INAUGURATING THE COURTCENTRED BUILDING? A MM IIIB FEASTING DEPOSIT AT NEOPALATIAL SISSI, NORTHCENTRAL CRETE

Abstract

Recent excavations undertaken at Sissi, North-Central Crete, by the Belgian School at Athens uncovered parts of a court-cen-
tred building, whose function has been interpreted as largely ceremonial. In the east wing of this building, a Neopalatial
deposit was found, comprising 176 entire and fragmentary objects. !is deposit is very signi"cant for two reasons. First, it is
a closed and structured deposit assigned to the Middle Minoan IIIB phase, and hence its chronology is important in recon-
structing both the local and North-Central Crete ceramic sequences. Second, the stratigraphic position of the deposit and the
composition of the assemblage, including a high number of conical cups, two imports and ritual equipment, suggest that it
is the result of ceremonial consumption. !e pottery analysis has allowed to interpret it as a feasting deposit, resulting from a
communal ceremonial event. In this paper, "rst the ceramic material of the deposit is presented, then the chronology and the
function/s of the deposit are discussed. I will argue that the deposit constitutes a terminus ad quem for the construction date
of the east wing of the court-centred building at Neopalatial Sissi.