The Economics of Potnia: Storage in 'Temples' of Prehistoric Greece

The studies on the storage of any ritual site, are not that numerous; in fact, the only paper on the topic briefly attempts to demonstrate that there is storage associated with some Minoan ‘religious’ buildings and interprets the data accordingly. This view will be firmly supported here. It has to be noted that for the purposes of this article, the term storage refers only to food storage as indicator of subsistence potential and by extension, for a non-monetary society, of relative wealth. The much-neglected coarse ceramics, especially pithoi and large vessels can give us a reasonable idea on storage. Storage, no doubt, could also be achieved by bags or baskets, which unfortunately leave no trace. Cists or boxes that were specifically made for storage are very rare and are not normally found outside large buildings. Indeed it seems to be the case that Minoan ritual sites to have large storage capacity, and therefore to be able to store and manage wealth – one of the conditions of institution building. The same picture is drawn during the ensuing Mycenaean period, since the linear b tablets provide enough evidence for the existence of Religious institutions that manage and store wealth.