DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0265
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Pits for
Storage
beneath
Floors.
Later
' Ka-
selles
M. M. 1
Floor
Cists.
are of a different class. They are smaller and bear designs in brownish-
red with white borders on a buff ground, representing the mature M. M. II
polychrome style. The knobbedpithoi from the West Magazines at Phaestos
were also associated with mature M. M. II polychrome pottery.1
While the great store-jars certainly served for the most part to contain
oil, the storage of solid possessions such as grain or other produce, or of more
precious objects, seems to have been mainly effected, at least in the earlier
Age of the Palaces, by means of pits or repositories beneath the floors.
The deep-walled cells of the early Keep, described above, though they
very probably served as dungeons, may also be regarded as typical,
on a larger scale, of the methods of storage in vogue at this time.
In some cases, as that of the deposit beneath the Vat-Room floor at Knossos
and that of the Third Magazine, mere pits, excavated in the Neolithic
clay, with at most a plaster facing, were used as receptacles. Within the
North-East angle of the wall of the Phaestian Palace appeared a series of
receptacles in the shape of rectangular walled cavities, in one case divided
into smaller cists by cross partitions of red clay and plaster.2 Some of the
pottery found within them goes back to the earlier part of the Middle Minoan
Age, but, as at Knossos, the cist-partitions seem to be a M. M. Ill addition."
The part played by the underground receptacles, to which the name of
' kaselles ' has been given, in the Palace construction at Knossos is well
known. There is evidence that the numerous examples of these which
largely underlie the system of the West Magazines and adjoining Corridor
took their present form in the Third Middle Minoan Period,4 though some
form of pits for storage was doubtless already in existence in the preceding
Palace Period. There seems to be a considerable probability that the simpler
type of cist seen in the more Western of the two Repositories, in which were
found the fittings of the Snake Goddess's shrine, with its walls of massive
masonry, represents a tradition going back to the present Period.5 That
many of these sunken cists were used for the deposit of precious objects
is clear, and, as we shall see, in the 'kaselles' of the more advanced class
elaborate precautions were taken to preserve their contents from damp.
1 Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lo»ifi.,xx\,pp. 253, in one of these pits, associated with objects of
254. See above, p. 232, Fig. 174. the latter class, that the celebrated Phaestos
2 Pernier, Ausonia, iii, 1909, p. 255 seqq. Disk and a clay tablet of the Linear Class A
3 They also contained a more superficial were found (Pernier, loc. cit., and see below,
deposit, including pottery and other objects p. 648).
that had fallen into them, apparently from 4 See below, p. 448 seqq.
a chamber above, at the time of the final 5 See below, p. 467.
catastrophe in this part of the Palace. It was
Pits for
Storage
beneath
Floors.
Later
' Ka-
selles
M. M. 1
Floor
Cists.
are of a different class. They are smaller and bear designs in brownish-
red with white borders on a buff ground, representing the mature M. M. II
polychrome style. The knobbedpithoi from the West Magazines at Phaestos
were also associated with mature M. M. II polychrome pottery.1
While the great store-jars certainly served for the most part to contain
oil, the storage of solid possessions such as grain or other produce, or of more
precious objects, seems to have been mainly effected, at least in the earlier
Age of the Palaces, by means of pits or repositories beneath the floors.
The deep-walled cells of the early Keep, described above, though they
very probably served as dungeons, may also be regarded as typical,
on a larger scale, of the methods of storage in vogue at this time.
In some cases, as that of the deposit beneath the Vat-Room floor at Knossos
and that of the Third Magazine, mere pits, excavated in the Neolithic
clay, with at most a plaster facing, were used as receptacles. Within the
North-East angle of the wall of the Phaestian Palace appeared a series of
receptacles in the shape of rectangular walled cavities, in one case divided
into smaller cists by cross partitions of red clay and plaster.2 Some of the
pottery found within them goes back to the earlier part of the Middle Minoan
Age, but, as at Knossos, the cist-partitions seem to be a M. M. Ill addition."
The part played by the underground receptacles, to which the name of
' kaselles ' has been given, in the Palace construction at Knossos is well
known. There is evidence that the numerous examples of these which
largely underlie the system of the West Magazines and adjoining Corridor
took their present form in the Third Middle Minoan Period,4 though some
form of pits for storage was doubtless already in existence in the preceding
Palace Period. There seems to be a considerable probability that the simpler
type of cist seen in the more Western of the two Repositories, in which were
found the fittings of the Snake Goddess's shrine, with its walls of massive
masonry, represents a tradition going back to the present Period.5 That
many of these sunken cists were used for the deposit of precious objects
is clear, and, as we shall see, in the 'kaselles' of the more advanced class
elaborate precautions were taken to preserve their contents from damp.
1 Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lo»ifi.,xx\,pp. 253, in one of these pits, associated with objects of
254. See above, p. 232, Fig. 174. the latter class, that the celebrated Phaestos
2 Pernier, Ausonia, iii, 1909, p. 255 seqq. Disk and a clay tablet of the Linear Class A
3 They also contained a more superficial were found (Pernier, loc. cit., and see below,
deposit, including pottery and other objects p. 648).
that had fallen into them, apparently from 4 See below, p. 448 seqq.
a chamber above, at the time of the final 5 See below, p. 467.
catastrophe in this part of the Palace. It was