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)

78

FHE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

To the last, moreover, a reminiscence of the original table of support of
early Egyptian derivation survived in the contour of this class of vessel.1
Mottled The second phase of E. M. II pottery is distinguished by the predomi-

' Vasiliki' nance of an entirely new and beautiful class: the mottled ware, first, known
as a distinct category through Mr. Seager's excavations in the early building
at Vasiliki. It begins already in the first period of the building, which goes
back to the Sub-Neolithic Age, runs parallel with the geometric dark on
light wares in the next architectural stage, and in the third stage, answering
to the latter part of E. M. II, entirely supersedes it. Only a small survival
of this style is found in the last stage of the building corresponding with
E. M. III. The clay is fine and hard, and the pots are so deftly turned as
almost to appear to be wheel-made.2 They seem to have attained their
shapely form by being placed on small disks of wood or stone, which were
then turned by hand. The surface of this mottled ware shows a body
colour of red, shading to orange, variegated—often in distinct patterns —
with lighter bands and patches of black merging into bronze. Some
idea of the effect, without the colouring, may be gained from the sherds and
vessels reproduced in Fig. 46.- The brilliant hues and variegated appear-
ance were produced in the process of firing.
Primitive In its general aspect this method of decoration finds more or less

Warehf contemporary Mediterranean analogies of very widespread distribution, from
Cyprus, the red-faced Copper Age ware of Cyprus to that of the Early Metal A^e
and explored by the brothers Siret in South-East Spain. Of special interest,
Egypt' however, is the parallelism presented by the typical red-faced ware of
prehistoric Egypt, the interior and rims of which were coloured a lustrous
black. This comparison has, moreover, an additional value from the fact
that this style survived on the Egyptian borders among the remains of the
old indigenous stock and was, in fact, reintroduced into the Nile Valley at
a considerably later date by the aboriginal population to whom the 'pan-
graves ' are ascribed. The correspondence extends even to details. At
Sphungaras, where numerous specimens of this class of ware occurred, the
inside of the vessel presented a uniform black hue, which extended evenly
over the rim, ' as if these vases, like the black-topped ware from Egypt,

1 Compare the Greek ' kernos ', Fig. 44, from central recipient often seen in the Minoan class.

H. Nikolaos (Lato pros Kamara), Xanthudides, 2 They are, in fact, so described in Gournia,

op. cit., pp. 16-i8, and Figs. 4, 5. This vessel, p. 50.

though in the form of a pedestalled bowl below, 3 Cf. Seager, Excavations at Vasiliki, 1904

shows the square-cut rim of the earlier table. {Transactions, &c, 1905),PI.XXXIV; Gournia,

The lamp, a characteristic feature of the later PI. B. C and D from Palaikastro are in the

'kernos' type, was perhaps anticipated by the Ashmolean Museum.