RITUAL ACTIONS, IDENTITY AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS: THE FIRST PHASE OF THE NECROPOLIS OF SIDEROSPILIA AT PRINIAS.

The necropolis of Siderospilia began to be used during the Subminoan period. Two types of tombs were built and two different burial rites were performed: cremations in single graves and multiple inhumations in chamber tombs. Similar funerary customs are attested in other sites of central Crete, in particular in the region between Knossos and the Messara plain. The fluid relationship between the settlements of this area also favoured the adherence to specific models, ideologically significant, shared throughout the Aegean area.

The study of the oldest tombs in the necropolis and of their grave goods, especially pottery, allow us to clarify the synchronic and diachronic relations between the two different burial rites. Furthermore, it allows us to grasp the degree of connectivity between the areas involved in the dynamics of transformation of the central Crete. From a more general perspective, finally, it offers the chance to discuss the interrelations between people of the Aegean area, in the time when some communities arose and grew.