Bones and the body politic? A diachronic analysis of structured deposition in the Neolithic–Early Iron Age Aegean

The meanings of the terms “ritual” and “sacrifice” are discussed as a basis for considering whether and how animal bones might be recognized as remnants of ritual behaviour or sacrifice. These methodological issues are explored “in practice”, taking structured deposits of burnt bones from the Mycenaean “Palace of Nestor” at Pylos as a case study. The paper then places this and other apparent examples of Mycenaean animal sacrifice in a wider context, by examining zooarchaeological evidence for anatomically selective manipulation and for deliberate or “structured” deposition of animal bones from the Neolithic to Early Iron Age in the Aegean. It is argued that anatomically selective treatment and structured deposition of bones increase through time and that these tendencies are matched by changes in the treatment of human remains, in the form and deposition of ceramics associated with commensality, and in architectural organization of space. These trends reflect not only increasing elaboration of material culture but also increasing qualitative, spatial and temporal differentiation of social life. Although the precise form and meaning of Mycenaean sacrificial ritual may be difficult to discern, its material traces mirror and probably helped to promote radical social change during the Aegean Bronze Age.