DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0030
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
19
ochre. This class of plain geometric painted decoration, whether on a dark
or a light ground, precedes the curvilinear on the Cretan pottery, and it is
best to assign this special class to the Early as opposed to the Middle Minoan
Period when the decorative designs show a greater variety and complica-
tion. The fact that this class of ware was well represented in the base-
ment chamber must be taken to carry back the date of its construction to
an extremely early period.
This is corroborated by the further discovery of fragments of vases
showing a geometrical pattern in reddish-brown on a pale buff ground
belonging to the early class of painted ware found in the deposit described
in Section 16. The pattern was of the same form—two hatched obtuse
triangles joined at the apex—as those of the other deposit, where they
were found side by side with their incised prototypes.1
§ 5.—Middle Min6an Vases and Sealings from Earlier
Palace Floor-Level Beneath Room of Olive Press.
Already in 1902 the North-East corner of the Room of the Olive Press
had been excavated to the Earlier Palace level, and in part to the Neolithic
stratum below it. This work was now continued and the whole Eastern
section of the room dug out to the Earlier Palace floor-level which lies
about 3 20 metres beneath that of the Olive Press Room itself. Immedi-
ately above this earlier level, from about three metres below the later
pavement, were found abundant remains of the fine polychrome ware that
characterises the Middle Minoan Period. In elegance of form some of
these vases may be thought to surpass any known examples of this
exquisite class of ceramic fabric. Especially remarkable is a type, found
here for the first time, showing a crinkled quatrefoil outline with two
delicately modelled handles. An almost perfect specimen of one of these
vessels in seen in PI. II. Fig. 2a-b. The ground colouring is here a pale
buff with festoons and other designs in black, white, and deep red. An
extraordinarily beautiful feature is the introduction into the design of
bosses of deep red colour imitating the thorns of a briar rose.
Other more fragmentary specimens show modifications of the same
thorn-bossed type of vessel. A good many fragments also exhibit poly-
1 See below, pp. 96-98, and Fig, 66.
C 2
19
ochre. This class of plain geometric painted decoration, whether on a dark
or a light ground, precedes the curvilinear on the Cretan pottery, and it is
best to assign this special class to the Early as opposed to the Middle Minoan
Period when the decorative designs show a greater variety and complica-
tion. The fact that this class of ware was well represented in the base-
ment chamber must be taken to carry back the date of its construction to
an extremely early period.
This is corroborated by the further discovery of fragments of vases
showing a geometrical pattern in reddish-brown on a pale buff ground
belonging to the early class of painted ware found in the deposit described
in Section 16. The pattern was of the same form—two hatched obtuse
triangles joined at the apex—as those of the other deposit, where they
were found side by side with their incised prototypes.1
§ 5.—Middle Min6an Vases and Sealings from Earlier
Palace Floor-Level Beneath Room of Olive Press.
Already in 1902 the North-East corner of the Room of the Olive Press
had been excavated to the Earlier Palace level, and in part to the Neolithic
stratum below it. This work was now continued and the whole Eastern
section of the room dug out to the Earlier Palace floor-level which lies
about 3 20 metres beneath that of the Olive Press Room itself. Immedi-
ately above this earlier level, from about three metres below the later
pavement, were found abundant remains of the fine polychrome ware that
characterises the Middle Minoan Period. In elegance of form some of
these vases may be thought to surpass any known examples of this
exquisite class of ceramic fabric. Especially remarkable is a type, found
here for the first time, showing a crinkled quatrefoil outline with two
delicately modelled handles. An almost perfect specimen of one of these
vessels in seen in PI. II. Fig. 2a-b. The ground colouring is here a pale
buff with festoons and other designs in black, white, and deep red. An
extraordinarily beautiful feature is the introduction into the design of
bosses of deep red colour imitating the thorns of a briar rose.
Other more fragmentary specimens show modifications of the same
thorn-bossed type of vessel. A good many fragments also exhibit poly-
1 See below, pp. 96-98, and Fig, 66.
C 2