Solid items made to break, or breakable items made to last? The case of Minoan peak sanctuary figurines

Abstract

The thousands of figurines found at peak sanctuaries across Crete have been widely understood as votive offerings. Owing to their fragmentary condition, it also has been suggested that they were broken as part of the rituals performed at these sites by being thrown into bonfires or to the ground. This hypothesis was further strengthened by the perception of some archaeologists of the figurines as poorly made. Upon a closer material examination of these artefacts, however, it appears that they were modelled and assembled with techniques ensuring their solidity. I therefore propose here that the figurines may not have been broken as immediately as is usually assumed, and that they may have been placed on display at peak sanctuaries for some time, before fragmentation took place. Keywords