1 Among the various scholars now prefering this definition, Schoep 2002.

2 See, above all, the contributions in Hägg and Marinatos 1987 and in the more updated Driessen et al. 2002.

3 See the Introduction to Driessen et al. 2002, x; for the relevance of consumption in Protopalatial Knossos, Day and Wilson 1998.

4 Levi 1976 and Levi and Carinci 1988.

5 See, for the Protopalatial period, e.g., Speziale 2001; Carinci 2006, 2011a; Militello 2012; Caloi 2013.

6 Baldacci 2010; for the data already published, see Levi 1976, 602–29.

7 With a general archaeological and ethnographic approach, Dietler and Hayden 2001; with a special focus on Aegean and Minoan Archaeology, Day and Wilson 1998; Hamilakis 1999; Halstead and Barrett 2004; Hitchcock et al. 2008.

8 Halstead and Barrett 2004, 6.

9 On the relationship between objects, places where they were used and archaeological findspots, see La Motta and Schiffer 1999, esp. 20.

10 See Hamilakis 2008, 5, n. 10.

11 For the Protopalatial period, only two major groups of animal bones are known at Phaistos: the one from the so-called fossa pei sacrifizi (Pernier 1935, 207) and the other from Palace room LXII (Levi 1976, 108). Another quite consistent group of faunal remains, now fully studied by S. Masala (Appendix in Baldacci 2010) came from the lower levels of room CVII of the Acropoli Mediana (in secondary deposition).

12 The only floor assemblage known preceding MM IIB is that of Haghia Photeini, room β (Levi 1976, 636–44 and Caloi 2005).

13 In Protopalatial Phaistos the canonical foundation deposit is constituted by upside-down flaring bowls (piattelli), which likely reflect a ceremony connected with food consumption (La Rosa 2002, esp. 46).

14 Baldacci 2011. The most striking cases are the deposits found in two benches, that of corridoio III/7 (Carinci and La Rosa 2007, 97–8; Todaro 2009, 128–30; 2013, 93–7), and that of room IL (Caloi 2012), which have been interpreted as the remains of feasting events.

15 La Rosa 1995.

16 Carinci and La Rosa 2001, 523–24; 2007, 86.

17 Pernier 1935.

18 Levi 1976; see also Levi and Carinci 1988, where part of the vessels listed by Levi is discussed on typological basis.

19 For some theoretical problems, with a special focus on LM I architecture, see Hallager 1990; Michailidou 1990.

20 As far as the palace is concerned, Levi interpreted the three levels that he recovered in the South-West wing as the remains of three chronologically distinct buildings (in other words, the three phases that he identified were both architectural and ceramic). This reconstruction, highly criticized by scholars who thought that the three levels corresponded to different storeys (for a summary of the question, see Van de Moortel 2006, 267–70), has now been definitively abandoned (Riva and Signorini 2001; Carinci and La Rosa 2007).

21 For a theoretical discussion about the role of the non-built spaces and their public and private status, see Palyvou 2004.

22 See Militello 2012, esp. 255–56.

23 Marinatos 1987; Carinci 2001, 58–60; see also Hitchcock 2000, 63–8.

24 See Palyvou 2003, 228 and, with a special focus on formation processes, La Motta and Schiffer 1999.

25 Militello (forthcoming). For the publication data, relating to the two areas, see Pernier 1935 and Levi 1976.

26 Carinci 2006; see also Palio 2008, 207–21.

27 Pernier 1935, 195–208; see also Gesell 1985, 123–24.

28 On accesses to the lower West court and their changes in time, see Tomasello 1999; Carinci 2006, 24.

29 Levi 1976, 38–43, 69–72. Also connected with the palace accesses is room LVII, which opened on corridor LVI and, with a window on its western side, overlooks the middle West court. The room, which Levi (1976, 72–4) described as the porter’s lodge, is quite humble. The finds recovered (a hearth, a grinder with pestles, a stone basin likely used to contain water) suggest that some preparation activities took place there; however, a limited consumption of food and drink is not excluded, as an unpainted cup and bowl were found, along with some pouring vessels.

30 Levi 1976, 74–8, 110–12. Room LIII led to the two different East sectors of the central block, while LVIIIa was the access room to a storage area, containing pithoi.

31 Besides having a small cupboard set in the wall, another cupboard was accessible from room LIII. It was located under the staircase which led to room LV and contained a lot of ceramic material (Levi 1976, 91–6): fineware cups, conical cups and lip cups, some spouted jars and jugs, cooking pots and various containing vessels; among the vases was also the renowned “bowl of the Snake Goddess” (Levi 1976, 96, fig. 120, pls. LXVIIa, 160 b–c). It is not clear if this material must be seen as a set to be used on isolated occasions or as general stock of the palace: however, due to the reduced dimensions of room LIII, it is unlikely that all the vases of the cupboard were used there at the same time (the preserved cups listed by Levi are 46 in number).

32 A set of four straight sided cups laid near the eastern door, leading to room IL, but they were found 30 cm above the floor level, mixed with astraki, and could likely belong to the original assemblage of the first storey; just one cup was found on the floor beneath the cupboard, but it is not clear if it had fallen from the upper level (Levi 1976, 42). However, the material stored in the cupboard set in the South side of the passage from L to room IL, which also comprised three straight sided cups (Levi 1976, 55), could likely be related to the actions which took place in the corridor (on the possible use of this assemblage, see Carinci 2011a, 76–8).

33 On the control activities in the palace accesses, see also Palio 2004, 20 and 2008, 208–10.

34 Levi 1976, 43–69.

35 Carinci 2011a.

36 Carinci 2011a.

37 For the stone vases, see Palio 2008, 214–20.

38 Militello 2001b, 196–97.

39 Levi 1976, 83–91. For the paintings, see Militello 2001a, 45–6.

40 See also Carinci 2006, 28–9.

41 For the stone set, see Palio 2008, 214, 219.

42 Gesell 1985, 11–2; Carinci 2006, 28–30; Palio 2008, 219.

43 Levi 1976, 97–110.

44 See Palio 2008, 215, 219.

45 Carinci 2005 and 2011b, 108–9.

46 Militello 2001a, 49–50.

47 With the exception of room LVII (Levi 1976, 72), actual hearths have not been detected inside the palace rooms, where cooking activities are attested by the presence of braziers.

48 Room LXII is the biggest of the South-West quarter: even if it has only partially been excavated, its large size is still evident by the length of the West side (6 m), entirely preserved.

49 See, for comparison, room XV in the North-West sector of the palace which Pernier (1935, 263–64) describes as a light-well or a small court. The possibility that also here some cooking activities took place is suggested by the recovery of a cooking pot.

50 Levi 1957–1958, 198–200.

51 Palio 2008, 220–21.

52 Rooms LVIII, LIX, LX, LIV, LXI, LXIII, LXV: see Levi 1976, 110–51.

53 Room LVIIIa–e (Levi 1976, 110–20).

54 See, in particular, Carinci and La Rosa 2001.

55 Levi 1976, 121–29.

56 5,5 x 2,8 m.

57 The majority of the vases recovered were placed inside a cupboard (Levi 1976, 126–27). Room LIX communicates with the southernmost sector of the wing, which comprised three small rooms (LXI, LXIII and LXV): the material included a large amount of tableware (ca. 20 conical cups, cups, pouring vessels), with a particular concentration on rooms LXI and LXIII benches (Baldacci forthcoming). Only two middle-sized containing vessels (amphoriskoi) were recovered. On the basis of the material found, it seems likely that the three small rooms were specialized storerooms (see also Branigan 1987) for small and middle-sized vessels, probably to be used in the next room (LIX). However, these materials belong to the MM IIB phase preceding the “phase of the shrines” and thus they cannot be directly related to the last organization (and relating assemblage) of room LIX.

58 In Levi’s opinion (Levi 1976, 122–23), it contained water used for ablutions by visitors arriving at the palace, who stopped in this “waiting room”.

59 A bird’s nest bowl also comes from room LIX, a shape that Palio (2004, 20; 2008, 208–10) links to the palace entrances.

60 Levi 1976, 130–33; Carinci and La Rosa 2001, 506, 516–24.

61 Levi 1976, 133–37, 224–30; see also Carinci and La Rosa 2001, 494–506, 516–24.

62 Pernier 1935.

63 Pernier 1935, 239–46.

64 Pernier 1935, 271–75.

65 Pernier 1935, 255–71.

66 All these rooms connect on a North-South axis and opened, to the East, to court/light-well XV and access room XIX: it is not possible to exclude that pottery was used here.

67 Pernier 1935, 195–208; see also Gesell 1985, 123–24.

68 Carinci 2005.

69 The shrines overlooking the middle West court, due to their architectural organization they are counted among Cretan bench sanctuaries. On the rites taking place in the shrines and on the benches function, see Gesell 1985, 11, 120–24; 1987, 123–24; Marinatos 1993, 98–100.

70 Pernier 1935, 196, 230–32; Metaxa Muhly 1984; Marinatos 1993, 98–100.

71 Pernier 1935, 204–5.

72 Pernier 1935, 207–8, 217–18.

73 Pernier 1935, 219–38.

74 Palio 2008, 222.

75 Palio 2008, 222–23.

76 Levi 1976, 421–700; see also La Rosa 1998–2000.

77 A maximum of 5 painted cups, 11 conical cups and 10 flaring bowls is recorded in room delta – epsilon in Chalara: see Levi 1976, 666–69.

78 See the list of the benches in the town area in Baldacci 2011, 313, n. 3.

79 Levi 1976, 512–36; Speziale 2001.

80 Speziale 2001, 159–62, 164–65.

81 Speziale 2001, 162–64.

82 Speziale 2001, 162.

83 See Militello 2012, 256.

84 Levi 1976, 601–29; Baldacci 2010.

85 The exact location of the vases has been hypothesized on the basis of the daybooks, of the data relating to the inventoried pots and, for the sherds stored at the stratigraphic Museum of Phastos, on the basis of the boxes’ labels.

86 On the multi-functional nature of the Minoan conical cups, see Gillis 1990, esp. 133–35; Knappett 1999, 418–19.

87 The fire-boxes’ function has been much debated: see Evely 2000, 538–41.

88 An exact estimate of the ratio of plain pots to fine ones is not possible, as some vessels will have fallen from the upper storey (it is surely the case of the two egg-shell cups F 6147 and F 6148, see Levi 1976, pls. La, XLVIIa, XLVIIIb, as is possible to argue on the basis of the find spots of the fragments).

89 F 6150b and F 6150c, from CVI (Levi 1976, pls. 124b, 125i; Levi and Carinci 1988, pl. 84l).

90 F 6211, from CVI (Levi 1976, 611, fig. 985; Levi and Carinci 1988, pl. 81i).

91 See the deposit A from Knossos Early Magazine A (MM IB), which however represents a pottery store or pantry (Macdonald and Knappett 2007, 161–65) and the deposit from Petras – Lakkos (MM IB) (Haggis 2007).

92 For its ample dimensions (8,50 x 1,80 m), its building technique and fine finishes (alabaster floor and bench, painted stucco).

93 Some comparative elements with the crypte hypostyle of Mallia (see Amouretti 1970; van Effenterre 1980, 189–95) have been pointed out. At Mallia in Quartier Mu, another room, endowed with a three-side stuccoed bench, has been identified as a lieu de consommation (Poursat and Knappett 2005, 173), but it does not show peculiar dimensions or finishes as room CVII at Phaistos does.

94 Levi 1976, 425; see also Schoep 2004, 261.

95 The calculation has been made measuring the total linear length of the benches, and dividing it by 0,60 m, which could constitute the unity for a single seat. An analogous calculation has been done by Gesell (1987), in order to define the potential number of people seated in other Phaistos rooms endowed with benches.

* I would like to thank Prof. D. Panagiotopoulos and his staff for the excellent organization of the Congress and the other participants who discussed with me the subject of the present paper. Thanks also to Prof. F. Carinci and to the anonymous referees, who improved my text with useful observations.