DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7525#0141
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
appeared, however, from his description that one at least of the vessels was a
stirrnp-vase. The building itself was supposed by the country people to have
been a tower (nvpyos).
Owing to the great masses of fallen blocks that still encumbered the area, and
the considerable size of the monument, it took sixty men a fortnight's work to clear
out the interior of the tomb and its approach. The principal chamber proved to
measure on the floor level about 8 metres from east to west by 6'50 metres from
north to south. The north-west corner of the walls was wanting, but the cutting
in the soft rock showed the original form. The southern section of the east or
front wall was the best preserved, consisting of nine courses, and rising to a
height of 3-60 metres. (Fig. 120, Plate XCTI. and Plate XCV. a.)
The front and back walls of the chamber rose perpendicularly, but, as will
be seen from the cross section given in Plate XCV. a, the two side walls started
from the floor level with a slight inward slope obtained by means of the splayed
face of the flat superposed blocks. In the back wall of the chamber was a square
recess or niche going back 1*23 metre to the face of the rock cutting. Only the
lower part of this was preserved, but it no doubt resembled in construction two
other niches of about the same size fotmd in the fore-hall of the tomb. Like
these, moreover, it seems to have been used for sepulchral purposes in the latest
Minoan Period, since a skull and two small vessels, one of them according to its
description a stirrup-vase, were found in the upper part by the peasants who
removed its masonry.
The floor of the chamber was formed of a white indurated material, in which,
near the north-east corner, subsequent researches brought out an oblong cutting-
2-80 metres long by 1*27 metres wide. On clearing out this to a depth of about
a third of a metre, the rough covering slabs of a sepulchral stone cist, recalling
the " kaselles " of the Palace Magazines, were brought to light. The cist will
be found further described below, but the rough slabs above it were evidently
not its original covering.
The front wall of the chamber showed a blocked archwaya constructed on
the same horizontal system as the side walls of the chamber. This arch led to
a narrow fore-hall 6'75 metres in length and 1*58 metre broad, built on to the
main chamber at a slightly oblique angle, on either side of which was a niche
* At the base of the wall that blocked the entrance, on the inner side, was a kind of miniature
niche. A similar feature occurred on the inner side of the blocking of the fore-hall. • The object
of these small niches is uncertain. They may have contained food offerings.
VOL. LIX. 4 K
appeared, however, from his description that one at least of the vessels was a
stirrnp-vase. The building itself was supposed by the country people to have
been a tower (nvpyos).
Owing to the great masses of fallen blocks that still encumbered the area, and
the considerable size of the monument, it took sixty men a fortnight's work to clear
out the interior of the tomb and its approach. The principal chamber proved to
measure on the floor level about 8 metres from east to west by 6'50 metres from
north to south. The north-west corner of the walls was wanting, but the cutting
in the soft rock showed the original form. The southern section of the east or
front wall was the best preserved, consisting of nine courses, and rising to a
height of 3-60 metres. (Fig. 120, Plate XCTI. and Plate XCV. a.)
The front and back walls of the chamber rose perpendicularly, but, as will
be seen from the cross section given in Plate XCV. a, the two side walls started
from the floor level with a slight inward slope obtained by means of the splayed
face of the flat superposed blocks. In the back wall of the chamber was a square
recess or niche going back 1*23 metre to the face of the rock cutting. Only the
lower part of this was preserved, but it no doubt resembled in construction two
other niches of about the same size fotmd in the fore-hall of the tomb. Like
these, moreover, it seems to have been used for sepulchral purposes in the latest
Minoan Period, since a skull and two small vessels, one of them according to its
description a stirrup-vase, were found in the upper part by the peasants who
removed its masonry.
The floor of the chamber was formed of a white indurated material, in which,
near the north-east corner, subsequent researches brought out an oblong cutting-
2-80 metres long by 1*27 metres wide. On clearing out this to a depth of about
a third of a metre, the rough covering slabs of a sepulchral stone cist, recalling
the " kaselles " of the Palace Magazines, were brought to light. The cist will
be found further described below, but the rough slabs above it were evidently
not its original covering.
The front wall of the chamber showed a blocked archwaya constructed on
the same horizontal system as the side walls of the chamber. This arch led to
a narrow fore-hall 6'75 metres in length and 1*58 metre broad, built on to the
main chamber at a slightly oblique angle, on either side of which was a niche
* At the base of the wall that blocked the entrance, on the inner side, was a kind of miniature
niche. A similar feature occurred on the inner side of the blocking of the fore-hall. • The object
of these small niches is uncertain. They may have contained food offerings.
VOL. LIX. 4 K