The Role of Cooking Pottery and Cooked Food in the Palace of Nestor at Pylos

Bartłomiej Lis

The article discusses cooking pots that were found in the Mycenaean palace at Pylos as a main source of information about cooking and its role in the palatial setting. Each of the cooking pot types recovered from two main storage spaces – Rooms 67–68 (taken here as a single storage entity) and 60 – is described in detail and the possible ways of its use are suggested. The discussion of single types is followed by the analysis and interpretation of whole assemblages from the two storage spaces. For the first one (Rooms 67 and 68) two issues are raised and elaborated – the way the assemblage might have been used and its role in food preparation, especially in relation to possible feasting activities conducted by the palace. For Room 60 an alternative explanation of the function of its assemblage is brought forward. Previously, the room’s content was interpreted in relation to feasting held outside of the palace or daily feeding of palace’s personnel. Starting with a detailed analysis of one particular shape, the two-handled krater, the possible use of room's assemblage for industrial activities, possibly perfumed-oil manufacture, is suggested.