The archaeological sites on the Monastiriako Kephali hill analysed in
this volume include the earliest known mortuary activity at the key
Minoan centre of Knossos on the island of Crete. Two Bronze Age sites
are presented, known as the 'Tomb' and the 'Deposit', originally
excavated in the 1930s but until now never published in detail. The
'Tomb' represents the earliest known funerary site at Bronze Age
Knossos, established in the late Prepalatial period and continuing in
use until the Neopalatial. The function of the nearby 'Deposit' site is
more ambiguous, but a mortuary interpretation is also possible for the
phases contemporary with the 'Tomb', and is almost certain for the
subsequent Late Minoan II-III era. This volume presents the excavated
material held principally in the Stratigraphical Museum at Knossos. The
stone artefacts, human remains, faunal remains, glyptic material and
ceramics are described and discussed by Don Evely, Rebecca Gowland,
Valasia Isaakidou, Olga Krzyszkowska and Laura Preston respectively, and
the sites are placed within the broader framework of Minoan mortuary
practices at Knossos during the second millennium BC.