Power and ritual in Neopalatial Crete: a regional comparison

Abstract

Ritual provides the forum for both the expression of cultural identities and the articulation of social strategies. Studies that analyse ritual sites and artefacts in isolation fail to recognize this tension fully, and also tend to assume a sharp distinction between ‘religious’ rituals and ‘non-religious’ rituals. This article seeks to shed new light on the relationship between power and ritual in Neopalatial Crete (c. 1700–1450 bc), by analysing the distribution of objects of dedication across the entire landscape of north-central Crete. The comparison of the Knossos and Malia regions indicates that this relationship differs substantially in this part of Crete alone. While artefacts common to ritual sites have been found widely throughout the Knossian region, further east they tend to be concentrated at the site of Malia. Furthermore, the ritual sites from the Knossian region fall into distinct categories, which suggests that they performed various roles.