Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Clay beetle model [Π9804]

Clay beetle model

Π9804

Clay

Intact

Length: 8.5 cm.

Piskokephalo

Katrinia site

Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΙΒ - Late Minoan ΙA period.:

1650 - 1500 BC:

Gallery:

VII

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion - Domestic and open-air cult

Open-air Sanctuaries The Peak Sanctuaries.

Description

Model of a beetle with a much smaller identical beetle on its back. These are rhinoceros beetles, a type of dung beetle. They use animal dung in their reproductive cycle, burying balls of it in the earth and thereby aiding in the fertilisation of arable and other land and improving its quality. It is probable that the votive offerings at sanctuaries would have been connected to the Minoans’ prayers for the fertility of the earth, so necessary to their survival. Large numbers of beetle models have been found at the open-air sanctuary of Piskokephalo and peak sanctuaries including those of Petsophas and Traostalos.

Bibliography:

Platon, Ν. "Το Ιερόν Μαζά (Καλού Χωριού Πεδιάδος) και τα Μινωικά Ιερά Κορυφής." Κρητικά Χρονικά Ε' (1951): 96-160. Platon, Ν. "Ανασκαφαί περιοχής Σητείας." Πρακτικά της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας (1952): 630-648, fig. 15. Rutkowski, B. The Cult Places of the Aegean. New Haven and London, 1986, 89-91.

Author:

E. S.

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