Burning Bulls, Broken Bones: Sacrificial Ritual in the Context of Palace Period Minoan Religion (British Archaeological Reports International Series, 1792)

Cromarty, Robert James

ISBN 10: 1407302809 / ISBN 13: 9781407302805

Published by Oxford : British Archaeological Reports, BAR Publishing, 2008

About this Item

157 pages : illustrations, maps ; 30 cm. Although it has received much attention, Minoan religion has never been fully reconstructed, understood or analysed. In this study, with reference to major sites, the author concentrates on the role of sacrificial ritual in the religious organisation of Crete in the Bronze Age. The work points out some of the major problems with previous studies of Minoan religion and goes some way toward indicating possible routes of investigation.

Seller Inventory # BAR1792

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Burning Bulls, Broken Bones: Sacrificial Ritual in the Context of Palace Period Minoan Religion (British Archaeological Reports International Series, 1792)
• Publisher: Oxford : British Archaeological Reports, BAR Publishing
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1407302809
• ISBN 13: 9781407302805
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Archaeology

About this title

Synopsis

This monograph aims to shed light on just one facet of the comparatively understudied field of Minoan religion - that of animal sacrifice. As such it is a detailed disucussion and analysis of faunal remains, and takes issue with much of the methodology of what has gone before it. Robert Cromarty points out that other ritual practices such as libations and votive offerings have a far wider distribution and that faunal remains occur only at a limited number of specific sites. Indeed he goes as far, given the nature of the sites, as to question whether the remains are evidence of sacrifice at all in the classical thusia sense, preferring the term 'commensal meat ritual'.

About the Author

Robert James Cromarty