The Early Iron Age cemeteries of Knossos, Crete, represent the richest source of archaeological material at the site for the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the emergence of the Archaic polis, or city-state. However, despite well-published excavation reports on the two largest burial grounds and studies dealing with various artefacts and individual tombs therein, no substantial comparative, quantitative analysis has yet been published. Such an analysis is provided here, examining both the synchronic and diachronic variation among the tombs of these two cemeteries. Through a range of quantitative techniques, this study isolates two significant patterns of burial among the largest tombs at both cemeteries and considers the broader social contexts within which these were constructed and used. The relationship between the patrons of these tombs and the development of the city-state of Knossos is also discussed. This paper demonstrates the potential for quantitative analyses to contribute to nuanced, context-specific theories of social practice, and advocates their wider application to the archaeological record of the Cretan Early Iron Age. It also serves as a demonstration of maximal research reproducibility, with the full datasets and code underpinning the analysis made freely available to download and use.

克里特岛克诺索斯的早期铁器时代墓地代表了该遗址最丰富的考古材料来源，从青铜时代末期到古代城邦出现之间的时期，或城邦。然而，尽管关于两个最大的墓地的发掘报告和关于其中各种文物和单个墓葬的研究已经发表，但尚未发表实质性的比较、定量分析。这里提供了这样的分析，检查这两个墓地墓葬之间的共时和历时变化。通过一系列定量技术，本研究在两个墓地最大的墓葬中分离出两种重要的墓葬模式，并考虑了建造和使用这些墓葬的更广泛的社会背景。还讨论了这些墓葬的赞助人与克诺索斯城邦发展之间的关系。本文展示了定量分析有助于细微差别的潜力，特定情境的社会实践理论，并主张将其更广泛地应用于克里特岛早期铁器时代的考古记录。它还作为最大研究可重复性的证明，支持分析的完整数据集和代码可免费下载和使用。