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)

328

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

the walls the carbonizing process left a certain void, usually involving a sub-
sidence of the overlying structures to that extent.

Except for this slight lowering of level, however, almost the whole floor
of the first story, including pavements and door-jambs, was found in
situ throughout this Quarter, to a degree that seemed little short of
miraculous. But to profit by this fortunate circumstance and to preserve
the upper remains, hung thus as it were suspended, while at the same time
to lay bare the lower halls and chambers involved a task such as never
before probably has confronted excavators. It was necessary by provisional
means to prop up the upper structures while substituting more permanent
materials for the carbonized posts and columns. Simultaneously the great
transverse beams, many of them 40 cm. thick, were replaced by girders
embedded in concrete, and for this part of the work the collapsed masonry
that they had supported, often weighing several tons, had to be carefully
removed block by block and replaced at its original level. The result of
Domestic part of this work as executed by Mr. Christian Doll in the case of the
Quarter Qrancj Staircase and the neighbouring Halls of the Colonnades, of the Double

Restored. ft => '

Axes, and of the Distaffs, will be seen in the figures given below. Other
views show some of the upper pavements and door-jambs. Throughout the
greater part of this area, indeed, the evidence went far beyond the existence of
a single upper story. It seems certain that in the inner bay of the Domestic
Quarter, at any rate, there were at least three stories. In the case of the
Grand Staircase it was possible actually to restore five flights, the upper-
most rising above the level of the Central Court.

The scientific skill and harmonious disposition displayed by the
structures of this Quarter, the felicitous compactness of their arrangement,
centring as it were round the inner private staircase, represents a develop-
ment of domestic architecture for which we may look in vain for a parallel
in Egypt or Chaldaea or any other Oriental country. In many of its aspects,
indeed, it is more modern than anything that has come down to us from
ancient Greece or Rome.
planof. A good idea of these arrangements will be gathered from the revised

Domestic ° & fe

Quarter: Plans of the ground floor and first story of the Domestic Quarter by Mr.
Modifica- Christian Doll given in Figs. 239,240. It has been already shown that the
tions. masonry of the South light-area of the ' Queen's Megaron ' and the lower
courses at least of the containing walls of this Quarter were already in
existence in M. M. II. Most elements in the fabric, however, date from the
M. M. Ill Period, though certain features in the principal Halls and some
details of the Service Quarter behind it must be referred to the early part of