DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0405
378
THE SOUTH HOUSE
Lustral
area—
later
filled in.
Remains
of its
painted
decora-
tion.
an attitude that would have been impossible had the window been the
breadth of an ordinary wall.
The small East window of the South House had long escaped
recognition,1 owing to the fact that its embrasure had been blocked on the
occasion of a restoration carried out at a time when the mature ceramic
phase of L. M. I a was in vogue. This had further involved the setting of
a new line of gypsum dado slabs across the opening of the bay, the ragged
remains of which had further masked the character of the original con-
struction. It is possible that some new and larger window was made at
this time in the North wall. What is clear is that within the bay of the
outer wall, immediately West of the North end of the Megaron, a change
took place at this epoch that may be thought to have considerable
significance.
Within this bay, as was brought out by supplementary excavation,
there had originally existed a ' lustral area' of the usual type, lined with
large gypsum slabs, and approached by descending steps with a parapet
and column (see Plan, Fig. 208). This was now filled in—the date of the
filling being well established by the L. M. I a sherds above the remains of
gypsum floor slabbing—and the whole space provided with a new floor
of the same material on a level with that of the neighbouring Megaron.
Access was opened on that side by means of two doorways of the usual
kind, and the little chamber thus formed, which inherited the upper part of
the parapet of the old basin, was provided with a new gypsum dado at the
higher level. This was put up at the expense of painted stucco wall-
decoration that had existed above the older dado slabs, and the fragments
of this were found amongst the debris of the filling beneath the later floor.
These depict plants, some resembling grasses while others show high stems
and lily-like leaves. They are seen in one case (Fig. 211, a) growing out
of a yellow ground, in another a small reed-like plant rises out of what may
be taken for a blue pool with undulating red and yellow banks. One frag-
ment represents part of a large pebble with variegated bands resembling
those of the ' Partridge Frieze '.2 One and all, they betray a great family
likeness to some of the plant and rock-work forms found in the ' House
of the Frescoes', and there is every reason for believing that these
fragments belong to the same date, the closing phase, namely, of M. M. Ill b.
In the adjoining space to the West and probably derived from the same
1 I only realized that the remains were
those of a window during a re-examination of
the South House in 1926. On clearing out
the later filling of earth and debris the con-
struction became clear.
2 See Coloured Plate VIII (Frontispiece).
THE SOUTH HOUSE
Lustral
area—
later
filled in.
Remains
of its
painted
decora-
tion.
an attitude that would have been impossible had the window been the
breadth of an ordinary wall.
The small East window of the South House had long escaped
recognition,1 owing to the fact that its embrasure had been blocked on the
occasion of a restoration carried out at a time when the mature ceramic
phase of L. M. I a was in vogue. This had further involved the setting of
a new line of gypsum dado slabs across the opening of the bay, the ragged
remains of which had further masked the character of the original con-
struction. It is possible that some new and larger window was made at
this time in the North wall. What is clear is that within the bay of the
outer wall, immediately West of the North end of the Megaron, a change
took place at this epoch that may be thought to have considerable
significance.
Within this bay, as was brought out by supplementary excavation,
there had originally existed a ' lustral area' of the usual type, lined with
large gypsum slabs, and approached by descending steps with a parapet
and column (see Plan, Fig. 208). This was now filled in—the date of the
filling being well established by the L. M. I a sherds above the remains of
gypsum floor slabbing—and the whole space provided with a new floor
of the same material on a level with that of the neighbouring Megaron.
Access was opened on that side by means of two doorways of the usual
kind, and the little chamber thus formed, which inherited the upper part of
the parapet of the old basin, was provided with a new gypsum dado at the
higher level. This was put up at the expense of painted stucco wall-
decoration that had existed above the older dado slabs, and the fragments
of this were found amongst the debris of the filling beneath the later floor.
These depict plants, some resembling grasses while others show high stems
and lily-like leaves. They are seen in one case (Fig. 211, a) growing out
of a yellow ground, in another a small reed-like plant rises out of what may
be taken for a blue pool with undulating red and yellow banks. One frag-
ment represents part of a large pebble with variegated bands resembling
those of the ' Partridge Frieze '.2 One and all, they betray a great family
likeness to some of the plant and rock-work forms found in the ' House
of the Frescoes', and there is every reason for believing that these
fragments belong to the same date, the closing phase, namely, of M. M. Ill b.
In the adjoining space to the West and probably derived from the same
1 I only realized that the remains were
those of a window during a re-examination of
the South House in 1926. On clearing out
the later filling of earth and debris the con-
struction became clear.
2 See Coloured Plate VIII (Frontispiece).