No abstract

After a generation of intensive regional surface survey in the Mediterranean lands, it is both necessary and enlightening to evaluate the ways in which this

The provinces of the north-east Peloponnese, Laconia, and Messenia are chosen for comparison, as likely to have been always the most signijicant in the Peloponnese. Differences in the observable patterns of sitedistribution are pointed out, which seem to conflict with the models suggested in Bintliff 1977 and to suggest a degree of local variation. The histories of the three provinces through the Bronze Age, so far as they can be outlined, have features in common but can be shown to vary at several signijicant points, strengthening this suggestion.

The two categories of tomb are defined. Burial practice in Greece from MH onwards is discussed, chamber tombs being established as canonical in LH I, though these are not universal, and cist and pit burials continue. Chamber and tholos tombs occur over a wide area of the mainland in LH II; after LH II, except for children's burials, pits and cists are relatively rare, though they are found in chamber tombs. It is argued that chamber tombs were the general form of burial, and that cists and pits were not used, separately, for poor burials. Chamber tombs continue to be general in LH IIIC: simpler requirements and cremation lead to a revival of cists and pits, though chamber tombs do not totally die out, and in Crete continue to be the preferred form in Archaic times.

The theory that worship of a great goddess dominated Minoan religion to such an extent that it can be described in almost monotheistic terms remains commonplace in accounts of Minoan civilization. The intellectual basesof this theory are questioned, and alternative approaches are suggested.