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)

466

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Dis-
covery of
Earlier
Temple
Reposi-
tories.

loose earth. On exploring this it was found that these cists were set in
a pavement overlying earlier stone repositories of much greater capacity
(Fig. 333), the contents of which afforded what can only be described as
a new revelation, both of Minoan Art and of the character of the Palace Cult.

The stratification of both Repositories was practically identical, though
the Eastern cist contained the richer contents. Immediately beneath the
later pavement was a clay layer on which it had been set, in this case of
a reddish terra-cotta hue. Below this the earth was darker, with an

Their
Contents.

Fig. 334. Two Diagrammatic Views of East Cist of Repositories (M. M. Ill)

showing Interlocking Joints of Slabs.

intermixture of debris and charred wood, together with some fragments of
gold foil. In this deposit, from the surface downwards to a depth of
i-io metres, there lay closely packed together a quantity of clay vessels,
which, with the exception of a series of imported Melian ' bird-vases'
to be described below,1 were almost exclusively two-handled amphoras and
pitchers, with a dark purple-brown ground, mostly with broad white spiral
and simple vegetable decoration answering to the latest M. M. Ill style, as
illustrated by the Magazine of the Lily Jars2 and other contemporary
deposits. A few, however, were in a late polychrome style.:i A fuller
account of these is reserved for succeeding Sections dealing with the pottery
of this Period.4

1 See p. 559 seqq.

2 See p. 578.

:i See Coloured Plate VII.

4 See p. 552 seqq., and Fig. 404.