DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0042
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
31
material of earth and rubble, were found numerous pieces of gold foil,
pointing to the deposit of precious objects in these cists at the time of
their original construction. Fragments of inlays composed of a native
faience also occurred, and in two cases bronze handles like that shown in
Hg. 24 below. Finds of this character were shortly to receive some more
striking illustrations.
The fact that in the Eighth Magazine the Kaselles had been entirely
concealed by a well compacted pavement, made it seem desirable to
remove some of the paving-slabs of the Long Gallery in order to ascertain
if the same system extended on that side.
This examination led to the surprising result indicated by the plan
and section in Fig. 15. It turned out that the greater part of the Long
Gallery was underlaid by a continuous series of deep stone cists. These
cists, which differed from those of the Magazines in that they consisted in
every case of a single chamber, are twenty-seven in number and belong to
two main classes—marked A and B in the plans and sections.
Type A, of which there is a series of seven, shows a narrower cell than
the other, and at the same time a more elaborate design (see Fig. 16).
This group, except for the absence of a horizontal slab, halfway down,
dividing the Kasella into an upper and lower compartment, is identical
with the cists of the Magazines. We see here the same elongated rectangular
plan, and similar details of construction, such as the groove in the bottom
slab into which the side slabs are fitted. There were also here found traces
of the same lead lining. A remarkable feature of these cists is the
systematic way in which their slabs are surrounded externally by a bed of
red earth which, to a thickness of about 12 centimetres, intervenes between
them and the retaining walls of masonry on either side, and to a lesser
thickness between them and the more massive gypsum slabs that divide the
Kaselles from one another. This red earth seems to have had particularly
absorbent qualities and to have been placed round the slabs as a means of
keeping off the damp. More rarely a backing of wood was found.
The Kaselles of Series A contained a good deal of carbonised wood
and the usual remains of gold foil. In the cist opposite to the pier between
Magazines 6 and 7 there occurred, in addition to this, some round and
crescent-shaped plaques of the native faience and others of bone for inlay-
ing. In the cist opposite the door-opening of Magazine 6, more abundant
remains of the same class were brought to light. Here was found a heap
31
material of earth and rubble, were found numerous pieces of gold foil,
pointing to the deposit of precious objects in these cists at the time of
their original construction. Fragments of inlays composed of a native
faience also occurred, and in two cases bronze handles like that shown in
Hg. 24 below. Finds of this character were shortly to receive some more
striking illustrations.
The fact that in the Eighth Magazine the Kaselles had been entirely
concealed by a well compacted pavement, made it seem desirable to
remove some of the paving-slabs of the Long Gallery in order to ascertain
if the same system extended on that side.
This examination led to the surprising result indicated by the plan
and section in Fig. 15. It turned out that the greater part of the Long
Gallery was underlaid by a continuous series of deep stone cists. These
cists, which differed from those of the Magazines in that they consisted in
every case of a single chamber, are twenty-seven in number and belong to
two main classes—marked A and B in the plans and sections.
Type A, of which there is a series of seven, shows a narrower cell than
the other, and at the same time a more elaborate design (see Fig. 16).
This group, except for the absence of a horizontal slab, halfway down,
dividing the Kasella into an upper and lower compartment, is identical
with the cists of the Magazines. We see here the same elongated rectangular
plan, and similar details of construction, such as the groove in the bottom
slab into which the side slabs are fitted. There were also here found traces
of the same lead lining. A remarkable feature of these cists is the
systematic way in which their slabs are surrounded externally by a bed of
red earth which, to a thickness of about 12 centimetres, intervenes between
them and the retaining walls of masonry on either side, and to a lesser
thickness between them and the more massive gypsum slabs that divide the
Kaselles from one another. This red earth seems to have had particularly
absorbent qualities and to have been placed round the slabs as a means of
keeping off the damp. More rarely a backing of wood was found.
The Kaselles of Series A contained a good deal of carbonised wood
and the usual remains of gold foil. In the cist opposite to the pier between
Magazines 6 and 7 there occurred, in addition to this, some round and
crescent-shaped plaques of the native faience and others of bone for inlay-
ing. In the cist opposite the door-opening of Magazine 6, more abundant
remains of the same class were brought to light. Here was found a heap