DOI Artikel:
Earle, Mortimer Lamson: [Papers supplementary to Vol. V]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0057
DISCOVERY OF A TEMPLE OF ARCHAIC PLAN.
45
many found on the Acropolis and elsewhere; parts of two horses (?)
of archaic type (like those found at Tiryns and Mycenae), one frag-
ment showing traces of painting; and over thirty lenticular clay spin-
ning-whorls, 0.05 m. across. The figurine was found near the n. k.
angle, the horse fragments, one near the s. w., the other near the n. e.
angle, and the whorls along the Avail C. A few heads, fragments of
glass, a small copper coin of Licinius (307 a. d.), and a piece appar-
ently of a human jaw-bone, were also met with, the last at a depth of
over a metre at the n. e. angle. Inside the building and along the
outside of the wall II, we came upon a layer of blackened earth, a few
centimetres thick, and lying on the rock. Fragments of coarse, red,
uuglazcd pottery were met with in this layer, but no bronze.
All the remaining walls, with the exception of the blocks compos-
ing N and 0 (which are of a coarse gray conglomerate marble), are
built of smoothly cut blocks of poros7 stone. This is a very soft,
nearly white, friable, finely grained limestone, apparently deposited
from water, and resembling some of the Roman travertine. Though
almost chalky and readily scratched with the finger-nail on a fresh
surface, it hardens very decidedly on exposure to the air, darkening
considerably and becoming a dirty yellow.8
The main axis of the building lies e. 10° s. (magnetic); its total
exterior length is 49.90 m.; its exterior width, 16.70 m.
The outer wall, AHQL, 2.55 m. wide, is built of smoothly cut blocks,
2.55 m. long, 1.20 m. wide, and 0.40 m. high, laid without clamps or
mortar, and fitted so closely that on the upper surface it is difficult to
distinguish the joints. The lowest course rests on the bed-rock, a very
shallow, flat trench having been cut for its reception. The greatest
7 There is great lack of definiteness in the use of the word poros, which is made
to include almost all soft, light-colored stones, not palpably marble or hard limestone.
In the majority of cases it is a sort of travertine, again a shell-conglomerate, and
occasionally a sandstone or some decomposed rock, containing serpentine or other
hydrated minerals. Mr. Ernest Gardner, in the Journal of Hellenic Studies for
1890 (p. 2G3 note), speaks of this indefiniteness. Some proper understanding should
be arrived at on the subject, and the different kinds better discriminated, as in some
cases the dillerences are important. Cf. Neumann andPABTSOH, Phys, Geog. Griech.,
p. 2G1 and note 1; Lepsius, Griech. Marmorstudien, p. 117.
8 Chemical tests showed the presence of small quantities of iron, which gives the
color, and also some alumina and magnesia, but it is nearly pure calcium carbonate,
in the form of aragonite. Tli is poros probably comes from a ridge, which runs down
to the north from Mt. Cithaeron, about 11 mile east of the plateau, and on which
stands the chapel of Synalipsi (sic).
45
many found on the Acropolis and elsewhere; parts of two horses (?)
of archaic type (like those found at Tiryns and Mycenae), one frag-
ment showing traces of painting; and over thirty lenticular clay spin-
ning-whorls, 0.05 m. across. The figurine was found near the n. k.
angle, the horse fragments, one near the s. w., the other near the n. e.
angle, and the whorls along the Avail C. A few heads, fragments of
glass, a small copper coin of Licinius (307 a. d.), and a piece appar-
ently of a human jaw-bone, were also met with, the last at a depth of
over a metre at the n. e. angle. Inside the building and along the
outside of the wall II, we came upon a layer of blackened earth, a few
centimetres thick, and lying on the rock. Fragments of coarse, red,
uuglazcd pottery were met with in this layer, but no bronze.
All the remaining walls, with the exception of the blocks compos-
ing N and 0 (which are of a coarse gray conglomerate marble), are
built of smoothly cut blocks of poros7 stone. This is a very soft,
nearly white, friable, finely grained limestone, apparently deposited
from water, and resembling some of the Roman travertine. Though
almost chalky and readily scratched with the finger-nail on a fresh
surface, it hardens very decidedly on exposure to the air, darkening
considerably and becoming a dirty yellow.8
The main axis of the building lies e. 10° s. (magnetic); its total
exterior length is 49.90 m.; its exterior width, 16.70 m.
The outer wall, AHQL, 2.55 m. wide, is built of smoothly cut blocks,
2.55 m. long, 1.20 m. wide, and 0.40 m. high, laid without clamps or
mortar, and fitted so closely that on the upper surface it is difficult to
distinguish the joints. The lowest course rests on the bed-rock, a very
shallow, flat trench having been cut for its reception. The greatest
7 There is great lack of definiteness in the use of the word poros, which is made
to include almost all soft, light-colored stones, not palpably marble or hard limestone.
In the majority of cases it is a sort of travertine, again a shell-conglomerate, and
occasionally a sandstone or some decomposed rock, containing serpentine or other
hydrated minerals. Mr. Ernest Gardner, in the Journal of Hellenic Studies for
1890 (p. 2G3 note), speaks of this indefiniteness. Some proper understanding should
be arrived at on the subject, and the different kinds better discriminated, as in some
cases the dillerences are important. Cf. Neumann andPABTSOH, Phys, Geog. Griech.,
p. 2G1 and note 1; Lepsius, Griech. Marmorstudien, p. 117.
8 Chemical tests showed the presence of small quantities of iron, which gives the
color, and also some alumina and magnesia, but it is nearly pure calcium carbonate,
in the form of aragonite. Tli is poros probably comes from a ridge, which runs down
to the north from Mt. Cithaeron, about 11 mile east of the plateau, and on which
stands the chapel of Synalipsi (sic).