DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0038
22
EVIDENCES OF TRANSFERENCE
W
W
M
The conclusion to which all this points, that these mortal remains of
the Mycenaean princes had been transferred at one and the same time from
their original resting-places, also fits in with other phenomena with which
we have to deal. Such a transference would itself have been greatly
facilitated if the bodies themselves had been
previously preserved in wooden chests to which
part of their associated ornaments were actually
attached. At the same time, the shifting over
from one sepulchral vault to another would
almost inevitably have entailed some loss or
breakage. If we may suppose that the great bee-
hive structures, from which, exhypothesi, the mortal
remains were removed, continued to be in use for
memorial rites, it may readily be believed that
certain objects, such as, for instance, heavy stone
jars, might have been left in their original resting-
places. Some fragments may well have been lost
in the process of transference and some minute ob-
jects might have escaped notice on the floor of the
vault or have been swept into its crannies. The
continual search for objects of precious metal inside the great tholoi—renewed,
no doubt, at intervals through all later times—would, it is true, have removed
most of these. But it does appear that a certain number of fragments of
the earlier sepulchral ornaments found their way into chinks and crevices,
and the remains of some thin gold repousse ornaments which have a special
importance in the present connexion will be referred to below.
A whole armoury of bronze weapons was found in the Shaft Graves.
In addition to spear-heads and daggers, remains of at least seventy bronze
swords were collected in Grave IV,1 where there were three men's interments.
In Grave V, where three men were also buried, over seventy-five were found.2
Such accumulations of weapons would naturally point to much more spacious
sepulchral surroundings. A custom may well have arisen for Mycenaean
Chiefs to deposit their weapons in such great ' mausolea', which—as we
know by the analogy of the cult objects placed beside a warrior's grave
sunk in the floor of a rock-chamber, the Tomb of the Double Axes near
Knossos—were also heroic shrines.
M M
Fig. 11. Arrangement of
Bodies in Grave IV. (M. -
Man ; W. = Woman.)
1 Karo, Schachtgriiber von Mykenai. Com-
pare Schliemann's statements, op. cit., p. 219,
and p. 278.
" Op. cit., p. 307.
swords were found.
More than sixty entire
EVIDENCES OF TRANSFERENCE
W
W
M
The conclusion to which all this points, that these mortal remains of
the Mycenaean princes had been transferred at one and the same time from
their original resting-places, also fits in with other phenomena with which
we have to deal. Such a transference would itself have been greatly
facilitated if the bodies themselves had been
previously preserved in wooden chests to which
part of their associated ornaments were actually
attached. At the same time, the shifting over
from one sepulchral vault to another would
almost inevitably have entailed some loss or
breakage. If we may suppose that the great bee-
hive structures, from which, exhypothesi, the mortal
remains were removed, continued to be in use for
memorial rites, it may readily be believed that
certain objects, such as, for instance, heavy stone
jars, might have been left in their original resting-
places. Some fragments may well have been lost
in the process of transference and some minute ob-
jects might have escaped notice on the floor of the
vault or have been swept into its crannies. The
continual search for objects of precious metal inside the great tholoi—renewed,
no doubt, at intervals through all later times—would, it is true, have removed
most of these. But it does appear that a certain number of fragments of
the earlier sepulchral ornaments found their way into chinks and crevices,
and the remains of some thin gold repousse ornaments which have a special
importance in the present connexion will be referred to below.
A whole armoury of bronze weapons was found in the Shaft Graves.
In addition to spear-heads and daggers, remains of at least seventy bronze
swords were collected in Grave IV,1 where there were three men's interments.
In Grave V, where three men were also buried, over seventy-five were found.2
Such accumulations of weapons would naturally point to much more spacious
sepulchral surroundings. A custom may well have arisen for Mycenaean
Chiefs to deposit their weapons in such great ' mausolea', which—as we
know by the analogy of the cult objects placed beside a warrior's grave
sunk in the floor of a rock-chamber, the Tomb of the Double Axes near
Knossos—were also heroic shrines.
M M
Fig. 11. Arrangement of
Bodies in Grave IV. (M. -
Man ; W. = Woman.)
1 Karo, Schachtgriiber von Mykenai. Com-
pare Schliemann's statements, op. cit., p. 219,
and p. 278.
" Op. cit., p. 307.
swords were found.
More than sixty entire