DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0129
104
CARAVANSERAI' BY ROAD-HEAD
Vlychia
spring.
Dis-
covery of
stone
Basin.
Bath for
foot-
washing.
Dis-
covery of
Jarge
building
by road-
head.
of the Gypsades hill by the old road from Candia and close to a ruined way-
side inn or ' taverna' that had been still in use in the early days of the
excavation. This source, known from its slightly brackish taste—due to
gypsum infiltrations—as the Vlychia spring,1 gives its name to the whole
gorge including the brook below, and is still used by man and beast. It
will be seen to have played an essential part in relation to an extensive
Minoan building on the neighbouring level site.
The green patch whence the blocks had been abstracted naturally
invited excavation. This resulted in the discovery below, in situ, of the
finely wrought slabs of a shallow basin, which formed in turn the starting-
point of two lines of wall, 2-10 metres distant from one another, running
South. It was from the top courses of these that the Bey had obtained his
material, but, with the patience of a tomb robber, he had also grubbed
beneath the floor of the stone basin in the search for treasure. Happily,
perhaps regarding it as a screen for further tunnelling, he had left this, the
most important part of the construction, practically intact, and used the basin
to plant a fig-tree. The appearance of the double line of walling, and the
fact that the course of the Minoan road ran past this spot, made it on the
face of it probable that we had hit on the dromos of a built tomb, in relation
to which the cist-like stone construction might possibly have fulfilled some
ritual function, like the sunken areas of Minoan dwellings, palatial or other-
wise. The reality, however, turned out to be very different.
As a matter of fact careful excavation showed that we had to deal
with an elaborately constructed stone bath of shallow dimensions, evidently
designed for washing the feet, open on what afterwards proved to be a front
yard on the North, and forming an integral part of the facade line of an
important building. The necessity of exploring the area to the East and
West of this point on a large scale was at once apparent, and recourse was
again had to ' wager' work on the indurated surface. The deposit, consisting
largely of disintegrated ' kouskouras', was hardly distinguishable from the
native rock except by its superior hardness due to the gypsum infiltration,
and the work proved to be most gradual and laborious. The result, so far
as it has been possible to carry it out, was to bring out a section of
a Minoan building with a frontage towards the road of over 50 metres, the
Plan of which, by Mr. Piet de Jong, so far as it could be recovered, is given
in Fig. 48.
1 Vn) /JAv^ta flpvm. It is pronounced Professor R. M. Dawkins informs me that
Vkechia in the local dialect. The torrent- /SXv^ds (brackish) is used dialectically for
bed below is known as t£>} fiKvyias to pvaKi. yXv^os.
CARAVANSERAI' BY ROAD-HEAD
Vlychia
spring.
Dis-
covery of
stone
Basin.
Bath for
foot-
washing.
Dis-
covery of
Jarge
building
by road-
head.
of the Gypsades hill by the old road from Candia and close to a ruined way-
side inn or ' taverna' that had been still in use in the early days of the
excavation. This source, known from its slightly brackish taste—due to
gypsum infiltrations—as the Vlychia spring,1 gives its name to the whole
gorge including the brook below, and is still used by man and beast. It
will be seen to have played an essential part in relation to an extensive
Minoan building on the neighbouring level site.
The green patch whence the blocks had been abstracted naturally
invited excavation. This resulted in the discovery below, in situ, of the
finely wrought slabs of a shallow basin, which formed in turn the starting-
point of two lines of wall, 2-10 metres distant from one another, running
South. It was from the top courses of these that the Bey had obtained his
material, but, with the patience of a tomb robber, he had also grubbed
beneath the floor of the stone basin in the search for treasure. Happily,
perhaps regarding it as a screen for further tunnelling, he had left this, the
most important part of the construction, practically intact, and used the basin
to plant a fig-tree. The appearance of the double line of walling, and the
fact that the course of the Minoan road ran past this spot, made it on the
face of it probable that we had hit on the dromos of a built tomb, in relation
to which the cist-like stone construction might possibly have fulfilled some
ritual function, like the sunken areas of Minoan dwellings, palatial or other-
wise. The reality, however, turned out to be very different.
As a matter of fact careful excavation showed that we had to deal
with an elaborately constructed stone bath of shallow dimensions, evidently
designed for washing the feet, open on what afterwards proved to be a front
yard on the North, and forming an integral part of the facade line of an
important building. The necessity of exploring the area to the East and
West of this point on a large scale was at once apparent, and recourse was
again had to ' wager' work on the indurated surface. The deposit, consisting
largely of disintegrated ' kouskouras', was hardly distinguishable from the
native rock except by its superior hardness due to the gypsum infiltration,
and the work proved to be most gradual and laborious. The result, so far
as it has been possible to carry it out, was to bring out a section of
a Minoan building with a frontage towards the road of over 50 metres, the
Plan of which, by Mr. Piet de Jong, so far as it could be recovered, is given
in Fig. 48.
1 Vn) /JAv^ta flpvm. It is pronounced Professor R. M. Dawkins informs me that
Vkechia in the local dialect. The torrent- /SXv^ds (brackish) is used dialectically for
bed below is known as t£>} fiKvyias to pvaKi. yXv^os.