DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0059
34
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Palace
Site of
Knossos
a Neo-
lithic
'Tell'.
Section
under
West
Court.
Chrono-
logical
Specula-
tions.
besides some potsherds, were found nineteen stone axes and obsidian points
with an obtuse base analogous to the class of flint Neolithic borers. Such
worked obsidian flakes were common on the site, and show that there was
already a commercial connexion with Melos. The pottery found was of
a fairly advanced Neolithic fabric.
Neolithic debris have occurred beneath the Minoan buildings at
Knossos, ' Phaestos, and other Cretan sites. At Phaestos the Neolithic
deposits beneath the Palace seem to have been considerable 1 though their
depth is as yet not ascertained. But the mass of Neolithic material under-
lying the Palace site at Knossos far exceeds in depth and volume that
of any known European locality. The Hill of Kephala is, in fact, a ' Tell'
resembling the great mounds of Chaldaea, Palestine, or Egypt, made up
by layer after layer of earlier settlements going back in this case to remote
prehistoric times. Some idea of the relative depth of this Neolithic deposit
may be gathered from the West Court Section, given in Fig. 4.2
It will be seen that whereas the Minoan and all later strata taken
together occupy 5-33 metres,
or
about 19 feet of the section, the
Neolithic deposit extends below this for a depth of 6-43 metres, or about
23! feet—in a neighbouring pit 8 metres, or 264 feet—to the virgin rock.
The best fixed datum here as regards the Minoan strata is afforded by
the pavement of the West Court which belongs to the close of the Middle
Minoan Age, in other words to a date approximating to i6co B.C.4 The
beginning of the Early Minoan Age has been tentatively set down above as
3400 1;. c. which gives an interval of 1,800 years for 2-82 metres of deposit.
If we might assume an equal rate of accumulation for the 8 metres of
Neolithic deposit we should require for it a space of over 5,100 years.
It ma}- be objected that the wattle and daub constructions of Neolithic times
might favour a higher rate of accumulation, and that some allowance should
be made on this score. It must still be remembered, however, that down to
1 See A. Mosso, Ceramica neolitica di
Phaestos, Mon. Ant., xix (1908), p. 141 seqq.
But the deposits examined by him were mixed
Neolithic and Early Minoan. This fact vitiates
his conclusions as to the depth of the Neolithic
stratum.
2 B. School Annual, x (1904), p. 19, Fig. 7,
and see p. 18 seqq. The pottery of this
Section was examined by Dr. Mackenzie.
3 The lowest of these strata, however,
33 centimetres in thickness, is best described
as ' Sub-Neolithic'.
4 In some chronological speculations set
forth by me in 1904 on the basis of this
section (B. School Annual, x, p. 25), I took
the present surface of the ground as a datum,
which is less satisfactory. I also used Lepsius'
dating of the First Egyptian Dynasty 3892 b. c.
as a provisional basis for the beginning of
E. M. I, which entails a higher dating for the
Neolithic Age
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Palace
Site of
Knossos
a Neo-
lithic
'Tell'.
Section
under
West
Court.
Chrono-
logical
Specula-
tions.
besides some potsherds, were found nineteen stone axes and obsidian points
with an obtuse base analogous to the class of flint Neolithic borers. Such
worked obsidian flakes were common on the site, and show that there was
already a commercial connexion with Melos. The pottery found was of
a fairly advanced Neolithic fabric.
Neolithic debris have occurred beneath the Minoan buildings at
Knossos, ' Phaestos, and other Cretan sites. At Phaestos the Neolithic
deposits beneath the Palace seem to have been considerable 1 though their
depth is as yet not ascertained. But the mass of Neolithic material under-
lying the Palace site at Knossos far exceeds in depth and volume that
of any known European locality. The Hill of Kephala is, in fact, a ' Tell'
resembling the great mounds of Chaldaea, Palestine, or Egypt, made up
by layer after layer of earlier settlements going back in this case to remote
prehistoric times. Some idea of the relative depth of this Neolithic deposit
may be gathered from the West Court Section, given in Fig. 4.2
It will be seen that whereas the Minoan and all later strata taken
together occupy 5-33 metres,
or
about 19 feet of the section, the
Neolithic deposit extends below this for a depth of 6-43 metres, or about
23! feet—in a neighbouring pit 8 metres, or 264 feet—to the virgin rock.
The best fixed datum here as regards the Minoan strata is afforded by
the pavement of the West Court which belongs to the close of the Middle
Minoan Age, in other words to a date approximating to i6co B.C.4 The
beginning of the Early Minoan Age has been tentatively set down above as
3400 1;. c. which gives an interval of 1,800 years for 2-82 metres of deposit.
If we might assume an equal rate of accumulation for the 8 metres of
Neolithic deposit we should require for it a space of over 5,100 years.
It ma}- be objected that the wattle and daub constructions of Neolithic times
might favour a higher rate of accumulation, and that some allowance should
be made on this score. It must still be remembered, however, that down to
1 See A. Mosso, Ceramica neolitica di
Phaestos, Mon. Ant., xix (1908), p. 141 seqq.
But the deposits examined by him were mixed
Neolithic and Early Minoan. This fact vitiates
his conclusions as to the depth of the Neolithic
stratum.
2 B. School Annual, x (1904), p. 19, Fig. 7,
and see p. 18 seqq. The pottery of this
Section was examined by Dr. Mackenzie.
3 The lowest of these strata, however,
33 centimetres in thickness, is best described
as ' Sub-Neolithic'.
4 In some chronological speculations set
forth by me in 1904 on the basis of this
section (B. School Annual, x, p. 25), I took
the present surface of the ground as a datum,
which is less satisfactory. I also used Lepsius'
dating of the First Egyptian Dynasty 3892 b. c.
as a provisional basis for the beginning of
E. M. I, which entails a higher dating for the
Neolithic Age