'High places' in the Aegean: the case for non-Cretan peak sanctuaries

Abstract

My dissertation, centers on the overseas religious and cultural influences of the so-called Minoan culture of Bronze Age Crete through a critical, comparative analysis of alleged peak sanctuaries in the Aegean islands, and Greek mainland. A detailed study of the material culture and topographical elements of the sites sheds light on cultural exchange of religious ideas and choice of these non-Cretan Bronze Age communities, ultimately focusing on how new means of creating, expressing, and maintaining social distinction were constructed through certain groups' participation in Minoan-influenced socio-religious practices. This project serves as the first detailed analysis of all possible non-Cretan peak sanctuaries and seeks to determine if the non-Cretan peak sanctuaries are a direct result of Minoanization (i.e., tied to the rise of Knossos on Crete), part of a larger Aegean cultural koine, and/or has roots in local behavior. This project, then, complicates the debates surrounding Minoanization by focusing on religion, an aspect previously neglected due to lack of evidence. The primary data offered by this research is the firsthand study of a large assemblage of 'conical cups' from the recently discovered peak sanctuary site at Stelida, Naxos. These small, handless drinking vessels have long been recognized as marker of Minoan influence, both in terms of the cups' form, and the associated rituals of consumption. Through my multifaceted study, I explore what the technological aspects tell us about the individuals making the Stelida cups (i.e., borrowing of Minoan practices, standardization, and instances of innovation); how the Stelida cups compare to both Minoan and other Minoanizing Cycladic cups; and how they compare to conical cups found at other Naxian sites of broadly contemporary date. This project illuminates processes that are typically not considered in the larger questions of cultural interaction during that era when Minoan overseas cultural influence is seen to be at its greatest, i.e., the Second Palace, or Neopalatial Period.