Rationalizing redistribution in the late EBA Aegean: plain cups and the mobilization of collective labour in EM III Phaistos (Crete)

C. Renfrew presented redistribution as a mechanism that came into being during the EBA to manage the economic inter-dependence of farmers triggered by agricultural diversification and specialization. In his model, the mechanism initially operated within egalitarian parameters, but was then modified so that a part of what was pooled together was retained and reinvested by a central authority. This created the basis for social inequalities and led to the rise of a chiefdom type of society, characterised by monumental architecture, concentrations of sealings and large-scale storage facilities. This paper reconsiders redistribution from the perspective of the latest EBA evidence from south-central Crete and contends that the key to making sense of how redistribution operated in the southern Aegean lies in understanding the introduction of the plain handleless cup. More specifically the paper focuses on the EM III evidence from Phaistos and, by reassessing the contexts of use and mode of production of plain handleless cups, it argues that their appearance in the local ceramic repertoire signals the adoption of a system of ‘redistribution’ of resources that were commonly pooled and communally stored for use in projects that were communal, or perceived as beneficial for the entire collective.