DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0098
72
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Elaborate
E.M. II
Buildings
at Vasi-
liki.
Timber
frame-
work.
Painted
Stucco
on Walls.
' Tholos '
Ossu-
aries.
House
Tombs '.
But and
Ben
Huts.
answering to the earlier and later phases of this Period, show that stone
buildings existed of rectancrular design and elaborate arrangement, which seem
to have been two or three stories high. The later of these plans is shown
in Fig. 39.1 Large sun-dried bricks were used in the upper part of the walls,
which were also framed vertically and horizontally with wooden beams, their
inner and outer framework being linked by cross pieces. We have here an
anticipation of the later Palace construction.
A remarkable feature of these buildings is that the walls were coated
with rough lime plaster, showing a fine surface wash of deep red,2 the direct
forerunner of the later fresco paintings. This coarse stucco covering, of great
hardness, owing to the formation of silicates, fulfilled a constructive function
by protecting the sun-dried bricks or rough rubble of the walls.
Apart from the occasional use of natural caves and of artificial holes in
the rock for sepulture, two main classes of ossuary tombs were now prevalent,
the primitive ' tholoi ' and the built chamber or cist tombs. The ' tholoi'
present a low incurving circuit wall above which, as already noted, was
originally a domed structure of clay and rubble. They represent, in fact,
circular hut dwellings. Besides cists, generally of upright slabs like the
Cycladic, the principal built tombs at Mochlos were of rectangular con-
struction formed of roughly squared stones with doorways originally blocked
by slabs. They were found open above, but there was evidence that both
these and the cists had been originally roofed with reeds and clay. These
chamber tombs were, in fact, miniature stone houses.
The best example at Mochlos is supplied by the original plan of Tomb
VI belonging to the earliest phase of E. M. II (Fig. 73, p. 102). It consisted
of an entrance room communicating at the back, through a door opening to
the right, with an inner chamber.3 This back room is here placed beside
the other, the rocky steep behind probably making this location more con-
venient. The essence of the arrangement is the familiar but and ben
system, which, as we have seen,4 goes back in Crete to Neolithic times.
1 From Seager, Excavations at Vasiliki,
1906 (Transactions Dept. of Archaeology, Univ.
of Pennsylvania, ii, 1907, p. 112, Fig. 1).
2 Noel Heaton, Minoan Lime Plaster and
Fresco Painting\Joum. ofR. Inst, of Brit, Ar-
chitects, xviii, p. 698). Similar remains of the
deep red-faced plaster with a very smooth surface
occurred in Early Minoan deposits at Knossos.
by the blocking of the door leading to the
inner compartment and by the building of
a low wall across the entrance room. In
Fig. 73, placed at the end of this section,
both this blocking and the annexed Tomb V
are removed.
1 See above, p. 32. Also Mackenzie, Cretan
Palaces IV, B. S A., xiv, pp. 362-5, 368-74,
3 Cf. Seager, Explorations in the Island of and compare with the Mochlos ' House Tomb '
Mochlos, p. 41, Fig. 15. The internal arrange- the Early Minoan Ossuary at Kastri, loc. cit.,
ment was modified in the E. M. Ill Period p. 363, Fig. 5, and p. 365.
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Elaborate
E.M. II
Buildings
at Vasi-
liki.
Timber
frame-
work.
Painted
Stucco
on Walls.
' Tholos '
Ossu-
aries.
House
Tombs '.
But and
Ben
Huts.
answering to the earlier and later phases of this Period, show that stone
buildings existed of rectancrular design and elaborate arrangement, which seem
to have been two or three stories high. The later of these plans is shown
in Fig. 39.1 Large sun-dried bricks were used in the upper part of the walls,
which were also framed vertically and horizontally with wooden beams, their
inner and outer framework being linked by cross pieces. We have here an
anticipation of the later Palace construction.
A remarkable feature of these buildings is that the walls were coated
with rough lime plaster, showing a fine surface wash of deep red,2 the direct
forerunner of the later fresco paintings. This coarse stucco covering, of great
hardness, owing to the formation of silicates, fulfilled a constructive function
by protecting the sun-dried bricks or rough rubble of the walls.
Apart from the occasional use of natural caves and of artificial holes in
the rock for sepulture, two main classes of ossuary tombs were now prevalent,
the primitive ' tholoi ' and the built chamber or cist tombs. The ' tholoi'
present a low incurving circuit wall above which, as already noted, was
originally a domed structure of clay and rubble. They represent, in fact,
circular hut dwellings. Besides cists, generally of upright slabs like the
Cycladic, the principal built tombs at Mochlos were of rectangular con-
struction formed of roughly squared stones with doorways originally blocked
by slabs. They were found open above, but there was evidence that both
these and the cists had been originally roofed with reeds and clay. These
chamber tombs were, in fact, miniature stone houses.
The best example at Mochlos is supplied by the original plan of Tomb
VI belonging to the earliest phase of E. M. II (Fig. 73, p. 102). It consisted
of an entrance room communicating at the back, through a door opening to
the right, with an inner chamber.3 This back room is here placed beside
the other, the rocky steep behind probably making this location more con-
venient. The essence of the arrangement is the familiar but and ben
system, which, as we have seen,4 goes back in Crete to Neolithic times.
1 From Seager, Excavations at Vasiliki,
1906 (Transactions Dept. of Archaeology, Univ.
of Pennsylvania, ii, 1907, p. 112, Fig. 1).
2 Noel Heaton, Minoan Lime Plaster and
Fresco Painting\Joum. ofR. Inst, of Brit, Ar-
chitects, xviii, p. 698). Similar remains of the
deep red-faced plaster with a very smooth surface
occurred in Early Minoan deposits at Knossos.
by the blocking of the door leading to the
inner compartment and by the building of
a low wall across the entrance room. In
Fig. 73, placed at the end of this section,
both this blocking and the annexed Tomb V
are removed.
1 See above, p. 32. Also Mackenzie, Cretan
Palaces IV, B. S A., xiv, pp. 362-5, 368-74,
3 Cf. Seager, Explorations in the Island of and compare with the Mochlos ' House Tomb '
Mochlos, p. 41, Fig. 15. The internal arrange- the Early Minoan Ossuary at Kastri, loc. cit.,
ment was modified in the E. M. Ill Period p. 363, Fig. 5, and p. 365.