DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7525#0177
554
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
after the manner of the sepulchral niches.* This roof therefore, like that of the inner
chamber, was, in effect, a tunnel vault.
The masonry facing of the fore-hall is smaller than that of the inner chamber, and the
stones are not in heading courses.
The cross walls blocking the entrances from dromos and fore-hall and from fore-hall
and inner chamber, were apparently of the more temporary construction suited to their
purpose, but a certain effect is obtained in the first mentioned (which is better preserved)
by means of the courses in ashlar work which alternate with the rubble filling. (See
Plate XCV. b. )
There is nothing that calls for special notice in the construction of the cist grave except
the square sinking on the south side. This may have been intended for the attachment of
some lining which has now perished. Some fragments of slabs were found in the ddbris of
the cist, which probably belonged to the roofing slabs which must have closed the grave.
A word should be added about the stonework generally.
The method of building is in courses throughout, not, as at Orchomenos, in rubble work
with ashlar dressings. More attention was paid to getting a roughly true surface than to
accurate bedding of joints. Interstices in the joints are packed with small stones and some-
times with pieces of slate, set into mortar slapped on after the stones were laid, exactly as is
done in Crete nowadays. It is difficult to know if the walls were plastered or left in stone.
The face of the stonework is not finely dressed or rubbed as is the finest Palace work at
Knossos. Here tool marks are everywhere visible, but, on the other hand, no trace of a
plaster finish is discoverable in the inner chamber, and only a small quantity in the fore-hall
and dromos. My own impression, however, is that the tomb was finished, or intended to be
finished, in some way.
§ 4. General Conclusions regarding the Isopata Tomb.
A general survey of the finds from the Royal Tomb described in Section 2
leads to conclusions hardly consistent with the view that these remains all
belong even approximately to the same date. The fine painted vases with their
architectonic designs clearly belong to the closing period of the Later Palace and
to the phase of art described as Late-Minoan II. Certain Egyptian alabastra like
the one-handled vase, No. 2, and those described under Nos. 8, 9, and 10, must be
regarded as early Eighteenth Dynasty fabrics more or less contemporary with
these fine ceramic products of the Palace Style. The stone lamps and plaster
a Cf. also the roof of the smaller chamber at Orchomenos. Peirot, L'Art, etc. vi. 446.
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
after the manner of the sepulchral niches.* This roof therefore, like that of the inner
chamber, was, in effect, a tunnel vault.
The masonry facing of the fore-hall is smaller than that of the inner chamber, and the
stones are not in heading courses.
The cross walls blocking the entrances from dromos and fore-hall and from fore-hall
and inner chamber, were apparently of the more temporary construction suited to their
purpose, but a certain effect is obtained in the first mentioned (which is better preserved)
by means of the courses in ashlar work which alternate with the rubble filling. (See
Plate XCV. b. )
There is nothing that calls for special notice in the construction of the cist grave except
the square sinking on the south side. This may have been intended for the attachment of
some lining which has now perished. Some fragments of slabs were found in the ddbris of
the cist, which probably belonged to the roofing slabs which must have closed the grave.
A word should be added about the stonework generally.
The method of building is in courses throughout, not, as at Orchomenos, in rubble work
with ashlar dressings. More attention was paid to getting a roughly true surface than to
accurate bedding of joints. Interstices in the joints are packed with small stones and some-
times with pieces of slate, set into mortar slapped on after the stones were laid, exactly as is
done in Crete nowadays. It is difficult to know if the walls were plastered or left in stone.
The face of the stonework is not finely dressed or rubbed as is the finest Palace work at
Knossos. Here tool marks are everywhere visible, but, on the other hand, no trace of a
plaster finish is discoverable in the inner chamber, and only a small quantity in the fore-hall
and dromos. My own impression, however, is that the tomb was finished, or intended to be
finished, in some way.
§ 4. General Conclusions regarding the Isopata Tomb.
A general survey of the finds from the Royal Tomb described in Section 2
leads to conclusions hardly consistent with the view that these remains all
belong even approximately to the same date. The fine painted vases with their
architectonic designs clearly belong to the closing period of the Later Palace and
to the phase of art described as Late-Minoan II. Certain Egyptian alabastra like
the one-handled vase, No. 2, and those described under Nos. 8, 9, and 10, must be
regarded as early Eighteenth Dynasty fabrics more or less contemporary with
these fine ceramic products of the Palace Style. The stone lamps and plaster
a Cf. also the roof of the smaller chamber at Orchomenos. Peirot, L'Art, etc. vi. 446.