DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0051
40
A. J. Evans
reposing on the neolithic stratum, which forms the usual bed of the pave-
ment hereabouts, they were underlaid by comparatively loose earth.
Further exploration showed that we had to do here with an excep-
tionally capacious cist or large stone repository containing a variety of
relics belonging to the conclusion of the first period of the Later Palace,
and many of which for beauty and interest equalled and in some respects
surpassed anything found during the whole course of the four seasons'
excavations.
The contents showed a distinct stratification. The surface earth of
the deposit was of a reddish terracotta colour due to the action of fire
through the floor, the presence of oil in the chamber above having no
doubt rendered the conflagration here intensive. Deeper down the earth
was darker, with an intermixture of rubble and charred wood together
with some fragments of gold foil. From the surface of the deposit down-
wards to a depth of about no metre, there lay closely packed together
a quantity of vases, the two prevailing types being the amphora and the
pitcher.
As will be shown below, those of indigenous fabric presented for
the most part white spiral designs on a dark ground, and answered to
vases of the kind found in the closed lower section of the Kaselles in the
Fourth Magazine, and in the Plaster Closet of the South-Eastern Quarter,
belonging to the end of the first period of the Later Palace. Among those
of the other class, with brown decoration on a buff ground, it will be seen
below that some at least were imported.
At about no metre down a change took place in the character
of the deposit. The pottery ceased, and the earth grew fatter and more
compact. In this stratum, which lay, to a depth of about 42 centimetres,
immediately above the floor of the repository, abundant fragments of
faience began to come to light together with other perfect objects of the
same material. The whole, as will be shown in more detail below (see 5j§ 13,
14), formed a wholly unique collection of objets d' art, executed with extra-
ordinary skill in this indigenous kind of porcelain, the fabric, but not the
forms of which must have been learnt from Egypt. This faience series
included figures of a Snake Goddess and votaries, their votive robes and
girdles, cups and vases with painted designs, flowers, fruit, foliage, and
shells in the round, small reliefs of cows and calves and wild goats with
their kids, a variety of plaques for inlaying, and quantities of beads.
A. J. Evans
reposing on the neolithic stratum, which forms the usual bed of the pave-
ment hereabouts, they were underlaid by comparatively loose earth.
Further exploration showed that we had to do here with an excep-
tionally capacious cist or large stone repository containing a variety of
relics belonging to the conclusion of the first period of the Later Palace,
and many of which for beauty and interest equalled and in some respects
surpassed anything found during the whole course of the four seasons'
excavations.
The contents showed a distinct stratification. The surface earth of
the deposit was of a reddish terracotta colour due to the action of fire
through the floor, the presence of oil in the chamber above having no
doubt rendered the conflagration here intensive. Deeper down the earth
was darker, with an intermixture of rubble and charred wood together
with some fragments of gold foil. From the surface of the deposit down-
wards to a depth of about no metre, there lay closely packed together
a quantity of vases, the two prevailing types being the amphora and the
pitcher.
As will be shown below, those of indigenous fabric presented for
the most part white spiral designs on a dark ground, and answered to
vases of the kind found in the closed lower section of the Kaselles in the
Fourth Magazine, and in the Plaster Closet of the South-Eastern Quarter,
belonging to the end of the first period of the Later Palace. Among those
of the other class, with brown decoration on a buff ground, it will be seen
below that some at least were imported.
At about no metre down a change took place in the character
of the deposit. The pottery ceased, and the earth grew fatter and more
compact. In this stratum, which lay, to a depth of about 42 centimetres,
immediately above the floor of the repository, abundant fragments of
faience began to come to light together with other perfect objects of the
same material. The whole, as will be shown in more detail below (see 5j§ 13,
14), formed a wholly unique collection of objets d' art, executed with extra-
ordinary skill in this indigenous kind of porcelain, the fabric, but not the
forms of which must have been learnt from Egypt. This faience series
included figures of a Snake Goddess and votaries, their votive robes and
girdles, cups and vases with painted designs, flowers, fruit, foliage, and
shells in the round, small reliefs of cows and calves and wild goats with
their kids, a variety of plaques for inlaying, and quantities of beads.