Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Clay model of a circle dance [Π15073]

Vaulted Tombs of Mesara ➔ Clay model of a circle dance

Π15073

Clay

Mended and partly restored.

Height of figurines 17.5 cm. Diameter of enclosure 15 cm.

Kamilari

Outer chambers of tholos tomb at "Gligori Korfi"

Middle Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙI period.:

1700-1600 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Final Palatial period (1450-1300 BC). The Knossos monopalatial system

Cemeteries

Description

The clay dance model from the tholos tomb of Kamilari depicts four young men performing a circle dance inside a low circular enclosure which comes up to their knees and is crowned with horns of consecration. The naked dancers have their hands on each other’s shoulders with their arms outstretched and interlinked, forming a closed circle. The triangular lock of hair on top of the head shows that they are youths in late adolescence. Their total nudity, which is very rare in Minoan art, together with the horns of consecration, indicate that the dance is directly connected to religious events. However, the fact that the model comes from a cemetery, combined with the shape of the closed circle, which is associated with apotropaic rituals to avert evil and strengthen group bonds, indicates that this is a funerary dance. This conclusion is also borne out by the low enclosure outside the tholos tomb, similar to that depicted in the clay model, which appears to show the actual architecture of the cemetery. Enclosures, paved floors and altar-like structures with deposition of offerings often mark cult spaces for the dead in Minoan cemeteries in the Prepalatial, Protopalatial and early Neopalatial periods. Closed circle dances performed by men formed part of the rites in honour of deceased ancestors during the funeral or memorial ritual.

Bibliography:

Levi, D. "La tomba a tholos di Kamilari presso a Fest?s." Annuario della Scuola archeologica di Atene 39-40 (1961-62): 139-45, fig. 174a,b. Coulomb, J. "La diff?renciation sexuelle somatique des figurines minoennes." Πεπραγμένα Δ΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου (Ηράκλειο 29 Αυγούστου - 3 Σεπτεμβρίου 1976), Athens, 1980-81, Α1, 84-87. Branigan, K., Dancing with Death: Life and Death in Southern Crete, 3000-2000 B.C., Amsterdam, 1993, 130, fig. 7,6. Marinatos, N. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image and Symbol. Columbia, 1993, 22, fig. 23. Lef?vre-Novaro, D. "Un nouvelle examen des mod?les r?duits trouv?s dans la grande tombe de Kamilari." In R. Laffineur and R. H?gg (eds), POTNIA: Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference, G?teborg University, 12-15 April 2000, Aegaeum 22, Liege and Austintin, 2001, 89-98. Mandalaki, S. "Ο χορός στη Μινωική Κρήτη", Αρχαιολογία και Τέχνες 90 (2004): 15-16, fig. 1. Mandalaki, S. "Ο Δαίδαλος και το χοροστάσι της Αριάδνης." In S. Mandalaki (ed.), Δαίδαλος. Στα ίχνη του μυθικού τεχνίτη. Κατάλογος Έκθεσης, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ηρακλείου, Heraklion, 2019, 69-70, fig. 8.

Author:

S. M.

Photographs' metadata