Game boards or offering tables?: Some remarks on the Minoan ‘pierres à cupules’

From an archaeological point of view, the recognition between religious and gaming activities is very uneasy. This is true also for the so-called Minoan pierres à cupules (or Minoan kernoi or “stone slabs with depressions”) whose most impressive specimen is surely the well known table à offrandes fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cucuzza, Nicola (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
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Published: Centre [2010]
In: Kernos
Year: 2010, Volume: 23, Pages: 133-144
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
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Summary:From an archaeological point of view, the recognition between religious and gaming activities is very uneasy. This is true also for the so-called Minoan pierres à cupules (or Minoan kernoi or “stone slabs with depressions”) whose most impressive specimen is surely the well known table à offrandes found in the Minoan palace at Mallia. After the most recent works on the subject (by H. Whittaker and N. Hillbom), the interpretation of the pierres à cupules as game board is now prevailing; however, their possible religious function can not be disregarded. The paper aims to check the methodological problems involved in the study of these pierres, starting from the available archaeological evidence.
Contains:Enthalten in: Kernos
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.4000/kernos.1574