DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0105
94
A. J. Evans
early Cretan culture in the East Mediterranean basin, the evidences of
which are constantly accumulating, opens out possibilities on which
it is here unnecessary to insist. It must, moreover, be borne in mind that
the equal-limbed Eastern Cross retains the symbolic form of the primitive
star-sign, as we see it attached to the service of the Minoan divinities.
§ 16.—Deposit with 'Early Minoan' Ceramic Types.
The platform on which almost the whole of the Western wing of the
Later Palace rests represents the planing off of earlier strata, including
the top layers of the Neolithic deposit. The floor levels of ' the Later
Palace' thus rest directly on the Neolithic clay, very little belonging to the
earlier, intervening Minoan Age being traceable, except where such
remains were found in pits or cists excavated, during that intermediate
time, in the original Stone Age deposit. A small pit of this kind was
found immediately under the pavement of the entrance to the ' Room of
the Stone Vats' that opens on the North side of the East Pillar Room,
the contents of which proved to have an exceptional value in illustrating
the character of the Minoan culture that followed directly on the
Neolithic.
The bulk of the contents of the pit, which descends to the depth of
about a metre, belonged to the actual period of transition and to the
beginning of the Cretan metal age, to which the name of ' Early Minoan '
may conveniently be given. Superposed, however, on these earlier remains
were a certain number of objects which come at least within the limits
of the first part of the succeeding ' Middle Minoan ' Age, when the
Ceramic art was more fully developed and the fine ' egg-shell' ware was
already coming into use.
To this later, Middle Minoan, element of the deposit unquestionably
belonged :
(1) Some fragments of clay seal-impressions. One with part of a pictographic
inscription (arrow sign alone clear : somewhat archaic form); another with ribbed
circular border often found on ' signets' of the period; another with part of a
pattern of the same class as others found in the Earlier Palace chamber beneath
the Olive Press Room.
(2) A cup (Fig. 65/) of inverted conical shape with a flat base, very slightly
concave below. The outer surface of the cup is covered with a black slip on which
A. J. Evans
early Cretan culture in the East Mediterranean basin, the evidences of
which are constantly accumulating, opens out possibilities on which
it is here unnecessary to insist. It must, moreover, be borne in mind that
the equal-limbed Eastern Cross retains the symbolic form of the primitive
star-sign, as we see it attached to the service of the Minoan divinities.
§ 16.—Deposit with 'Early Minoan' Ceramic Types.
The platform on which almost the whole of the Western wing of the
Later Palace rests represents the planing off of earlier strata, including
the top layers of the Neolithic deposit. The floor levels of ' the Later
Palace' thus rest directly on the Neolithic clay, very little belonging to the
earlier, intervening Minoan Age being traceable, except where such
remains were found in pits or cists excavated, during that intermediate
time, in the original Stone Age deposit. A small pit of this kind was
found immediately under the pavement of the entrance to the ' Room of
the Stone Vats' that opens on the North side of the East Pillar Room,
the contents of which proved to have an exceptional value in illustrating
the character of the Minoan culture that followed directly on the
Neolithic.
The bulk of the contents of the pit, which descends to the depth of
about a metre, belonged to the actual period of transition and to the
beginning of the Cretan metal age, to which the name of ' Early Minoan '
may conveniently be given. Superposed, however, on these earlier remains
were a certain number of objects which come at least within the limits
of the first part of the succeeding ' Middle Minoan ' Age, when the
Ceramic art was more fully developed and the fine ' egg-shell' ware was
already coming into use.
To this later, Middle Minoan, element of the deposit unquestionably
belonged :
(1) Some fragments of clay seal-impressions. One with part of a pictographic
inscription (arrow sign alone clear : somewhat archaic form); another with ribbed
circular border often found on ' signets' of the period; another with part of a
pattern of the same class as others found in the Earlier Palace chamber beneath
the Olive Press Room.
(2) A cup (Fig. 65/) of inverted conical shape with a flat base, very slightly
concave below. The outer surface of the cup is covered with a black slip on which