead
Arrowheads
Knife
Razor
Otherweapons
Vase
Otherbronzes

T. 3

T. 4

T. 5

Chamber
?

Chamber
?

Chamber
i

T. 6

Chamber
"2"

Ring
Othertypes
Seal
Vase

Jar
Alabastron
Othertypes

Chamber
i

JEWELLERY
Beads

STONE VASES
Bowl

T. 2
(Double
Axes)

Deposit

#
#

TRACES of WOOD
Bier/Larnax
Box

ofa vault,as wellas a centralpillar,benchesanda doubleaxe shapedcistdugin thefloor.Thereweremany

havereligiousor cultsignifisymbolswhichprobably
cance:thedoubleaxe(besidestheshapeofthecist,three
bronzedoubleaxes werefound),thepillarwithcolumninrelief,
anda strange
vesselperhapsusedinrituals,as itsformdoes notseemto suggestanypractical
use.
T. 5 is also highlysignificant,
to judgefromitsexfinds:twoverylargetin-covered
traordinary
alabastra,
a jug(alsowithtin),a brazierandfourpolychrome
gob-

letswithfigure
ofeightshapedhandles.The onlypossible comparison to the goblets might be some
undecorated
vasesfoundin thePalaceofZakros(HM
!3927>x3993-8,14006-7).Although
theyhavethesame
andidentical8-shapedhandles,theyalsohavea
profile
sortof inner"strainer"witha largecentralholesurroundedbyslightly
smallerholesjustbelowtherim,as
insomemodernflower
vases.Thistombhadbeenplundered,too,and apartfromthepottery
onlya simple
bronzeringwas found.If we believethatthesevases
weremeant,atthetimeofthefuneral,
tolooklikemetal

134

LUCIAALBERTI

vases- silveror evengolddependingon themelting madea selectionalongthesamelinesfromthetombs

at Athens.
processused (Gillis 1990, 28)3 - theirpresenceis
The fourtombsof Prosymna
containmanyburials
As
are
of
Minoan
origin
highlysuggestive. thegoblets
In theAthens
vessels.
a highnumberof
whilethealabastrabelongto
in shapeand decoration,
and,therefore,
fromthemainland,we
theceramictradition
tombs,however,
apartfromT. 7, thenumberofburials
deriving
lower.Fromtombswithand withoutweapMinoan
is slightly
intermediate
between
haveinT. 5 anassemblage
from ons,themoststriking
and Mycenaeanburialcustoms.The assemblage
thingwe noticeis thatthereis
ofpottery
T. 4
thesameassociation
T. 3 includesonlyone clayvase- an alabastron;
typesas atKnossos,that
twopiriform
contained
jugs and drinking
is, piriform
jars,alabastra,kylikes,
jarsandthreealabastra;andT.
vessels.
a doublevaseandfragments
ofa poly6 onealabastron,
theIsopata
As we haveseen in thevariousassemblagesat the
chromevase.Heretoo,therefore,
although
between
thereare differences
Knossiancemeteries,
is distinctly
unusual,themostcommonvescemetery
andAthens,too,likethemarkedprevalence
selsareonceagainpiriform
jars,alabastraandbraziers, Prosymna
atProsymna,
versusthealmosttoofcupsoverkylikes
we
whilsttheleastcommonare kylikes.
Accordingly,
tal absenceof cups at Athens.There are also differtheLM IIcan statethat,despitesome differences,
and theCretanassemencesbetweenthesecemeteries
III A1 necropoleis
at Knossosarecharacterised
bysinof
forexampleis
absence
The
total
all
of
which
contain
braziers,
tombs,
blages.
assemblages
gle-chamber
as theyarea typicalMinoanfeature
inwhichthereis a strongassociation
betweenpiriform highlysignificant,
inCretanburialsprevioustotheLM II period.
withtheoccasionaladdition present
jars,alabastraandkylikes,
Whatis alsolackingin theMainlandtombsis tracesof
ofbraziersand jugs.
wood(exceptforT. 40 at Athens),butthismightsimor hastyexcavaplybe theresultof bad preservation
THE LH II-IIIA1 BURIAL ASSEMBLAGES ON
Butdespitethese
tion.Stonevasesarealsolesscommon.
THE MAINLAND
and thepresenceof othervase shapeson
differences
ofthevesselsin eachtomb
theMainland,themajority
withother
Atthispointletus trytomakea comparison
the
to
our
main
jars,alabastra,
types: piriform
belongs
andburialcustoms.As faras weknow,not
necropoleis
totheassemblages
andjugsthatarefundamental
kylikes
to thisperiod
manytombshavebeenfoundbelonging
at Knossos.
oftheLM II-HIAi necropoleis
totheMaintorefer
onCrete.It is,therefore,
necessary
were
thosewithwhichcomparisons
land cemeteries,
warrior
ofthefirst
madeatthetimeofdiscovery
graves. CONCLUSION
I
use
the
same
To simplify
systemas
comparisons,
and chronoI havetriedto emphasisethestructural
burial
to
illustrate
the
with
tables
assemblages.
above,
andLate
Minoan
the
Middle
between
differences
Here too,we are dealingwithmostlysinglechamber logical
to
chambers
from
the
Minoan
tombs:
multiple
changes
dromosand inwardsloping
tombswithperpendicular
to
one
from
and
multipledepositions
walls,as atKnossos.In TABLE8.6,1haveselectedtombs singlechambers,
intheassemblages
tofourpertomb,andthedifferences
fromthe necropoleis of Athens and Prosymna
two
in
the
same
amongtheceramic
periods,especially
(Immerwahr
1971;Biegen 1937),mostof whichare
the
In
items.
fact,despite emphasisgiveninthepastto
datedto thesameperiodas theKnossiancemeteries,
in
graves,themethodI haveused
weapons thewarrior
and as other
earlier.For clarity,
and a fewto slightly
on
of
focussing groupsof vaseshapesoccuringin the
with
above,havedealtspecifically
studies,mentioned
results.
Wecanseethatthe
seemstogivegreater
tombs
themorepreciousitems,onlythepresenceor lackof
associatedwith
Knossos
vessel
at
common
most
types
dewillbe indicatedhere,omitting
armsor jewellery
as
are
the
same
types thosefoundin
preciousobjects
tails(forwhichsee Kilian-Dirlmeier
1985,1988).This
where
Mainland
cemeteries,
theywereinuseinthesame
of thistypeareactuis onlya sample,as assemblages
andweremuchmorewideif
not
earlier,
slightly
period,
allyverycommonon theMainland.Theycan also be
that
in
must
notforget,
than
Crete.
We
however,
spread
found,forexample,in thechambertombsofMycenae
from
the
items
some
Knossian
tombs
contain
the
purely
and Dendra,in Attica,and elsewhere(Alberti1999,
likebraziers,or typescommonto
Minoantradition,
172-3)bothMinoansand Mycenaeans.Neithermustwe forhasmanytombsdatingover
The Prosymna
cemetery
getthemanyotherchangesthattookplaceat Knossos
ingroupsovera largearea.
a broadperiodanddispersed
their andin theAegeanin thisperiod.
thestateinwhichtheywerediscovered,
Therefore,
theassemblages
and ourabilityto identify
chronology
insideeachtomb,areveryvaried.ForthisreasonI have
selectedhereonlya fewexampleswhich,fromthepoint
At presentwe can say thattin-coveredvases firstappeared in
3
canprovidea more
ofviewofdatingandpreservation,
Knossian cemeteriesin MM III/LM I, withone conical cup
moreassemblages
eventhough
in Mavro Spilio T. 9 - in otherwords,beforetheyappeared
meaningful
comparison,
I
have
on the Mainland.
features
werefoundinthiscemetery.
withsimilar

777 7 MINOANII-IIIA1 WARRIOR

GRAVESA T KNOSSOS

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136

LUCIAALBERTI

So, althoughwe are not yetable to answerthe questionofwhowas buriedin thewarriorgravesofKnossos,

we are able to say thatthe similaritiesbetweenMainland and Knossian cemeteriesareundeniablyclose. Not
only do the Cretan tombs display typicallyMainland
assemblagesbut theyare also cut accordingto Mainland traditionwhich,froma culturalpoint of view,is
veryimportant.Even iftheseburialpracticesaremerely
"imported" fromthe Mainland withoutsome sort of
Mycenaeaninfluxintothe area,we mustassume thata
significant
religiousand culturalupheavaltookplace in
the Minoan World.

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