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)

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THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Origin of parts of Crete, such as those from the Coast region of Mirabello from
Borders which the material of the E. M. Vases of Mochlos and other sites was
of Poly- derived. Those of the promontory of Kakon Oros immediately to the

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Details. N.E. of Knossos supplied the Palace with many of its early column-bases
but, as the stone vessels of the Early Minoan tholos tombs show, a finer
kind must have existed to the South, on the borders of Messara. It is
clear that the fabric of vessels of this material, notably the small ' bird's-
nest' bowls with knobbed covers,1 continued into the First Middle Minoan
Period. It is a noteworthy phenomenon, moreover, that one particular
feature of the breccia, of the Messara and Mirabello type, as seen on
these, the white band surrounding the interior fragments—itself due to
chemical causes consequent on the igneous origin of the rock—was first
literally taken over into the painted clay imitations of this material and
. afterwards survived as a border of interior details in general.
Branched The branched veining itself as a leading decorative feature occurs on

Vei^njy[ some very beautiful M. M. II cups, of which a specimen is given in Fig. 178
II Cups, above,2 accompanied as in other cases with a fine stippling of the interior spaces.

That this traditional stone-work motive survived into the present Period
is shown by some remarkable fragments of a large jar, Fig. 442, found near
the Deposit of the ink-inscribed cups, and probably, like them, belong-
Imitated ing to the earlier M. M. Ill phase. It can hardly be doubted that the
mM.M. branched band with antler-like prongs, of which we here see a portion,
represents on a larger scale the same kind of veining seen in Fig. 442.
It will be observed that it is accompanied by the characteristic white
border line.

The remains of the jar in question are of the usual M. M. Ill fabric
with a somewhat rough surface and white decoration on a brown ground.
The interior of the branched motive presents, however, an interesting feature.
The surface here, which is painted white, affords a good example of the
survival of the old barbotine style, and is worked up in the same way as

1 See above, p. 177, and Figs. 126, 127 a. have shown on pp. 261-3, above, find a still

2 Dr. Einar Lexow, Bergen's Museums wider field in the decorative repertory of Crete
Aarbok, 1918-19, pp. 1-14, Figs. 6, 7, has during the culminating phase of M. M. II. The
called attention to the close comparison stage with which they are associated at Hal
presented between the antlered veining of Tarxien and elsewhere is, as Dr. Zammit has
a similar cup and the characteristic horned shown, the latest Neolithic of the Islands,
curvilinear patterns that appear in the shape But there are good reasons for bringing down
of graffiti on pottery or of the raised ornaments its date to an epoch compatible with M. M. II
of friezes in the prehistoric sanctuaries of the influence.

Maltese Islands. These comparisons, as I