A WALL-BRACKET FROM PHAISTOS

Abstract

The article discusses the wall bracket found at Phaistos by Luigi Pernier. The object was dated to historical time and published by the excavator without proper description together with other prehistoric vessels. Wall brackets are extremely rare in Greece; however, the increasing number of wall brackets in the Aegean and Greek mainland (especially at Tiryns) allows speculating on the chronology and the function of this isolated item. It is argued that the Phaistian wall bracket arrived in Crete between the end of Late Minoan IIIB and the beginning of IIIC, when wall brackets spread in the Mycenaean world. Finally, the paper discusses the hypotheses that the object reached southern Crete directly via Cyprus or through a Greek mainland intermediate.