DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.805#0114
105 THE HAGIOS ONUPHRIOS DEPOSIT.
THE SEPULCHRAL DEPOSIT OF HAGIOS ONUPHRIOS NEAR
PHAESTOS IN ITS RELATION TO PRIMITIVE CRETAN AND
AEGEAN CULTURE.
The Phaestos deposit so frequently referred to in the preceding pages1
is of such unique importance in the early archaeology of Crete and the Aegean
shores that a more detailed account of some of the objects found there will
not he out of place. The objects were found in a heap of human bones and
skulls at a spot on the hill of Hagios Onuphrios, which rises about a quarter
of a mile to the North of the double Akropolis of Phaestos. The find-spot, as
already noticed, was on the Southern slope of the hill just above the Khans
on the Dibaki road, and near the aqueduct of a mill. The deposit itself
belongs to the period of Aegean culture so well illustrated by the early
cemeteries of Amorgos, and to which the epithet ' Amorgan' may perhaps be
conveniently applied. It represents a series of interments probably covering
a considerable space of time, but the latest objects found, such as the painted
vases (Figs. 106—108) below, are still prae-Mycenaean in their character,
though showing some approximation to the earliest ceramic style of Thera.
The deposit is in fact a part of what was evidently a prehistoric Necropolis
of Phaestos.
Among the seal-stones found in this deposit a three-sided steatite of the
early type has been already engraved on p. 345 (Fig. 73), and the influence of
a Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian motive has been traced in part of the design.
Another quatrefoil seal i| given in Fig. 50 (p. 328) showing a fully-developed
spiral motive fitting on to the early Egyptian class. Several Egyptian scarabs
referred by experts to the same period were discovered. Amongst these is a
characteristic type of amethyst, though this, like the white steatite (Fig. 77),
is ornamented with plain circles. A more elaborate decoration into which
the spiral largely enters is seen in Fig. 78. Fig. 79 is a steatite bead-seal,
perhaps suggested by a form of shell, and is somewhat analogous to the class
described as ' cowroids/ while Fig. 80, with a similar leaf ornament, is carved
above into a convoluted relief which has been compared to two nerita shells
with a common whorl.2
The clay cylinder (Fig. 81) with side perforations is remarkable.
Unlike the Babylonian cylinders, it is engraved only at top and bottom. The
design above may perhaps be interpreted by the light of a better example of a
similar design on an early seal from the Heraeon at Argos3 as a man standing
before a large shield approaching the typical Mycenaean form.
1 See p. 14 (283) and 56 (325) seqq. indebted to Dr. Waldstein, Director of the ex-
2 Seep. 20(289). cavationsofthe American School at the Heraeon.
3 For the sight of an impression of this I am
THE SEPULCHRAL DEPOSIT OF HAGIOS ONUPHRIOS NEAR
PHAESTOS IN ITS RELATION TO PRIMITIVE CRETAN AND
AEGEAN CULTURE.
The Phaestos deposit so frequently referred to in the preceding pages1
is of such unique importance in the early archaeology of Crete and the Aegean
shores that a more detailed account of some of the objects found there will
not he out of place. The objects were found in a heap of human bones and
skulls at a spot on the hill of Hagios Onuphrios, which rises about a quarter
of a mile to the North of the double Akropolis of Phaestos. The find-spot, as
already noticed, was on the Southern slope of the hill just above the Khans
on the Dibaki road, and near the aqueduct of a mill. The deposit itself
belongs to the period of Aegean culture so well illustrated by the early
cemeteries of Amorgos, and to which the epithet ' Amorgan' may perhaps be
conveniently applied. It represents a series of interments probably covering
a considerable space of time, but the latest objects found, such as the painted
vases (Figs. 106—108) below, are still prae-Mycenaean in their character,
though showing some approximation to the earliest ceramic style of Thera.
The deposit is in fact a part of what was evidently a prehistoric Necropolis
of Phaestos.
Among the seal-stones found in this deposit a three-sided steatite of the
early type has been already engraved on p. 345 (Fig. 73), and the influence of
a Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian motive has been traced in part of the design.
Another quatrefoil seal i| given in Fig. 50 (p. 328) showing a fully-developed
spiral motive fitting on to the early Egyptian class. Several Egyptian scarabs
referred by experts to the same period were discovered. Amongst these is a
characteristic type of amethyst, though this, like the white steatite (Fig. 77),
is ornamented with plain circles. A more elaborate decoration into which
the spiral largely enters is seen in Fig. 78. Fig. 79 is a steatite bead-seal,
perhaps suggested by a form of shell, and is somewhat analogous to the class
described as ' cowroids/ while Fig. 80, with a similar leaf ornament, is carved
above into a convoluted relief which has been compared to two nerita shells
with a common whorl.2
The clay cylinder (Fig. 81) with side perforations is remarkable.
Unlike the Babylonian cylinders, it is engraved only at top and bottom. The
design above may perhaps be interpreted by the light of a better example of a
similar design on an early seal from the Heraeon at Argos3 as a man standing
before a large shield approaching the typical Mycenaean form.
1 See p. 14 (283) and 56 (325) seqq. indebted to Dr. Waldstein, Director of the ex-
2 Seep. 20(289). cavationsofthe American School at the Heraeon.
3 For the sight of an impression of this I am