Diversity in pottery consumption in the Minoan First Palaces. Distinguishing between regional and pancretan cups?

During the First Palace or Protopalatial period (M(iddle) M(inoan) IB-IIB: 19th-18th c. BC) on Crete the communal consumption activities undertaken at palatial sites seem to prefer the use of specific cups, which are very different from one palatial site to another. The plain handleless conical cup is the typical shape of Phaistos, well attested in the palatial centre since Prepalatial times. It is also present in the nearby sites sharing the ceramic tradition of Phaistos (e.g. Ayia Triada, Kommos), but absent or rarely attested in the rest of the island at least until MM III. The footed goblet is the drinking cup par excellence of the palatial site of Knossos, from Prepalatial times until MM IIA. The footed goblet is well attested in the Knossian region, but quite rare outside it. At Malia, the one-handled conical cup is the main drinking cup in use at the palatial site, especially in MM II. It is present also in the nearby sites (e.g. Sissi), as well as in eastern Crete, but absent in the rest of the island. All these cups have in common the following characteristics: production in crude ware, plainness or a very simple decoration, presence in massive quantity only in one palatial site and respective region. On the contrary, there are some shapes that seem uniformly attested across the island in Protopalatial times, like the carinated, the straight-sided and the rounded cups in Polychrome Ware. In this paper I will argue that in Protopalatial Crete there existed some cups that are characteristic of specific palatial sites and their area of influence (ideological and/or political), and likely connected to ceremonial activities that took place under the auspices of the palaces or with the purpose of evoking palatial ceremonies, and others that are instead more uniformly attested across the island because representative of inter-connected elites of Crete.