DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0062
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
Melos this ceramic type is at home, and the successive stages of its evolu-
tion from the skin-shaped prototype can be traced in the early strata of
Phylakopi itself, and in the tombs of Pelos.
The course of the obsidian trade had brought Crete already in Neo-
lithic times into intimate relations with Melos, and the occurrence in
different strata of Phylakopi of imported potter)- belonging to the succes-
sive stages of Minoan ceramic art, as well as of their indigenous imitations,
shows how great was the Cretan influence on the smaller island.1 During
the special period to which the Palace Repositories belong, this influence
is further illustrated by the fresco of the flying fish which, if not actually a
Knossian importation, is beyond all doubt a work of the Knossian School.2
There is moreover the further suggestive circumstance that the Minoan linear
characters—in one case even, it would appear, a Minoan personal name,—
appear incised on the contemporary Melian pottery.:! The evidence of
the importation of Melian vases at this time into Crete has therefore a
peculiar interest as indicating that at a time of ceramic transition, marked
by the close of the first period of the Knossian Palace, a counter influence
from the Aegean side was making itself felt.
How far, one is tempted to ask, may this Cycladic influence have also
had a political side ? Were these intrusive Aegean relations in any way
contributary to the Palace catastrophe that marked the close of this epoch ?
§ 11.—The Temple Repositories: The Clay Documents and
Seal Impressions.
The lower stratum of the Eastern Repository containing the porcelain
and other precious objects also yielded a large number of seal impressions
and a few inscribed clay documents. These latter, consisting of a small
tablet inscribed on both sides, a clay label, and two clay disks with seal
impressions round their edges, have an importance as regards the history of
the Cretan scripts out of all proportion to their numbers.
The characters, as will be seen from the tablet shown in Fig. 27, are
of the linear class, but they differ from the ordinary linear characters as
1 For a fuller exposition of this ceramic influence i must refer to Dr. Mackenzie's paper in the
forthcoming work on the Excavations of the British School at Phylakopi.
'2 See Report, &c, 1902, p. 58.
3 See my note on the Marks on the Melian pottery in the forthcoming publication on
Phylakopi referred to above.
e 2
Melos this ceramic type is at home, and the successive stages of its evolu-
tion from the skin-shaped prototype can be traced in the early strata of
Phylakopi itself, and in the tombs of Pelos.
The course of the obsidian trade had brought Crete already in Neo-
lithic times into intimate relations with Melos, and the occurrence in
different strata of Phylakopi of imported potter)- belonging to the succes-
sive stages of Minoan ceramic art, as well as of their indigenous imitations,
shows how great was the Cretan influence on the smaller island.1 During
the special period to which the Palace Repositories belong, this influence
is further illustrated by the fresco of the flying fish which, if not actually a
Knossian importation, is beyond all doubt a work of the Knossian School.2
There is moreover the further suggestive circumstance that the Minoan linear
characters—in one case even, it would appear, a Minoan personal name,—
appear incised on the contemporary Melian pottery.:! The evidence of
the importation of Melian vases at this time into Crete has therefore a
peculiar interest as indicating that at a time of ceramic transition, marked
by the close of the first period of the Knossian Palace, a counter influence
from the Aegean side was making itself felt.
How far, one is tempted to ask, may this Cycladic influence have also
had a political side ? Were these intrusive Aegean relations in any way
contributary to the Palace catastrophe that marked the close of this epoch ?
§ 11.—The Temple Repositories: The Clay Documents and
Seal Impressions.
The lower stratum of the Eastern Repository containing the porcelain
and other precious objects also yielded a large number of seal impressions
and a few inscribed clay documents. These latter, consisting of a small
tablet inscribed on both sides, a clay label, and two clay disks with seal
impressions round their edges, have an importance as regards the history of
the Cretan scripts out of all proportion to their numbers.
The characters, as will be seen from the tablet shown in Fig. 27, are
of the linear class, but they differ from the ordinary linear characters as
1 For a fuller exposition of this ceramic influence i must refer to Dr. Mackenzie's paper in the
forthcoming work on the Excavations of the British School at Phylakopi.
'2 See Report, &c, 1902, p. 58.
3 See my note on the Marks on the Melian pottery in the forthcoming publication on
Phylakopi referred to above.
e 2