Ritual and its Establishment: the Case of some Open Air Rituals in Minoan Crete

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This work aspires to contribute to the study of ritual in as constructive and methodologically sound way as possible. The contentious issue of ritual interpretation is deliberately avoided. Instead, methodologies for positively recognising ritual and assessing its establishment are developed. The study of the establishment of ritual is based on the premise that it can be a valuable source of information for the dynamics and establishment of the given society.

The entire study takes the special perspective of prehistoric and more specifically of Minoan archaeology, concentrating on the case of some open air rituals. Firstly, ritual value is attributed to some Minoan open air sites and to the relevant iconography. Subsequently, following the methodology developed in the first chapters, it is shown that all studied rituals were highly established. Moreover, some of these ritual sites could be seen as entities which also managed, produced, and invested wealth, demonstrating the great establishment of the respective rituals, and further contributing to it through their own establishment.

The high level of establishment of the Minoan ritual sphere, as seen through the open air rituals, points to the great importance of rituals to the dynamics of Minoan society. It also implies a high level of establishment of other spheres such as the political or that of social relations. Finally it contributes to the overall establishment of Minoan society, as a factor which unified the politically fragmented island.

Our discussion of the Minoan material demonstrated that the methodologies developed for the attribution of ritual value to an activity and for the assessment of its establishment can be beneficial for prehistoric archaeology and for most social sciences. The Minoan material profited from these ideas but also showed that their implementation is feasible.