From Deep Waters to High Places: Reassessing the Ceremonial Significance of Triton-shells at Neolithic Phaistos (Crete)

In 1956 a complete triton shell decorated with geometric motifs encrusted in red ochre was discovered in one of the deep soundings conducted under the central court of the palace at Phaistos (fig. 1). The shell, found on the bedrock together with a jar and a sieving pot decorated with matching motifs in red ochre, was considered part of a structured deposition representing the debris of a ceremony performed in the area (Todaro-Di Tonto 2008; Todaro 2012; 2013). While the precise nature of the event was difficult to ascertain, the role of the triton shell was tentatively assessed on the basis of its physical features and more precisely the lack of the apex, which made it suitable to be used as a wind-instrument (Vagnetti 1973: 95; Skeates 1991; Saunders 2008; Todaro 2012; Montagu 2018), or as a libation vessel (Todaro-Di Tonto 2008: 186-7). These two interpretations, while perfectly possible in terms of affordance i.e., on the basis of the properties acquired by the shell after human intervention, have rarely been assessed in terms of ritual performance. This paper, written in honour of the scholarship of Bobby Koehl, whose research has done so much to elucidate the performative aspects of Minoan ritual practices, seeks to remedy this lacuna through an in-depth contextual and cross-cultural reappraisal of the ceremonial activities performed on the Phaistos hill during the earliest phases of its occupation. More specifically, it will build on excavation data -as recorded by the excavators- and will try to tease out some possibilities about how the triton shell was used at the site. To facilitate the cross-comparison with other contexts, the discussion of the relevant assemblages from Phaistos will be preceded by a synthetic presentation of current views on triton shells with a cut-off apex from later Neolithic Mediterranean contexts.