DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.805#0029
20 FROM CRETE AND THE PELOPONNESE. [289]
This form may perhaps be regarded as a later development of an. earlier
type of Cretan bead, the upper part of which is carved into the shape of
two Nerita shells lying end to end with a common whorl, a specimen of
which was found in the Phaestos deposit above referred to.
The other stones, which are of ordinary Mycenaean forms including the
lentoid type, are grouped with the above as Class V. The figures are taken
from casts, so that, assuming that the originals were seals, this gives the
right direction of the symbols. In some cases however it is not easy to
decide which way up the impression should be shown, and the order in
which the sides are arranged is for the most'part arbitrary. When one side
presents a single type of an evidently ideographic character it has been given the
first place, and at times a boustrophedon arrangement seems to be traceable.
In Fig. 23 for instance, the first side seems to run from right to left, the
second from left to right, and the third again from right to left. The
drawings were executed by Mr. F. Anderson with the guidance of magnified
photographs from casts, and the stones are in all cases enlarged to two
diameters. Effects due to the technique of the early gem-engraver's art,
such as the constant tendency to develop globular excrescences, must
be mentally deducted from the pictographs. Unless otherwise indicated, the
stones or their impressions were obtained in Crete by the writer.
This form may perhaps be regarded as a later development of an. earlier
type of Cretan bead, the upper part of which is carved into the shape of
two Nerita shells lying end to end with a common whorl, a specimen of
which was found in the Phaestos deposit above referred to.
The other stones, which are of ordinary Mycenaean forms including the
lentoid type, are grouped with the above as Class V. The figures are taken
from casts, so that, assuming that the originals were seals, this gives the
right direction of the symbols. In some cases however it is not easy to
decide which way up the impression should be shown, and the order in
which the sides are arranged is for the most'part arbitrary. When one side
presents a single type of an evidently ideographic character it has been given the
first place, and at times a boustrophedon arrangement seems to be traceable.
In Fig. 23 for instance, the first side seems to run from right to left, the
second from left to right, and the third again from right to left. The
drawings were executed by Mr. F. Anderson with the guidance of magnified
photographs from casts, and the stones are in all cases enlarged to two
diameters. Effects due to the technique of the early gem-engraver's art,
such as the constant tendency to develop globular excrescences, must
be mentally deducted from the pictographs. Unless otherwise indicated, the
stones or their impressions were obtained in Crete by the writer.