An archaeothanatological approach to the study of Minoan funerary practices: Case-studies from the Early and Middle Minoan cemetery at Sissi, Crete

Abstract

Our understanding of Minoan funerary practices in the Early and Middle Bronze Age on Crete was until recently to a large degree informed by the excavations of cemeteries that took place early in the 20th century. However, the aforementioned excavations are characterized by a significant lack of detailed archaeological data regarding the precise positions of osteological remains and the actual treatment of the body. The excavation of the Early Minoan II–Middle Minoan II cemetery at Sissi (ca. 2650–1720 b.c.) focused on a more complete characterization of the complexity and variation in Minoan funerary practices. Using archaeothanatology and involving field anthropologists from the first stages of excavation, precise and reliable interment sequences and (successive) treatments of the bodies were reconstructed. The result is a more nuanced understanding of primary and secondary burials and in turn contemporary Minoan society.