DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7525#0003
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
393
"brought within the limits of the period when the great neighbouring Palace still
•existed as a royal abode and Avas exercising a dominant influence. But the bulk of
the tombs unquestionably belong to the age immediately succeeding this, when the
Palace itself was in ruins or was at most partially inhabited. In the main there-
fore the remains here brought to light illustrate what I have elsewhere found it
■convenient to define as the Third Late-Minoan Period, though, as will be pointed
out below, they do not seem to reach its lower limit.
The tombs, which in this cemetery all contained skeleton interments, were of
three main classes: (a) Chamber-Tombs excavated in the soft rock with a passage or
■dromos leading down to them; (b) Shaft-Graves, each with a lesser cavity below,
roofed over with stone slabs and containing the extended skeleton; and (c) Pit-
caves or oblong pits giving access to a walled cavity in one of their larger sides
below, within which was the interment. From the character of their contents it
appears that all these three forms of sepulture were in use contemporaneously.
(a) The Chamber-Tombs.
Rock-cut tombs of this class, approached by a dromos, are sufficiently well
known both in Crete and in Mainland Greece. In contrast to some previously
known Cretan tombs of this type that exhibit a round,a horse-shoe," or oval
ground plan, the shape of these generally showed below an approach to a square
outline, the upper part forming a low cupola or arch. This square form, which
was prevalent in the contemporary cemeteries of Mainland Greece,0 is also well
authenticated on other Cretan sites.
It is found in the case of built tombs at Praesos,d and at least one example
of a square rock-cut chamber occurred at Phaestos.6 In 1899 I already had the
opportunity of exploring a chamber-tomb of rectangular outline at Milatos in
a E.g. the chamber-tomb of Anoja Messaritika described by Orsi (Mon. Ant. i. (]890), 6).
b At Primes, A. Taramelli, Ricerche archeologiche Cretesi: Mon. Ant. ix. (1899), 49; Palaikastro,
Bosanquet, B. S. A. viii. 304; Milatos, Orsi, op. cit. 10; Praesos, Bosanquet, B. 8. A. viii. 251, 252.
c Those, for instance, of the Lower Town at Mycenae, cf. Tsountas, 'E<p. ApX- 1889, p. 121 seqq. ;
ol daXufioi elvai els to -^XelcrTov -eTpayiovot (p. 128). Cf. 'E(p. 'ApX- 1891, p. 2 seqq. The round form is,
however, also found. See Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenxan Age, 135.
d Bosanquet, B. 8. A. viii. 245, 246.
e Savignoni, Necropoli di Phaestos, 31, fig. 17. This tomb was, however, of an exceptional
-character, since it included a second chamber of pentagonal form.
3 q 2
393
"brought within the limits of the period when the great neighbouring Palace still
•existed as a royal abode and Avas exercising a dominant influence. But the bulk of
the tombs unquestionably belong to the age immediately succeeding this, when the
Palace itself was in ruins or was at most partially inhabited. In the main there-
fore the remains here brought to light illustrate what I have elsewhere found it
■convenient to define as the Third Late-Minoan Period, though, as will be pointed
out below, they do not seem to reach its lower limit.
The tombs, which in this cemetery all contained skeleton interments, were of
three main classes: (a) Chamber-Tombs excavated in the soft rock with a passage or
■dromos leading down to them; (b) Shaft-Graves, each with a lesser cavity below,
roofed over with stone slabs and containing the extended skeleton; and (c) Pit-
caves or oblong pits giving access to a walled cavity in one of their larger sides
below, within which was the interment. From the character of their contents it
appears that all these three forms of sepulture were in use contemporaneously.
(a) The Chamber-Tombs.
Rock-cut tombs of this class, approached by a dromos, are sufficiently well
known both in Crete and in Mainland Greece. In contrast to some previously
known Cretan tombs of this type that exhibit a round,a horse-shoe," or oval
ground plan, the shape of these generally showed below an approach to a square
outline, the upper part forming a low cupola or arch. This square form, which
was prevalent in the contemporary cemeteries of Mainland Greece,0 is also well
authenticated on other Cretan sites.
It is found in the case of built tombs at Praesos,d and at least one example
of a square rock-cut chamber occurred at Phaestos.6 In 1899 I already had the
opportunity of exploring a chamber-tomb of rectangular outline at Milatos in
a E.g. the chamber-tomb of Anoja Messaritika described by Orsi (Mon. Ant. i. (]890), 6).
b At Primes, A. Taramelli, Ricerche archeologiche Cretesi: Mon. Ant. ix. (1899), 49; Palaikastro,
Bosanquet, B. S. A. viii. 304; Milatos, Orsi, op. cit. 10; Praesos, Bosanquet, B. 8. A. viii. 251, 252.
c Those, for instance, of the Lower Town at Mycenae, cf. Tsountas, 'E<p. ApX- 1889, p. 121 seqq. ;
ol daXufioi elvai els to -^XelcrTov -eTpayiovot (p. 128). Cf. 'E(p. 'ApX- 1891, p. 2 seqq. The round form is,
however, also found. See Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenxan Age, 135.
d Bosanquet, B. 8. A. viii. 245, 246.
e Savignoni, Necropoli di Phaestos, 31, fig. 17. This tomb was, however, of an exceptional
-character, since it included a second chamber of pentagonal form.
3 q 2