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)

EARLY MINOAN III

107

where in the Archipelago. But in all such cases access was obtained by
means of a pit from above.;,

The existence of two 'hypogaea', apparently both on the same large scale,
on what was later the Palace border may certainly be regarded as an indica-
tion that, as suggested above, they stood in relation to some Early Minoan
predecessor of the great Palace.

The later elements of the primitive ossuaries of the ' tholos' type, both
at Hagia Triada and in the Messara district, belong to this time. There are
some reasons for supposing, however, that those constructed at this epoch were
of lesser dimensions, like the small Ossuary found at Hagia Triada (Fig. 75).1

Fig. 75. Section of Smaller Ossuary 'Tholos' and Sepulchral Annexes at

Hagia Triada.

Perhaps
in con-
nexion
with the
earlier
Palace.

Ossuary
tholoi and
House
Tombs.

This had unfortunately been almost entirely cleared out and used as a
repository for L. M. Ill sarcophagi {laruakes). The epoch of its disuse is
marked, however, as in the case of the larger tholos, by a M. M. I annexe
consisting of the ossuary cists characteristic of that Period. These cists
themselves fit on to the earlier type of house tomb so well illustrated in East
Crete and which at Mochlos continued in use during the present Period.

The houses of the Fourth Period of the settlement at Yasiliki produced
characteristic E. M. Ill ceramic remains. Similar pottery occurred in great
abundance in the north trench at Gournia, and was found in a stratified
deposit at Palaikastro, immediately below a layer representing the First
Middle Minoan phase.2 Definite evidence of the relative chronological

1 R. Paribeni, Mon. Ant., 1904, p. 691, 2 R. M. Dawkins, B. S. A., x, pp. 198, 199,
Fig. 7. Fig. 2 ; xi, pp. 269, 271, Fig. 5, a, b, c.