DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0077
EVIDENCE OF STELAE WITHIN CHAMBER TOMBS 61
•1-
below these, and he adds ' at a depth of 5 feet lower I brought to light three
more slabs, the one lying, the other two standing'.1
The assumption that gravestones like those found over the Shaft
Graves necessarily marked interments in the open cannot be maintained in
view of certain facts and
further indications that we
now possess.
A good instance in
point has now been sup-
plied by the early cemetery
of Mavro Spelio at Knossos,
that lies on the height
beyond the Kairatos, the
larofe rock - chambers of
which, though they con-
tinued in use to L.M. Ill,
in all cases seem to have
Sfone back well into the
Middle Minoan Age. Here
Mr. E. J. Forsdyke, in the
course of his excavation of
Tomb IV, came across the
limestone slab, about 3 feet
high, shown in Fig. 45,'- in Spelio, Knossos, bevelled off below for insertion
1 . , , into Floor. ( The stones in front are simply placed
which we must surely recog- Ag SDPP0RTS \
nize a sepulchral stela. Al-
though its upper curve is but rudely fashioned, its lower part, as we shall
see, was definitely shaped with a view to fixing it in an upright position.
The fore-part of this tomb had been destroyed, and the slab lay in the
left-hand compartment of the back of the vault. There can be no question,
therefore, of its having been part of the door blocking, the entrance itself
having long disappeared, and indeed such blockings always consist of
comparatively small rough stones. There were no deep pits in this tomb,
but it may have stood beside some clay coffin placed on the floor. It lay
below the stratum in which remains of L. M. Ill larnakes occurred, and in
the opinion of the excavator belonged to the M. M. Ill level.3
1 Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 161. see pp. 248 and 255, Fig. 7).
2 E. J. Forsdyke, The Mavro Spelio Ceme- 3 These supplementary details have been
tery at Knossos (B. S. A., xxviii, p. 243 seqq.: kindly supplied to me by Mr. Forsdyke.
Fig. 45. Stela from Chamber Tomb IV, Mavro
•1-
below these, and he adds ' at a depth of 5 feet lower I brought to light three
more slabs, the one lying, the other two standing'.1
The assumption that gravestones like those found over the Shaft
Graves necessarily marked interments in the open cannot be maintained in
view of certain facts and
further indications that we
now possess.
A good instance in
point has now been sup-
plied by the early cemetery
of Mavro Spelio at Knossos,
that lies on the height
beyond the Kairatos, the
larofe rock - chambers of
which, though they con-
tinued in use to L.M. Ill,
in all cases seem to have
Sfone back well into the
Middle Minoan Age. Here
Mr. E. J. Forsdyke, in the
course of his excavation of
Tomb IV, came across the
limestone slab, about 3 feet
high, shown in Fig. 45,'- in Spelio, Knossos, bevelled off below for insertion
1 . , , into Floor. ( The stones in front are simply placed
which we must surely recog- Ag SDPP0RTS \
nize a sepulchral stela. Al-
though its upper curve is but rudely fashioned, its lower part, as we shall
see, was definitely shaped with a view to fixing it in an upright position.
The fore-part of this tomb had been destroyed, and the slab lay in the
left-hand compartment of the back of the vault. There can be no question,
therefore, of its having been part of the door blocking, the entrance itself
having long disappeared, and indeed such blockings always consist of
comparatively small rough stones. There were no deep pits in this tomb,
but it may have stood beside some clay coffin placed on the floor. It lay
below the stratum in which remains of L. M. Ill larnakes occurred, and in
the opinion of the excavator belonged to the M. M. Ill level.3
1 Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 161. see pp. 248 and 255, Fig. 7).
2 E. J. Forsdyke, The Mavro Spelio Ceme- 3 These supplementary details have been
tery at Knossos (B. S. A., xxviii, p. 243 seqq.: kindly supplied to me by Mr. Forsdyke.
Fig. 45. Stela from Chamber Tomb IV, Mavro