Animal Sacrifice, Archives, and Feasting at the Palace of Nestor

by Sharon R. Stocker and Jack L. Davis

Hesperia, Volume 73, Issue 2
Page(s): 179-195
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4134892
Year: 2004
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ABSTRACT:

The contexts of burned faunal assemblages from Blegen's excavations at the Palace of Nestor are examined in this paper. Special attention is given to a deposit of bones found in a corner of room 7 of the Archives Complex. It is argued that these bones, from at least 10 cattle, probably represent the remains of a single episode of burned animal sacrifice and large-scale feasting that occurred shortly before the palace was destroyed. Feasts of this sort are likely to have played a diacritical role in Mycenaean society. The bones may have been brought to room 7 in order to verify to palace authorities that a sacrifice had been completed.