A Minoan Seminar: Changes and evolution in funerary and non-funerary rituals during the Protopalatial period in the Mesara plain (Crete). The evidence from Kamilari and from the other tholos tombs

Ilaria Caloi,

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to present the funerary rituals attested in the Kamilari cemetery during the Protopalatial period; second, to review the funerary data of those tholos tombs of the Mesara plain which were founded or re-used in MM IB-MM IIB. Indeed, the investigation I carried out during the last years on the MM IB-MM IIB ceramic material retrieved from Kamilari, has provided crucial support to understand the chronology of the ceramic material coming from those Mesara tholos tombs, which have revealed MM ceramic. This paper points at a deeper understanding of the funerary contexts of the Mesara plain in the Protopalatial period, focusing first on the chronology of the tholos tombs in use in this period, and then on their functions.