Solide case per tempi di crisi. Immagazzinamento e attività cerimoniali a Festòs nel periodo tra il primo e il secondo palazzo: le Case della Rampa e di Chalara a confronto

This paper deals with two domestic buildings located in the proximity of the palace at Phaistos, namely the House to the South of the Ramp (end of MM IIB-MM IIIA) and the LM IB House of Chalara. Both were built at a time when the palace was not in function, having been destroyed at the end of MM IIB, temporarily and partially reoccupied in MM IIIA, and eventually rebuilt as late as LM IB. The two houses can be usefully compared, as they show both storage facilities, comprising large storage jars and doorless spaces, that outnumber the needs of a purely domestic household, and boast ritual and cultic features, such as specialized vessels and/or dedicated ritual spaces (the so-called “lustral basin”). By analyzing the composition of the ceramic assemblages retrieved on the floors and nearby dumps and drawing on comparison with two ceramic deposits recently unearthed at Gournia, the author eventually argues that the House to the South of the Ramp was involved in the organization of empowering or entrepreneurial feasts, aimed at asserting the continuity between the local household and the former palace; conversely, the House of Chalara hosted patron-role feasts, that functioned within a more stable political framework, centred upon the nearby administrative site of Hagia Triada.