The role of relative function ceramic typologies in Bronze Age settlement analysis

Abstract

Summary: Given the importance of the site of Myrtos to the definition of village living patterns in the Early Minoan period, and the current state of disagreement as to the nature of the social system actually in place at Myrtos, a new investigation into the matter is warranted. In order to carry out that investigation, the possibility of constructing and utilizing a typology of relative function from the available ceramics is examined, and the results applied to an analysis of the living pattern at the site, along with a review of prior attempts at artifact‐distribution and architectural‐design analysis. It is suggested that the social pattern and population level at Myrtos during the EM II period was closer to Warren's original communal model than more recent theories of independent nuclear families, as there is clear evidence for an intra‐site communal storage and distribution pattern.