DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0022
2
CECIL SMITH
examination of the ground. Dümmler had carefully described the site,
which consisted of a necropolis of the Mycenaean period, pre-Mycenaean
graves, and on the edge of a cliff partly eaten away by the sea a prehistoric
settlement within strong walls of cyclopean masonry. The necropolis, as he
states, was completely cleared out at the time of the war of indepen-
dence; the prehistoric tombs in the tufa hill south-west of the town had
equally been excavated, but some at any rate more recently, as the traces of
excavation were still fresh when we arrived. The town itself had naturally
not escaped, but, being a bigger job, had not been seriously undertaken by
the excavators, who had contented themselves with a hole here and there,
which had already been sunk when Dümmler visited the site.
The main portion of the town covered the long gradual slope down-
wards to the east; apart from the fragments of pottery which littered
the surface, the traces of ancient occupation were not very noticeable in this
portion, consisting of stones which might be observed projecting here and
there from the soil, but showing occasional traces of regulär arrangement.
The more prominent part lay to the west at the highest point of the slope,
where unluckily, owing to the proximity of a soft tufa Stratum, the sea had
in course of time eroded a considerable slice of cliff and city. Here on the
west and south the strong walls of polygonal masonry were visible on their
outer face, standing uncovered on this side to a height of some metres above
the surface of the soil. Within the walls, a group of buildings remained still
undestroyed by the sea, occupying a width varying from 10 metres at the
western extremity to about 30 at the eastern end, at which point the edge
of the cliff takes a sharp trend in a northerly direction. It was in this
block that we first broke ground on May 7, 1896.
Düring the first season, owing to the fact that we were simultaneously
engaged in other parts of the island and that I was obliged to return to
England at the end of May, it was impossible to do- more than partly clear
this quarter, and make preparations for the regulär Organisation of our future
work ; but sufficient was disclosed to show that the mound covered the
remains of a prehistoric fortress of great size and importance. In one
particular respect, moreover, it promised results of especial interest. At that
time, with the exception of Hissarlik, no site had yet been excavated which
presented anything like a satisfactory conspectus of the relations in which
the primitive ' island' civilisation, the pre-Mycenaean, and the Mycenaean
stood to each other. Here was a large site which had evidently been con-
tinuously populous1 from the earliest times, which was abandoned during
the Mycenaean age, and which between these two limits exhibited in
regulär stratification the remains of the civilisations which had successively
occupied it.
The excavation of the site of Phylakopi occupied three further
seasons; at the close of the fourth season (1899) it was decided that the
1 In evidence of this Mr. Edgar remarks yielded between tun and twenty thousand
{B.8.A. v. p. 14) that 'an average day'swork fragments.'
CECIL SMITH
examination of the ground. Dümmler had carefully described the site,
which consisted of a necropolis of the Mycenaean period, pre-Mycenaean
graves, and on the edge of a cliff partly eaten away by the sea a prehistoric
settlement within strong walls of cyclopean masonry. The necropolis, as he
states, was completely cleared out at the time of the war of indepen-
dence; the prehistoric tombs in the tufa hill south-west of the town had
equally been excavated, but some at any rate more recently, as the traces of
excavation were still fresh when we arrived. The town itself had naturally
not escaped, but, being a bigger job, had not been seriously undertaken by
the excavators, who had contented themselves with a hole here and there,
which had already been sunk when Dümmler visited the site.
The main portion of the town covered the long gradual slope down-
wards to the east; apart from the fragments of pottery which littered
the surface, the traces of ancient occupation were not very noticeable in this
portion, consisting of stones which might be observed projecting here and
there from the soil, but showing occasional traces of regulär arrangement.
The more prominent part lay to the west at the highest point of the slope,
where unluckily, owing to the proximity of a soft tufa Stratum, the sea had
in course of time eroded a considerable slice of cliff and city. Here on the
west and south the strong walls of polygonal masonry were visible on their
outer face, standing uncovered on this side to a height of some metres above
the surface of the soil. Within the walls, a group of buildings remained still
undestroyed by the sea, occupying a width varying from 10 metres at the
western extremity to about 30 at the eastern end, at which point the edge
of the cliff takes a sharp trend in a northerly direction. It was in this
block that we first broke ground on May 7, 1896.
Düring the first season, owing to the fact that we were simultaneously
engaged in other parts of the island and that I was obliged to return to
England at the end of May, it was impossible to do- more than partly clear
this quarter, and make preparations for the regulär Organisation of our future
work ; but sufficient was disclosed to show that the mound covered the
remains of a prehistoric fortress of great size and importance. In one
particular respect, moreover, it promised results of especial interest. At that
time, with the exception of Hissarlik, no site had yet been excavated which
presented anything like a satisfactory conspectus of the relations in which
the primitive ' island' civilisation, the pre-Mycenaean, and the Mycenaean
stood to each other. Here was a large site which had evidently been con-
tinuously populous1 from the earliest times, which was abandoned during
the Mycenaean age, and which between these two limits exhibited in
regulär stratification the remains of the civilisations which had successively
occupied it.
The excavation of the site of Phylakopi occupied three further
seasons; at the close of the fourth season (1899) it was decided that the
1 In evidence of this Mr. Edgar remarks yielded between tun and twenty thousand
{B.8.A. v. p. 14) that 'an average day'swork fragments.'