The Ta tablets are a sequence of Linear B paperwork from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos that stock vessels, hearth implements, slaughtering paraphernalia, and furnishings. This article argues that every one the tools documented on the Ta tablets pertains to a single large-scale ritual cattle sacrifice and was not tools for the banquet that might have adopted the sacrifice. The argument is rooted in a reanalysis of the tables listed on the Ta tablets that concludes that they have been used for the slaughter and butchery of sacrificial cattle. Discussion proceeds from there to the sacrificial ritual use of the different gadgets listed on the Ta tablets. Finally, speculative conclusions are drawn about the political ceremony that employed these objects and a doable smaller occasion going down inside the bigger ceremony. This examine attracts on a variety of sources, together with different supplies present in the similar archival room, related iconography, archaeological comparanda, experimental archaeology, and a examine of comparative butchery strategies.
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