Impianti di lavorazione a Festòs ed Haghia Triada in età palaziale: per una rassegna delle evidenze

The article presents a review of surviving fixed installation in the two nearby sites of Phaistos and Ayia Triada from MM I to LM IB, in order to clarify some issues concerning centralization (physical concentration of activities in the nearby of a central place) or decentralization (dislocation of activities in the territory, controlled through officials) of production in Minoan palatial Crete. Differently from other kinds of evidence, such as tools, fixed installations, in fact, allow without any doubt the identification of working areas, which, in the nearby of a major building such as a palace or a villa, can indicate centralization of production. Following a preceding attempt by Alberti, 12 installations can be found in the two sites, referring to pottery production (Phaistos: kiln from the western area, kilns in Court 90; Ayia Triada: kiln), liquid processing, sometimes dying activities (Phaistos: Room XX, Vasca XXX (?), Vano LX/101; Chalara: Room Alfa; Ayia Triada: Vano del Pistrinum, Casa del Lebete Vano 9 (?), weaving (Ayia Triada: Casa delle Sfere Fittili) and some not better specified activities (Phaistos, Vano CV; Ayia Triada, Villa, Vano 45). The chronology spans from MM II (Phaistos, Room XX, Vasca XXX, Vano CV) to MM IIB (Phaistos, kiln to the west), to MM III (Vano LX/101), and LM IB (all the evidence from Ayia Triada). The chronology of the kilns of court 90 at Phaistos is unfortunately uncertain (MM III or LM I or LM IB or LM II). A general trend can be detected: the central building does not seem to be interested in a direct control of production, with the exception of some specific kind of textiles, and manufacture of many items seems to be performed well outside palatial control. Only in some periods (as at the very end of MM IIB and the beginning of MM IIIA) the elites seem to make attempts for a stronger control, but also the LM IB kiln from Ayia Triada seems more the effect of a strategy aiming at reinforcing cohesion and consensus through the building of a state sponsored construction than the result of the interest to a strict control of pottery manufacture.