DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0039
DATE OF CERAMIC CONTENTS OF GRAVES
23
It is quite unnecessary to suppose that the interments of the Mycenae
Shaft Graves in their original form were of a uniform character. The
abundant evidence that we possess in the cemeteries of Knossos shows that,
not only were there different classes of sepulture, such as shaft graves, pit-
caves, and chamber tombs, in use at the same time in the same cemetery,
but that burial in pits coexisted with the deposition
of the remains in coffins or sarcophagi placed on
the floor of the same vault.
Date of Ceramic Contents:
to L. M. I b.
M.M. III«
The latest painted clay vessels found in the
Shaft Graves belong to the later phase b of the
First Late Minoan Period, and were all found in
Grave I. They illustrate a characteristic form of
foliated decoration derived from the ' Sacral Ivy',1
amongst examples of which the ewer Fig. 12 must
take an early place. The pattern on this with its
rayed ' brittle stars' bears a close resemblance to
that of some of the fine amphoras from Nestor's
Pylos (Kakovatos). Other vessels from this tomb
suggest a somewhat later phase of this style. One
bowl shows a degenerate design of argonauts
characteristic of the then prevalent' marine' style.
Of special interest is the appearance of a motive
derived from the double-axe designs so frequent
on the pottery of the earlier part of L. M. I in
which one would suppose the artist had had rather in view the two valves of
a uriio or mussel, with the byssus or ligaments for attachment seen above
and below. This degeneration also appears on some Cretan examples of
the L. M. lb style. As we now know from a series of contemporary
Egyptian finds, the fabric of vases of this Cretan style—L. M. lb —
roughly covers the period occupied by the long reign of Thothmes III
(c. 1501-1447 B.C.), and may therefore be referred to the first half of the
fifteenth century B. c. In Graves II, III, V, and VI clay vases occurred—
either imported or close local copies—belonging to the L. M. la style, and
dating, approximately, from the latter half of the sixteenth century.
On the other hand, it is evident that the L. M. lb style, which in Crete
1 See on this, P. of M., ii, p. 478 seqq.
Fig. 12. Painted Ewer
with ' Ivy-leaf ' Motive.
From the First Shaft
Grave, Mycenae, (a).
23
It is quite unnecessary to suppose that the interments of the Mycenae
Shaft Graves in their original form were of a uniform character. The
abundant evidence that we possess in the cemeteries of Knossos shows that,
not only were there different classes of sepulture, such as shaft graves, pit-
caves, and chamber tombs, in use at the same time in the same cemetery,
but that burial in pits coexisted with the deposition
of the remains in coffins or sarcophagi placed on
the floor of the same vault.
Date of Ceramic Contents:
to L. M. I b.
M.M. III«
The latest painted clay vessels found in the
Shaft Graves belong to the later phase b of the
First Late Minoan Period, and were all found in
Grave I. They illustrate a characteristic form of
foliated decoration derived from the ' Sacral Ivy',1
amongst examples of which the ewer Fig. 12 must
take an early place. The pattern on this with its
rayed ' brittle stars' bears a close resemblance to
that of some of the fine amphoras from Nestor's
Pylos (Kakovatos). Other vessels from this tomb
suggest a somewhat later phase of this style. One
bowl shows a degenerate design of argonauts
characteristic of the then prevalent' marine' style.
Of special interest is the appearance of a motive
derived from the double-axe designs so frequent
on the pottery of the earlier part of L. M. I in
which one would suppose the artist had had rather in view the two valves of
a uriio or mussel, with the byssus or ligaments for attachment seen above
and below. This degeneration also appears on some Cretan examples of
the L. M. lb style. As we now know from a series of contemporary
Egyptian finds, the fabric of vases of this Cretan style—L. M. lb —
roughly covers the period occupied by the long reign of Thothmes III
(c. 1501-1447 B.C.), and may therefore be referred to the first half of the
fifteenth century B. c. In Graves II, III, V, and VI clay vases occurred—
either imported or close local copies—belonging to the L. M. la style, and
dating, approximately, from the latter half of the sixteenth century.
On the other hand, it is evident that the L. M. lb style, which in Crete
1 See on this, P. of M., ii, p. 478 seqq.
Fig. 12. Painted Ewer
with ' Ivy-leaf ' Motive.
From the First Shaft
Grave, Mycenae, (a).