DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0033
EXCEPTIONAL CHARACTER OF SIXTH GRAVE
pebble flooring-, while remains of a second, which it had obviously replaced,
were heaped near to its skull, in a corner of the tomb.
This Grave, with the Second, is decidedly smaller and shallower than the
others, and its N.W. corner is somewhat intersected by the inner line of the
' temenos' circle above. It may be taken, indeed, to stand in an exceptional
position as regards the whole sepulchral group. The very fact that
Schliemann failed to strike this tomb marks its ' eccentric' location.
This Grave is in many ways exceptional. It is the only one, as we see,
in which the skeleton undoubtedly lay in an extended position. It is the only
one with its axis E.-W., standing thus apart, like the other ' in situ' grave
found South of it. Here alone, too, we have distinct evidence of a succession
of interments. Such may have occurred in one or other of the larger vaults,
but their size and the deliberate arrangement within is best explained by
the supposition that the burials in each case were multiple and made at one
and the same time. The close and more or less regular arrangement of the
pits within a limited space points, indeed, as already noted, to their having
been constructed for a wholesale re-interment, on a particular occasion, of
bodies transferred from other sepulchral vaults.
That they should have been transferred to this particular area, close
outside the older acropolis wall, is explained by the fact that it had been
already from time immemorial a local burial-place. Not only were several
cist graves containing contracted bodies, in conformity with Middle Helladic
or ' Hellado-Minyan ' traditional practice, but the quantities of bones in the
earth washed clown over the graves and the occurrence of native pottery
shows that the Shaft Grave interments had themselves been made at the
expense of a part of the older cemetery.
The existence of Grave VI may be taken to show that this intrusive
occupation had already begun at an earlier period. It is possible, moreover,
that the ' Treasure' found immediately North of the Grave Circle may
represent the contents of another ordinary ' pit-grave' of the same type.
That the new form of sepulchre had also intruded itself on the South side
of this area is shown by the discovery by the British School of the plun-
dered grave of this kind,1 also abnormally oriented, of the usual Minoan
type, 2 07 m. long and So to 85 cm. wide—almost exactly answering to
the proportions, for instance, of the ' Chieftain's Grave' at Zafer Papoura.2
The Sixth Grave, as has been shown, stands apart from the others.
1 B. S. A., xxv, pp. 55-7, and Fig. 14. above its roof, being 1 metre deep, as com-
a Its dimensions are 2-06 m. long by 75 cm. pared with i-2o"m. in the case of that beneath
wide, the grave itself, apart from the pit the later ' Granary'.
C
pebble flooring-, while remains of a second, which it had obviously replaced,
were heaped near to its skull, in a corner of the tomb.
This Grave, with the Second, is decidedly smaller and shallower than the
others, and its N.W. corner is somewhat intersected by the inner line of the
' temenos' circle above. It may be taken, indeed, to stand in an exceptional
position as regards the whole sepulchral group. The very fact that
Schliemann failed to strike this tomb marks its ' eccentric' location.
This Grave is in many ways exceptional. It is the only one, as we see,
in which the skeleton undoubtedly lay in an extended position. It is the only
one with its axis E.-W., standing thus apart, like the other ' in situ' grave
found South of it. Here alone, too, we have distinct evidence of a succession
of interments. Such may have occurred in one or other of the larger vaults,
but their size and the deliberate arrangement within is best explained by
the supposition that the burials in each case were multiple and made at one
and the same time. The close and more or less regular arrangement of the
pits within a limited space points, indeed, as already noted, to their having
been constructed for a wholesale re-interment, on a particular occasion, of
bodies transferred from other sepulchral vaults.
That they should have been transferred to this particular area, close
outside the older acropolis wall, is explained by the fact that it had been
already from time immemorial a local burial-place. Not only were several
cist graves containing contracted bodies, in conformity with Middle Helladic
or ' Hellado-Minyan ' traditional practice, but the quantities of bones in the
earth washed clown over the graves and the occurrence of native pottery
shows that the Shaft Grave interments had themselves been made at the
expense of a part of the older cemetery.
The existence of Grave VI may be taken to show that this intrusive
occupation had already begun at an earlier period. It is possible, moreover,
that the ' Treasure' found immediately North of the Grave Circle may
represent the contents of another ordinary ' pit-grave' of the same type.
That the new form of sepulchre had also intruded itself on the South side
of this area is shown by the discovery by the British School of the plun-
dered grave of this kind,1 also abnormally oriented, of the usual Minoan
type, 2 07 m. long and So to 85 cm. wide—almost exactly answering to
the proportions, for instance, of the ' Chieftain's Grave' at Zafer Papoura.2
The Sixth Grave, as has been shown, stands apart from the others.
1 B. S. A., xxv, pp. 55-7, and Fig. 14. above its roof, being 1 metre deep, as com-
a Its dimensions are 2-06 m. long by 75 cm. pared with i-2o"m. in the case of that beneath
wide, the grave itself, apart from the pit the later ' Granary'.
C