Evans, Arthur J.: Scripta minoa: the written documents of minoan Crete with special reference to the archives of Knossos (Band 1): The hieroglyphic and primitive linear classes (Oxford, 1909)

LINEAR SCRIPT OF CLASS B 53

therefore, to suppose that the overthrow at Knossos had taken place not later than the
first half of the fourteenth century.

That the catastrophe at Knossos itself, and the new condition of things that Indigenous
characterizes the Period of Reoccupation, were partly due to the successful incursions ^fnf^Sie
of men representing a closely allied form of culture from the mainland of Greece main un-
is in itself quite possible. But the continued imitation of ceramic forms derived ro en"
from metal prototypes of the last Palace Period itself affords a conspicuous
proof that for a time at least the indigenous tradition remained in the main
unbroken. The evidence of the survival of the Minoan script, Class B, of which
as yet we have no authentic record on the Mainland side, points to the same
conclusion.

The great catastrophe put an end to the Palace as a whole. As far as it is
possible to ascertain, some parts of the area were never again the scene of human
habitation. It is certain, however, that after an interval of time, traceable generally Partial
by about 25 centimetres of deposit, a large part of the building was reoccupied, and [io^araT
partitioned out, with the aid of cross-walls, into poorer dwellings. The new settlers recovery.
who dwelt in these represented a somewhat later stage and a humbler aspect of
the same civilization, marked by the style which represents the close of the Third
Late Minoan Period. Only in the Domestic Quarter of the Palace—a part of
which, perhaps, was almost continuously occupied—are there signs of attempts at
restoration on a large scale which make it probable that dynasts of the old stock
still maintained a diminished state on the Palace site.

The great catastrophe of the Later Palace, about the beginning of the fourteenth L. M.III
century b. c, may be certainly taken to indicate that the Minoan polity as a whole deciine°
suffered at this time a severe set-back. It heralds the decline of the great civiliza-
tion of prehistoric Crete: but there is still no real break. There is no room as yet But no real
for any wholesale displacement of the indigenous stock by foreign invaders. We rea '
should rather, perhaps, see in it the results of some internal revolution, bringing to the
fore, it may be, more plebeian elements of the population. The standard of wealth, and
with it the standard of art, fell—clay, for instance, largely replacing metal for domestic
utensils—but the civilization remained essentially Minoan. The proof of this is afforded
less by the remains on the Palace site itself—a large part of which seems to have
remained for a time at least untenanted—than by the extensive Knossian cemetery
of Zafer Papoura explored by me in 1904,1 which covers the close of the Palace
Period as well as the immediately ensuing age—the earlier part, that is, of ' Late
Minoan III'. The high interest of this cemetery is due to the fact, ' that throughout
its whole duration it attests a striking continuity of local traditions. To whatever
circumstances was due the great overthrow of the later Palace, it did not bring with
it any real break in the course of the Late Minoan culture. The models supplied by
the great Palace Style of wall- and vase-painting, of metal-work and gem-engraving,

1 A. j. Evans, The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos : 'I. The Cemetery of Zafer Papoura', pp. 1-135 (London,
Quaritch, 1906, and Archaeologia, vol. lix).