DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0032
8 LATE NEOLITHIC HOUSES BENEATH CENTRAL COURT
Upper
House
plans
imper-
fectly
pre-
served.
Upper
Neo-
lithic
stage
brief and
transi-
tional.
ment was, as already observed, of a very unmixed composition. Moreover, the
uppermost of the two principal layers that can be here distinguished must be
regarded as still belonging in its essential features to the insular Stone Age.
The contents of both layers indeed represent substantially the same con-
cluding phase of the Upper Neolithic, though the sherds of the upper layer
show less of the traditional burnish and present a somewhat paler surface.
Incised decoration is even rarer and more superficial there and the material is
less coherent. Certain objects from both levels are nevertheless grouped
together in Fig. 3, as on the whole complementary to one another; the
examples taken from the earlier level being marked a and the others ji.
The upper floors here lay as a rule about 25 centimetres above the lower,
both showing a white ' kouskouras' face put on a backing of red earth and
prepared clay.1 Intermediate levels occurred, however, in places so that it
was not always possible rigorously to distinguish the contents of the two
main systems. The walls of the upper structures, immediately under-
lying the pavement of the Central Court, had been much disturbed or
entirely destroyed over the Western half of the area. Thanks, however, to
a slight slope towards the Eastern border the deposit on that side was
thicker, and a section of the walls of a later house could be there made out
superposed on the earlier structures '2 (a) at a slightly different angle (see
Plan, Fig. 8 and inset). Floor deposit answering to the later system (/3) was
nevertheless traceable throughout the greater part of the area explored.
The upper and lower stratum here laid bare do not together occupy
more than half a metre in depth, a small proportion of the total extent of
the Neolithic beds in this part of the site, which amounts to about seven
metres.3 There are clear indications, however, that the more or less transi-
tional phase illustrated by the Upper Neolithic was of relatively short
duration. Already, in the neighbouring area to the West, beneath the
upper platform of the South Propylaeum, pottery was brought out, little more
1 A typical fragment of pavement belong-
ing to stratum 3 gives a section about 3-80 cm.
thick, consisting of an upper coating of put
'kouskouras' (c. 1-50 cm.) resting on a thin
layer of red earth {c. 080 cm.), below which
was a layer of pale prepared clay of about the
same thickness as the put ' kouskouras '.
■ Dr. Mackenzie notes that at the N.E.
corner, where this superposition is clearest, the
overlying wall has its 'separate bedding of
mud-mortar and pebbles 10 cm. thick which
runs along the top of the earlier wall'.
3 A pit dug through the Neolithic strata
9-15 m. east of the E. wall of the Uppei
Neolithic structures reached the virgin rock
('kouskouras') 6-85 m. below the level of the
Central Court pavement. A few centimetres,
however, may be safely added to this for
surface portions of the Neolithic levelled away
for pavement. Elsewhere in places the Neo-
lithic goes down over 1 r metres.
Upper
House
plans
imper-
fectly
pre-
served.
Upper
Neo-
lithic
stage
brief and
transi-
tional.
ment was, as already observed, of a very unmixed composition. Moreover, the
uppermost of the two principal layers that can be here distinguished must be
regarded as still belonging in its essential features to the insular Stone Age.
The contents of both layers indeed represent substantially the same con-
cluding phase of the Upper Neolithic, though the sherds of the upper layer
show less of the traditional burnish and present a somewhat paler surface.
Incised decoration is even rarer and more superficial there and the material is
less coherent. Certain objects from both levels are nevertheless grouped
together in Fig. 3, as on the whole complementary to one another; the
examples taken from the earlier level being marked a and the others ji.
The upper floors here lay as a rule about 25 centimetres above the lower,
both showing a white ' kouskouras' face put on a backing of red earth and
prepared clay.1 Intermediate levels occurred, however, in places so that it
was not always possible rigorously to distinguish the contents of the two
main systems. The walls of the upper structures, immediately under-
lying the pavement of the Central Court, had been much disturbed or
entirely destroyed over the Western half of the area. Thanks, however, to
a slight slope towards the Eastern border the deposit on that side was
thicker, and a section of the walls of a later house could be there made out
superposed on the earlier structures '2 (a) at a slightly different angle (see
Plan, Fig. 8 and inset). Floor deposit answering to the later system (/3) was
nevertheless traceable throughout the greater part of the area explored.
The upper and lower stratum here laid bare do not together occupy
more than half a metre in depth, a small proportion of the total extent of
the Neolithic beds in this part of the site, which amounts to about seven
metres.3 There are clear indications, however, that the more or less transi-
tional phase illustrated by the Upper Neolithic was of relatively short
duration. Already, in the neighbouring area to the West, beneath the
upper platform of the South Propylaeum, pottery was brought out, little more
1 A typical fragment of pavement belong-
ing to stratum 3 gives a section about 3-80 cm.
thick, consisting of an upper coating of put
'kouskouras' (c. 1-50 cm.) resting on a thin
layer of red earth {c. 080 cm.), below which
was a layer of pale prepared clay of about the
same thickness as the put ' kouskouras '.
■ Dr. Mackenzie notes that at the N.E.
corner, where this superposition is clearest, the
overlying wall has its 'separate bedding of
mud-mortar and pebbles 10 cm. thick which
runs along the top of the earlier wall'.
3 A pit dug through the Neolithic strata
9-15 m. east of the E. wall of the Uppei
Neolithic structures reached the virgin rock
('kouskouras') 6-85 m. below the level of the
Central Court pavement. A few centimetres,
however, may be safely added to this for
surface portions of the Neolithic levelled away
for pavement. Elsewhere in places the Neo-
lithic goes down over 1 r metres.