DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0282
ZAKRO SEALINGS AND SYRIAN ALABASTRON 255
which the seals are composed, with its fine particles of copper, is altogether
different from that used at Zakro either for seal-impressions, tablets, or
pottery.1 On the other hand, it exactly corresponds with the very cha-
racteristic material of the potters of Vasiliki, on the North side of the
Hierapetra watershed, and must have reference to its port on the Gulf of
Mirabello, the duties of the fiscal officers being evidently of an itinerant
kind. The discovery, on the other hand, of these specimens of the Vasiliki
class in the harbour town of Knossos may point to a direct maritime con-
nexion with the port of this very ancient Minoan centre—the link with
Zakro being supplied by the easy land passage rather than by the circuitous
and dangerous voyage round the iron cliffs of Cape Sidero.
This interesting discovery led me during my campaign of 1922 to Excava-
undertake a small excavation in the area of the old harbour town of Anemo-
Knossos bordering the high road, where the sealings had come to light at the mYlia-
spot called Anemomylia or the ' Windmills'. The soil here, unfortunately,
was less than a metre deep, and no further objects of the kind were forth-
coming. This strip of land proved, however, to form part of the interior of
a considerable building, the North wall of which was partly traceable in
a Westerly direction and consisted of good limestone blocks, some of which
incorporated in a neighbouring well-head, showed incised signs of the M. M. 111
class. Within this it was possible to explore part of a chamber with
L. M. Ill b pottery in the surface layer, beneath this, again, fragments of
L. M. I vessels on a pavement of irregular green schist slabs, and, at a depth
of about a metre, a floor-level with M. M. Ill a sherds. In the adjoining
plot to the East of this were remains of a L. M. I pithos.
In the neighbouring region, which produced so many remains of Minoan Dis-
stone vessels, there came to light an alabaster vase of exotic character, Alabaster
reproduced in Fig. 150.2 It has a ridged mouthpiece, with part of a loop Vase in
handle attached to it behind, and displays a female figure, the proportions Squatting
of which are not simply obese, but—as is even better shown by analogous pf™ee
examples-—are intended to denote an advanced stage of pregnancy. Her
legs are bent under her, and her hands pressed against the lower part of her
1 I have personally examined the material Richard Seager. From the information that
of the specimens from Zakro in the Candia he received there seems to be no doubt that it
Museum, including hundreds of the sealings. was found on this part of the site. His own
2 This vessel is of marble-like ' alabaster' (to impression was that it might be of Early
use the popular term), but the material, more Minoan fabric, but he was unaware of the
strictly speaking, is calcite. It was obtained parallels from Byblos and elsewhere,
through the good offices of the late Mr.
which the seals are composed, with its fine particles of copper, is altogether
different from that used at Zakro either for seal-impressions, tablets, or
pottery.1 On the other hand, it exactly corresponds with the very cha-
racteristic material of the potters of Vasiliki, on the North side of the
Hierapetra watershed, and must have reference to its port on the Gulf of
Mirabello, the duties of the fiscal officers being evidently of an itinerant
kind. The discovery, on the other hand, of these specimens of the Vasiliki
class in the harbour town of Knossos may point to a direct maritime con-
nexion with the port of this very ancient Minoan centre—the link with
Zakro being supplied by the easy land passage rather than by the circuitous
and dangerous voyage round the iron cliffs of Cape Sidero.
This interesting discovery led me during my campaign of 1922 to Excava-
undertake a small excavation in the area of the old harbour town of Anemo-
Knossos bordering the high road, where the sealings had come to light at the mYlia-
spot called Anemomylia or the ' Windmills'. The soil here, unfortunately,
was less than a metre deep, and no further objects of the kind were forth-
coming. This strip of land proved, however, to form part of the interior of
a considerable building, the North wall of which was partly traceable in
a Westerly direction and consisted of good limestone blocks, some of which
incorporated in a neighbouring well-head, showed incised signs of the M. M. 111
class. Within this it was possible to explore part of a chamber with
L. M. Ill b pottery in the surface layer, beneath this, again, fragments of
L. M. I vessels on a pavement of irregular green schist slabs, and, at a depth
of about a metre, a floor-level with M. M. Ill a sherds. In the adjoining
plot to the East of this were remains of a L. M. I pithos.
In the neighbouring region, which produced so many remains of Minoan Dis-
stone vessels, there came to light an alabaster vase of exotic character, Alabaster
reproduced in Fig. 150.2 It has a ridged mouthpiece, with part of a loop Vase in
handle attached to it behind, and displays a female figure, the proportions Squatting
of which are not simply obese, but—as is even better shown by analogous pf™ee
examples-—are intended to denote an advanced stage of pregnancy. Her
legs are bent under her, and her hands pressed against the lower part of her
1 I have personally examined the material Richard Seager. From the information that
of the specimens from Zakro in the Candia he received there seems to be no doubt that it
Museum, including hundreds of the sealings. was found on this part of the site. His own
2 This vessel is of marble-like ' alabaster' (to impression was that it might be of Early
use the popular term), but the material, more Minoan fabric, but he was unaware of the
strictly speaking, is calcite. It was obtained parallels from Byblos and elsewhere,
through the good offices of the late Mr.