146

C. C. EDGAR

and the interiör p'arts filled in with matt red.1 This was one of the few
fragments found in the megaron of the Palace.

It may be asked, if this pottery is so plentiful at Phylakopi and if
it supersedes the finer products of the local fabvics (v. p. 160), is it not likely
tliat at least some portion of it is native made. I do not think so. In
the first place the local wäre is quite different in composition from what
we have called the ' imported Mycenaean' kinds; it is comparatively
coarse, soft and porous. In the second place, amid the large mass of
'imported Mycenaean ' one cannot distiaguish any section in which the style
has any close affinity, anything more than a resemblance of the most general
kind, to the Melian style as illustrated on Pls. XIV.—XXX. We cannot
therefore admit that any of the pottery under discussion is of Melian
marmfacture except on the assumption that the new teclmique Avas intro-
duced from abroad in a perfected form and that an alien style was imported

Fla. 123.—Mycenaean Vase of comparativkj/v Eakly Style kko.m Phylakopi2 (l : 3).

along with it which remained entirely independent of the old-established
local style. The alternative conclusion—the truth of which is taken for
granted throughout this article—is tliat with increasing importation of
superior wäre tlie local school gradnally declined uhtü fhially all the better
painted pottery nsed in the settlement was bronght from elsewhere and
not hing was made on the spot except the most ordinary household vessels.

The question wlience this wäre was imported. is a more difficult one to
answer. The view expressed by V. and L. in 1887, tliat all the pottery of
this class comes from the Argolid, no longer holds the field. It is now
recognized as more probable tliat there were fabrics in various places;
no serious attempt however has yet been made to locate theni and dis-
tinguish between them. Grete has been suggested as the most probable
centre of manufacture in the earlier period and we natnrally think of Grete

1 Tlie samc teclmique occurs on a group of 2 Lustrous black paint. Restored.
Mycenaean vases from Grete.