Ovis/Capra, It’s what’s for Dinner; Preliminary Analysis of Faunal Material from a Minoan Settlement

The processing, cataloguing, and preliminary analyses of faunal material from the Minoan settlement of Gournia began during the 2012 excavation season. This included backlogged material from the two previous seasons. Excavations during the past three seasons, under Prof. L.V. Watrous and Ph.D. student D.M. Buell from the University at Buffalo SUNY, have revealed a thriving Middle/Late Minoan Period settlement complete with industry, trade, and faunal material. A specific deposit consisting of faunal material, hundreds of stacked conical cups with other assorted shallow bowls and ceramics found within the palace suggest the practice of a specific ritual event that is not unique to Gournia, but compares favorably to similar deposits from across the island. The goal of this project is to examine this ritual practice through the analyzation of the faunal material in context with the other ceramics in order to extrapolate Minoan cultural practices from ritual activity.