DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7525#0105
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
493
a larnax from the same grave exhibits a curved ornament, like that which in the
amphora A, is a decorative extension of the sepia's tentacles. The occurrence of
the blue glass bead with the impressed rosette ornament in the Milatos tomb
may also be regarded as a somewhat late characteristic. None was found in the
cemetery of Zafer Papoura.
§ 4. General Remarks on the Cemetery of Zafer Papoura.
Analysis of Graves.—A general plan of the cemetery by Mr. Fyfe is given in
fig. 108. It will be seen that the 100 graves investigated in this cemetery were
distributed in the following proportions :
Chamber-tombs .... 49
Shaft-graves .... 33
Pit-caves . . . . . 18
Apart from the frequent signs of abstractions and disturbances on the occasion
of re-interments in tombs of the chamber class, at least forty per cent, of the total
number had been actually broken into and wholly or partially plundered.
"When, however, we examine the proportion of robbed to intact interments in
the different classes, it appears at once that it is far greater in that of the chamber-
tombs than in the case of the others. Out of forty-nine chamber-tombs no less
than thirty-one, or about sixty per cent., had been wholly or partially plundered.
On the other hand, out of thirty-three shaft-graves only eight, or slightly under
twenty-five per cent., had been robbed, and out of eighteen pit-caves only a single
one, representing a proportion of under six per cent.
This result is no doubt due in a principal measure to the varying degrees of
secretiveness inherent in these different systems of interment. It is obvious that the
chamber-tombs with their larger area, their vaults always liable to fall in, and their
entrance passages revealing an earth-filling in a rock cutting, offered exceptional
facilities for discovery. Of the other two classes, the shaft-grave with an inter-
ment at the bottom of a pit, was clearly more liable to be rifled than a pit-cave
where the interment was hidden in a walled recess in the side of the pit.
It is probable that the operation of these natural causes should also be taken
493
a larnax from the same grave exhibits a curved ornament, like that which in the
amphora A, is a decorative extension of the sepia's tentacles. The occurrence of
the blue glass bead with the impressed rosette ornament in the Milatos tomb
may also be regarded as a somewhat late characteristic. None was found in the
cemetery of Zafer Papoura.
§ 4. General Remarks on the Cemetery of Zafer Papoura.
Analysis of Graves.—A general plan of the cemetery by Mr. Fyfe is given in
fig. 108. It will be seen that the 100 graves investigated in this cemetery were
distributed in the following proportions :
Chamber-tombs .... 49
Shaft-graves .... 33
Pit-caves . . . . . 18
Apart from the frequent signs of abstractions and disturbances on the occasion
of re-interments in tombs of the chamber class, at least forty per cent, of the total
number had been actually broken into and wholly or partially plundered.
"When, however, we examine the proportion of robbed to intact interments in
the different classes, it appears at once that it is far greater in that of the chamber-
tombs than in the case of the others. Out of forty-nine chamber-tombs no less
than thirty-one, or about sixty per cent., had been wholly or partially plundered.
On the other hand, out of thirty-three shaft-graves only eight, or slightly under
twenty-five per cent., had been robbed, and out of eighteen pit-caves only a single
one, representing a proportion of under six per cent.
This result is no doubt due in a principal measure to the varying degrees of
secretiveness inherent in these different systems of interment. It is obvious that the
chamber-tombs with their larger area, their vaults always liable to fall in, and their
entrance passages revealing an earth-filling in a rock cutting, offered exceptional
facilities for discovery. Of the other two classes, the shaft-grave with an inter-
ment at the bottom of a pit, was clearly more liable to be rifled than a pit-cave
where the interment was hidden in a walled recess in the side of the pit.
It is probable that the operation of these natural causes should also be taken