Pre- and protopalatial Minoan larnax : individuals vs collective identity in pre- and protopalatial Crete

Abstract

Prepalatial and Protopalatial larnakes offer a corpus of material with their own biography which has long been ignored, passed over, or forgotten. They represent the beginning of a mortuary tradition of burials in ceramic containers that spans a millennium and eventually crosses the Aegean, appearing at select locations on mainland Greece. Their appearance at the EM III -- MM IA transition -- a crucial moment in Minoan history -- has provided fodder for interpretations of nascent individualism on Crete, thus replacing the communal ideology so prevalent in the earlier Minoan mortuary landscapes and built urban environments. This study provides an overview of Prepalatial and Protopalatial larnakes, their contexts, the associated funerary assemblages, and the regional implications made apparent throughout the course of research. The results of this study conclude that the larnax operated within an interwoven communal tradition that embodied not a single or elite individual, but the collective as a whole.