The most crucial moment of a person’s biological and social life is the transition from childhood to maturity through a series of initiatory processes more commonly known as rites of passage. These are rites of separation from the asexual world of childhood and subsequently of incorporation into the world of sexuality, confined to groups of individuals of one sex or the other. Significant parts of these initiatory rites concern aspects of intangible culture. As a result, their archaeological recognition becomes particularly difficult. In Crete the first evidence for rituals related to the initiation of youths to maturity comes from Archaic times, where specific stages of initiation can be traced, such as those described in the work of Arnold van Gennep, Rites of Passage. Can similar rites be detected in the Bronze Age? This article attempts to create a framework for the recognition of the above processes and to explore aspects of initiation rites in prehistoric Crete.