Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 1): The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages (London, 1921)

28

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Artistic
Acme
reached
in L.M. I,

' Palace
Style' of
L.M. II.

Strati-
graphical
base of
present
Classifica-
tion.

Geolo-
gical
Methods.

Supple-
mentary
Tests of
I9I3-

Finally, some hostile intrusion from the North, which is naturally to be
connected with the first Greek invasions, drove away the indigenous settlers
who had partially reoccupied or rebuilt the ruined sites at Knossos and
elsewhere, and put an end to the last recuperative efforts of Minoan Crete.
The culture of the succeeding- Age when iron was coming into general use,
though still largely permeated with indigenous elements, is best described as
' Sub-Minoan', and lies beyond the immediate scope of the present work.

The brilliant naturalism of the grand Transitional Epoch that links
the Middle with the Late Minoan Aw reaches its acme in the high reliefs
of painted stucco at Knossos, in the frescoes of Hagia Triada and such works
as the 'harvester' vase. The Court atmosphere at Knossos developed
a greater formalism in art, well illustrated by the ceramic designs in
the later ' Palace StyleSuch remains, however, as the ' Room of the
Throne ' which dates from the latter epoch, show the refinement in civilized
surroundings then attained. So too Class B of the linear script, now in vogue,
and confined as far as is known to Knossos, represents the highest development
of the Minoan system of writing. But the rococo spirit now visible, and which,
already in L. M. I, manifests itself in the artificial groups of the Court
ladies of the ' Miniature ' frescoes, was a harbinger of the gradual decline
that marks the course of the last Minoan Period.

The classification of the Minoan culture into nine successive Periods
does not rest on merely theoretical deductions as to the evolution and suc-
cession of types. In the case of the excavations at Knossos a constant
endeavour has been made to apply geological methods, so that the sequence
here adopted rests on a mass of stratigraphical evidence. In such evidence,
as indeed in that afforded by geological strata, the succession of deposits in
individual cases presents lacunae which have to be filled up from data
supplied by other sections. Only, moreover, by considerable experience
has it been possible to guard against certain subtle causes of error, such as,
for instance, the total removal of a floor belonging to one construction
and its substitution by another on the same level. In order to revise the
evidence, largely with a view to the present study, three months of the year
1913 were devoted by me, as already mentioned, to supplementary excava-
tions on the Palace site, in the course of which about ninety explorations
were made beneath the floors at various spots. The result has been, while
correcting some individual errors in previous Reports, to corroborate the
results already obtained as to the general classification of the successive
Periods.

A good section resulting from the excavation of a part of the West