Inside many of these single-story dwellings were rooms ornamented with colorful pigments, animal heads,
bucrania (bovine skulls), and horns embedded in stylized bulls' heads or attached to benches and pillars.
The representation of
bucrania, garland, and human figures, female and male leads us to suppose they were remarkable funeral objects even in their time, made for the benefit of an aristocratic family and the descendants of those interred.
Now referred to as the
bucrania (ox-skull) pattern, its components originated in classical architecture, where they were used to adorn funeral monuments.
(43) The association between cattle and ritual contexts--indicative of prestige display, sacrifice, and high-status feasting--is further illustrated by the well-known Vounous model and other rare representational ceramic models that were deposited in a small number of tombs and portray
bucrania. Similarly, bovine protomes on bowls and spouted jugs denote the symbolic significance and ceremonial consumption of cattle.
Gitin's sketch of the historical background and pattern of diffusion for the horned altar seems consonant with the traditional view that understands Cretan culture in its heyday as a mosaic of cultic features, artistic motifs, and attendant rituals (e.g., the sacral horns, double axe, dove and spiral motifs, snake worship, Mother Goddess figure,
bucrania, tholos, etc.) that mostly originated in northern Syria-Mesopotamia.