Abstract
This article addresses the assumption that the mortuary record of Prepalatial and Protopalatial Crete (3000–1800 BCE) is dominated by secondary burials and its corollary that the Minoans practiced double funerals. First, ethnographic and historical data are employed to examine the diverse types of funerary, post-funerary and non-funerary manipulations that produce secondary bone deposits. Then, the Sissi cemetery, located in northern Crete and used from Early Minoan IIA (2650–2450 BCE) until Middle Minoan IIB (1850–1800 BCE), is analyzed following the epistemological process of archaeothanatology, which makes it possible to test a whole range of potential scenarios rather than only one predetermined hypothesis. We argue that, at Sissi, secondary bone deposits are mostly the product of pragmatic gestures linked to the management of the sepulchral space. Such gestures are conducted with due respect for the community’s forbears while contributing to their memorialization, but they must not be confused with double funerals and their associated set of funerary, social and economic correlates.
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