Pottery in Domestic and Mortuary Contexts at Late Minoan III Mochlos: The Case of the Missing...

chapter 26

Pot tery in Domestic and Mortuary Conte xts at Late Minoan III Mochl os: The Case of the Missing Ky likesby R. Angus K. Smith

1. I would like to thank Jeffrey Soles and Costas Davaras for allowing me to study the Mochlos pottery, as well as the late Nikos Papadakis for the oppor-tunity to examine material in the Siteia and Ayios Nikolaos museums. In addi-tion, I would like to thank Eleni Banou for her cooperation in the study of the

The reoccupation of Mochlos in the Late Minoan (LM) III period in-volved the construction of at least 11 new houses on the island settlement and at least 30 new tombs on the coast opposite the island.1 The analysis of ceramic assemblages from both areas reveals clear similarities in the vessels the inhabitants used in life and those they chose to be buried with in death. The same analysis, however, also reveals distinct differences be-tween the pottery from domestic and funerary contexts. This paper seeks to understand the reasons behind these discrepancies through an explora-tion of the functional and symbolic aspects of the ceramic assemblages. In addition, it will contemplate the methodological problems involved in the deposition, recovery, and identification of ceramic assemblages in funerary and domestic contexts. The examination of these issues reveals a complex relationship between the separate spheres of domestic and funerary activi-ties in LM III Mochlos.

In particular, it seems that the acceptance of certain drinking traditions varied in life and in death. A comparison of pottery shape types between household and funerary contexts reveals various discrepancies, the most puzzling of which concerns kylikes. While this characteristic LM III shape is common in the household contexts of Mochlos, it is confined to two exceptionally wealthy burials in the cemetery. The reason for this, I will argue, ultimately concerns a difference in the appropriateness of a particu-lar type of communal drinking ritual in household and funerary contexts. The acceptance of this type of drinking among the houses of Mochlos was widespread, but in the cemetery it remained the province of certain elite individuals. The realms of life and death, although related, were distinct and appropriately separate.

pottery from the cemetery, and Thomas Brogan for his help in facilitating my work at the Institute for Aegean Pre-history Study Center in East Crete. Finally, I would like to thank Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan and Kevin Glowacki for giving me the opportunity to par-ticipate in the ΣΤΕΓΑ conference.

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p ot tery in d ome st ic and mortuary context s 299

Mo chlos

The island of Mochlos sits off the northern coast of Crete at the eastern limit of the Bay of Mirabello. The coastal plain opposite is well watered and fertile and extends for about four kilometers. The settlement of Mo-chlos marks its western limit, while the small farmhouse of Chalinomouri marks its eastern limit.2 The current island of Mochlos is small, about 250 x 300 m. It rises in steep cliffs to a height of 45 m on its northern side while sloping gradually down to sea level toward the south. Although there is no source of water on the island, in antiquity it seems certain that the island was connected to the mainland of Crete by an isthmus, which gave it easy access to the sources of water and agriculture that the coastal plain afforded.3 Such an isthmus also would have provided a natural harbor on the southeastern side of the island.

In the Neopalatial period the island of Mochlos and areas along the coast opposite the island were extensively occupied. This occupation ended sometime around 1450 b.c. (LM IB), when the island and coastal settlements were destroyed by violent conflagrations.4 Not long after this destruction the island was reoccupied, and a cemetery was established op-posite the island on a low hill above the coastal plain.5 The coastal cemetery of this reoccupation consisted of at least 30 chamber and pit tombs carved into the soft rock of the hillside at the Limani location (Fig. 26.1). While no evidence exists for LM II burials in the Mochlos cemetery, pottery from the LM IIIA1 period is very much in evidence. Since a number of the tombs are communal and contain multiple burials spanning several periods, it is sometimes difficult to assign individual burials to specific chronological phases. Thirteen of the 30 tombs, however, contain pottery that dates to LM IIIA1, 20 contain LM IIIA2 pottery, and eight contain LM IIIB pottery (Fig. 26.2).6

The island settlement of this reoccupation period consisted of at least 11 structures (Figs. 26.1, 26.3). The earliest phase of this reoccupation

2. Mochlos IA.3. Soles and Davaras 2000, p. 25.4. Soles and Davaras 1992, 1994,

1996.5. Brogan, Smith, and Soles 2002.6. Smith 2002.

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LM II LM IIIA:1 LM IIIA:2 LM IIIB

Tombs (N=30) Houses (N=11)

Figure 26.2. comparison of tomb versus settlement use in lM II–IIIB Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith

r. ang us k . smith300

began in LM II. Pottery from this period has been found associated with six of the 11 island structures. By the following LM IIIA1 period, the reoccupation of Mochlos was firmly established; evidence of this phase exists in all 11 of the houses. During the LM IIIA2 period, two houses— Z and Θ—show signs of abandonment, but evidence for occupation persists in nine houses. The final period of the settlement, LM IIIB, shows further signs of abandonment, with occupation now occurring in only five houses

Overall, therefore, the use of the tombs in the cemetery and the houses of the settlement were roughly parallel. Both peaked in the LM IIIA period, and the use of the cemetery peaked in the LM IIIA2 period, around the same time that the settlement began to decline.

coMparIson oF The poT Tery asseMBlages

How does the settlement pottery assemblage compare to that from the cemetery? As stated above, there are both similarities and differences. The purpose of this paper will be to examine these in an attempt to understand both the relationship between household activities and funerary rituals and the extent to which the practices surrounding death related to behavior during life.

In order to address these questions the pottery from the settlement of Mochlos was compared to the pottery of the cemetery, with an emphasis on the primary functional aspect of pot shape. The objects that were studied included 267 whole or nearly whole pots from the cemetery, as well as 615 fragmentary to whole pots from the settlement. The comparison focused on both the overall distribution of pot shape categories within the settle-ment and cemetery assemblages, as well as their frequencies of occurrence among the houses and tombs of the two areas. Both areas were studied as a chronological whole, instead of being broken down into periods. In addition, houses and tombs were studied as discrete units, instead of

Figure 26.3. Mochlos: the island settlement. View from the southwest.Photo R. A. K. Smith


being divided into individual burials or room assemblages. This comparison allowed several broad patterns to emerge from the data.

Among the cemetery pottery assemblage, the most widely distributed were jugs, followed closely by stirrup jars, bowls, and cups; each of these shapes represented over 15% of the cemetery assemblage (Fig. 26.4). The most frequently occurring shapes, according to presence or absence in an individual tomb, were similar: bowls and jugs were the most frequent, fol-lowed by stirrup jars and cups. These were all found in at least a third of the tombs (Fig. 26.5).

Among the pots from the settlement, the most widely distributed shapes were bowls, cups, kylikes, and cooking dishes; each of these shapes represented 10% or more of the household assemblages (Fig. 26.6). The most frequently occurring shapes, according to their presence or absence in a particular house, were similar. Cups, kylikes, and cooking dishes oc-curred most frequently, followed by bowls; all of these were found in over 90% of the houses (Fig. 26.7).

A comparison of the distribution of both assemblages shows that only cups and bowls make up a large percentage of both tomb and settlement assemblages (Fig. 26.8). In contrast, jugs and stirrup jars are numerous in the cemetery, but less so in the settlement. On the other hand, kylikes and cooking dishes make up a significant percentage of the settlement assemblage, but rarely occur in the cemetery.

This picture is altered slightly by a comparison of the frequency of occurrence of the same shapes in tomb and house contexts (Fig. 26.9). Bowls occur with similar frequency in both contexts, but cups, cooking dishes, and kylikes occur in a much higher percentage of houses. Jugs, on the other hand, occur in a higher percentage of tomb contexts, and stirrup jars, like bowls, occur in a roughly similar percentage of contexts.

Initially, then, it would seem that bowls were important in both spheres, as were cups, although they occurred in a higher percentage of houses.

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Jug Stirrup Jar Bowl Cup

Cemetery Distribution (N=263)

Figure 26.4. Distribution of selected pot shapes in the lM III cemetery at Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith


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Jug Stirrup Jar Bowl Cup

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Figure 26.5. Frequency of selected pot shapes in the lM III cemetery at Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith

Cooking dishes were common in the settlement, but they played no role in the cemetery; kylikes were much more common in the settlement, jugs were more prominent in the tombs, and stirrup jars, although more nu-merous in the tombs, were found in a roughly equal percentage of houses and tombs. While the role of bowls, and probably cups and stirrup jars, crossed the boundary between life and death, the roles of the other shapes did not translate so easily.

For some of these shapes this conclusion seems unproblematic. The use of cups and bowls as implements for drinking and eating must have

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Bowl Cup Kylix Cook Dish

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Figure 26.6. Distribution of selected pot shapes in the lM III settlement at Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith


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Bowl Cup Kylix Cook Dish

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Figure 26.7. Frequency of selected pot shapes in the lM III settlement at Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith

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Bowl Cup Cook Dish Kylix Jug Stirrup Jar

Cemetery Distribution (N=263) Settlement Distribution (N=615)

Figure 26.8. Distribution compari-son of selected pot shapes in the lM III cemetery and settlement at Mochlos. R. A. K. Smith

represented one of the most common activities in the households of Moch- los, so their importance in funerary contexts seems to indicate that these activities also took place as part of funerary ritual, or these objects were considered important provisions for the deceased. Stirrup jars, which were probably used as containers for oil, also played a role in both life and death. The fact that they make up a higher percentage of the total cemetery assemblage may speak to the relative value of these frequently imported and often elaborately decorated objects. This value would no


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Bowl Cup Cook Dish Kylix Jug Stirrup Jar

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Figure 26.9. Frequency comparison of selected pot shapes in the lM III cemetery and settlement at Mochlos.R. A. K. Smith

doubt result in less frequent breakage and deposition of these objects in household contexts.

The fact that the very utilitarian cooking dish played no part in funerary rituals is not very surprising; it seems that the particular type of cooking or baking that they represent was not part of funerary ritual.7 The absence of jugs in the settlement contexts, on the other hand, is more unsettling. If the deceased of Mochlos were provided with jugs for pouring, what did the living use? The absence of jugs may be explicable, however, by considering both the functions of pouring vessels and the relative numbers of pour-ing vessels to drinking vessels in use contexts. In comparison to cups and bowls, jugs would no doubt be less numerous in household assemblages, just as they are in cemetery contexts. In addition, they would encounter less frequent use in the course of everyday activities, and thus be less prone to breakage and deposition in settlement contexts.

More problematic than the absence of jugs in the settlement is the lack of kylikes in the cemetery. These were found in every household con-text, but in only three of the tombs. Moreover, since their function was surely related to drinking activities, why were they not found regularly in the tombs just as the bowls and cups were? What was different about the sort of drinking that involved kylikes? Part of their wide distribution and frequency may be accounted for by an overrepresentation among the settle-ment material; kylikes can be considered an “index fossil” of the LM III period, and kylix stems are durable and easily recognized among sherd material.8 This particular shape, therefore, may have been recognized and recorded with relative frequency. The difference between its representation in tombs and houses is too great, however, to be accounted for by such a discrepancy alone.

7. For a recent analysis of the func-tion of this shape, see Mochlos IB, pp. 82–84.

8. The term “index fossil” is bor-

rowed from geology and indicates a specific type that is diagnostic of a particular time period (see O’Brien and Lyman 1999, esp. pp. 185–215).


DIscussIon

Brogan, Smith, and Soles have argued for a correlation between kylikes and elite burials in the Mochlos cemetery.9 In fact, the two wealthiest tombs in the cemetery—tomb 2 and tomb 15—contained the only undisturbed burials with kylikes. The presence of kylikes in these tombs, it was argued, indicated the importance of a specific drinking ceremony as part of the funerary ritual. The presence of kylikes helped to promote the individual status and identity of the tomb’s occupants because of the shape’s con-nection to new trends in the LM III period. More specifically, the kylikes represented new drinking traditions related to Mycenaean influences that probably came to Mochlos from Knossos. It was suggested, therefore, that the use of these drinking traditions helped to secure the status of the Mochlos elite.

The common presence of kylikes all over the settlement of Mochlos makes this position difficult to maintain. The presence of kylikes in every household at Mochlos suggests no economic restrictions on access to this specific shape. It also seems clear that the drinking traditions associated with kylikes were practiced throughout the Mochlos households, and not simply by a restricted elite class.10 Without recourse to economic or social distinctions, how is it possible to explain the variation between house and tomb contexts for this specific shape? Why would a specific type of drink-ing—one that was a normal household activity—be restricted to a small number of elite tombs in the cemetery?

I would like to suggest that the important distinction is related not to the presence or absence of a specific pottery shape—in this case the kylix—but instead to a specific type of ritual with which that shape was associated. The key to this interpretation is not simply the use of kylikes, but their use in a communal drinking ceremony and the appropriateness of such a ceremony in a funerary context. Tombs 2 and 15 are different from other Mochlos tombs not only for the presence of kylikes, but also for the inclusion of amphoroid kraters and large numbers of open drinking vessels—13 for tomb 2 and 17 for tomb 15. While almost all the other Mochlos tombs contain drinking vessels, no other tomb contains even half as many per burial, and the majority contain only one or two such vessels. Kraters are also rare in other burials, although one does occur in tomb 30, and another seems to have been used as a grave marker above tombs 26 and 27. In tombs 2 and 15, however, the presence of kraters along with the kylikes and numerous other drinking vessels suggests a fundamental difference in the drinking ritual that was associated with these burials, and supports the possibility that what we are seeing is evidence for communal drinking ceremonies as part of mortuary ritual.

Such communal drinking ceremonies do not seem to have played a prominent role in Neopalatial funerary rituals, although the evidence admittedly is limited.11 In the late Middle and early Late Helladic (LH) periods on the mainland, however, evidence for feasting is a prominent part of elite mortuary assemblages, and is indicative of competitive displays of wealth among an emerging elite class. As argued by Wright, these early Mycenaean practices crystallize in LH II and LH IIIA into standard sets

9. Brogan, Smith, and Soles 2002, pp. 113–116.

10. In contrast, Driessen and Fiasse (this volume, Chap. 25) suggest that kylikes may have been used exclusively by high-status men in the Postpalatial period at Quartier Nu in Malia. For the LM IIIC period, Day and Snyder (2004) have argued that large kylikes in Building A-B at Kavousi Vronda and the Great House at Karphi were used in drinking rituals intended to reinforce elite power within the community. See also Day, this volume (Chap. 27).

11. For a recent survey of feasting in Minoan contexts, see Borgna 2004. For evidence of feasting in Neopalatial tombs, see Lebessi 1967; Dimopoulou 1999.


of drinking vessels that can be found in numerous mainland tombs of the period.12 In LH IIIA the kylix becomes a prominent shape in this standard Mycenaean drinking service.

On Crete, a marked increase in the practice of ostentatious buri-als has also been observed at Knossos during the LM II and LM IIIA1 periods.13 This is exemplified by the well-known “Warrior Graves,” with their similarities to Mycenaean burial practices. In addition to the weap-onry found in these graves, these new types of burials are remarkable for their inclusion of feasting paraphernalia, including kylikes, often made of precious metals, bronze, or pottery coated with tin.14 The movement of such banqueting equipment to the sphere of funerals seems to be evidence for new Mycenaean-inspired traditions at Knossos, and perhaps even for Mycenaeans themselves.15

At Mochlos, then, it is the evidence for communal drinking ceremonies that separates the burials in tombs 2 and 15 from the other burials in the cemetery. While the inclusion of kylikes with these burials is surely also significant, it is not the pot alone that provides a link to a broader social identity. Instead, it is primarily the practice with which the pot is associ-ated that reflects this identity. This practice seems to be indicative of elite behavior ultimately derived from practices on the Mycenaean mainland. Might it even be indicative of Mycenaeans themselves?16

A final question concerns whether such communal drinking also oc-curred among the households of Mochlos, and if so, did it have the same meaning? Unfortunately, our contexts are never secure enough to distinguish such ceremonies with certainty. In a LM IIIA1 level of room 1 of House Ι, however, a total of 23 open drinking vessels, including seven kylikes, were found in association with two separate amphoroid kraters. In a LM IIIA floor level of House M, a total of 18 drinking vessels, including nine ky-likes, was found along with fragments of a krater. And if we take kylikes themselves to be representative of such drinking, then it seems to have occurred in every single household. If this is the case, why was it restricted to tombs 2 and 15 in the cemetery?

It seems necessary to suggest that the symbolism of such communal drinking ceremonies changed according to context. What was appropriate for the whole community in life was appropriate for only certain individuals in death. The special identity that these communal drinking ceremonies reflected in their mortuary contexts may well have been the status of the individual. That is, only certain elite members of the community were granted elaborate death rituals that involved large numbers of celebrants. Significantly, however, the ritual that was used to distinguish these burials seems to involve a type of drinking that was not uncommon among the households of Mochlos. The real difference lay in the symbolism of its transferal from a household to a mortuary context. Only the most elite members of the community were afforded the honor of a community drinking ritual in death. The realms of life and death, although related, were distinct and appropriately separate.

12. Wright 1995b, p. 300; 2004b, p. 25.

13. Preston 2004, pp. 325–331.14. Preston 2004.15. E.g., Driessen and Macdonald

1984, pp. 66–68; D’Agata 1999, pp. 52–53, n. 38. For a contrasting view, see Preston 2004.

16. For recent discussions about identifying an ethnic Mycenaean pop- ulation on Crete, see Banou 2005; Smith 2005; Tsipopoulou 2005b; see also the contributions to this volume by Wallace (Chap. 28) and Tsipopoulou (Chap. 29).

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