EM II B ware groups at Knossos: the 1907–1908 South Front tests

This article presents a descriptive analysis, both stylistic and petrographic, of the wares which define EM II B at Knossos based on pottery from deposits beneath the EM III South Front House excavated by Evans and Mackenzie in 1907–08. A classificatory system based on ware and fabric is used here as a means of investigating questions of location, technology and traditions of ceramic production, all key aspects in reconstructing socio-economic organisation in Early Minoan Crete. Comment is made on stylistic development and change in the EM II ceramic sequence at Knossos and the broad questions of ceramic production, distribution/exchange and consumption in EM II B Central Crete. Finally, inferences are drawn about the social value and meaning of the EM II B pottery at Knossos and arguments made for the specialised use of this site for ceremonial drinking/feasting practices.