DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0085
POSSIBLE SOURCE IN OLD CARIAN COASTLAND 69
type were in use in Crete, and the appearance of the earliest of the Mycenae
vaults, though not such a long interval as has been sometimes assumed.
The primitive type was still commonly used down to M. M. I and, in one
case at least—the smaller tlwlos at Hagia Triada—the last ceramic elements
represent the early phase of M.M. II.
On the other hand, a remarkable circular spring chamber lately
excavated by me at Arkhanes—an important Minoan site some seven miles
inland of Knossos—clearly supplies an example of a true bee-hive structure
formed of good limestone blocks. The sherds found within it dated from
the very beginning of the First Late Minoan Period, and it thus appears
that, for this purpose at least, vaults resembling in construction those of
Mycenae were built in Crete at a more or less contemporary date.
The distribution of these tholoi in Mainland Greece, notably along the
West Coast of the Morea, is itself suggestive of a Cretan origin. On the
other hand, the known built tombs such as existed in Crete during the last
age of the Knossian Palace, of which the ' Royal Tomb ' at Isopata is by far
the most important, are of oblong form with 'keeled' vaulting. Negative
evidence is itself not conclusive. In default, however, of further discoveries
the strong hold which a late variety of the beehive form of tomb is seen
to have had in much later Mycenaean times at Assarlik on the Old Carian
coastlands 1 may warrant us to look in that direction.- It seems probable
that a part of that Anatolian coast came within the area of true Minoan
culture at an early date, and this might explain how it is that the finest
and earliest of the Mycenae vaults make their appearance in an already
Minoized form.
An analogy for the introduction of the bee-hive tombs into Mainland
Greece through Minoan agency has now been supplied by the evidence,
recently acquired, that the rock-cut Chamber Tombs with their dromoi—the
most characteristic and widelydiffused sepulchral type of Mycenaean Greece
themselves reflect a form already known in Crete in the age preceding th«
1 W. R. Paton, Excavations in Caria:
J. H. S., 1887, p. 66 seqq. The ground-plan
of the vault, however, was in these cases
oblong, and the vault disproportionately high.
The grave mounds themselves were sur-
rounded by a round wall.
1 Mr. Wace, B.S.A., xxv, p. 395, was led,
independently, to look in the same direction.
After mentioning the fact that at Kolophon
the American Expedition has recently ex-
cavated a tholos tomb of the Third Late
Minoan Period [Art and Archaeology1, xiv,
p. 359), and the Early Iron Age tombs found
by Paton and Myres at Assarlik, he observes:
' These facts make it probable that when the
exploration of the early remains of Western
Asia Minor can be undertaken, some clue to
the origin of the tholos tomb may be found
there.'
type were in use in Crete, and the appearance of the earliest of the Mycenae
vaults, though not such a long interval as has been sometimes assumed.
The primitive type was still commonly used down to M. M. I and, in one
case at least—the smaller tlwlos at Hagia Triada—the last ceramic elements
represent the early phase of M.M. II.
On the other hand, a remarkable circular spring chamber lately
excavated by me at Arkhanes—an important Minoan site some seven miles
inland of Knossos—clearly supplies an example of a true bee-hive structure
formed of good limestone blocks. The sherds found within it dated from
the very beginning of the First Late Minoan Period, and it thus appears
that, for this purpose at least, vaults resembling in construction those of
Mycenae were built in Crete at a more or less contemporary date.
The distribution of these tholoi in Mainland Greece, notably along the
West Coast of the Morea, is itself suggestive of a Cretan origin. On the
other hand, the known built tombs such as existed in Crete during the last
age of the Knossian Palace, of which the ' Royal Tomb ' at Isopata is by far
the most important, are of oblong form with 'keeled' vaulting. Negative
evidence is itself not conclusive. In default, however, of further discoveries
the strong hold which a late variety of the beehive form of tomb is seen
to have had in much later Mycenaean times at Assarlik on the Old Carian
coastlands 1 may warrant us to look in that direction.- It seems probable
that a part of that Anatolian coast came within the area of true Minoan
culture at an early date, and this might explain how it is that the finest
and earliest of the Mycenae vaults make their appearance in an already
Minoized form.
An analogy for the introduction of the bee-hive tombs into Mainland
Greece through Minoan agency has now been supplied by the evidence,
recently acquired, that the rock-cut Chamber Tombs with their dromoi—the
most characteristic and widelydiffused sepulchral type of Mycenaean Greece
themselves reflect a form already known in Crete in the age preceding th«
1 W. R. Paton, Excavations in Caria:
J. H. S., 1887, p. 66 seqq. The ground-plan
of the vault, however, was in these cases
oblong, and the vault disproportionately high.
The grave mounds themselves were sur-
rounded by a round wall.
1 Mr. Wace, B.S.A., xxv, p. 395, was led,
independently, to look in the same direction.
After mentioning the fact that at Kolophon
the American Expedition has recently ex-
cavated a tholos tomb of the Third Late
Minoan Period [Art and Archaeology1, xiv,
p. 359), and the Early Iron Age tombs found
by Paton and Myres at Assarlik, he observes:
' These facts make it probable that when the
exploration of the early remains of Western
Asia Minor can be undertaken, some clue to
the origin of the tholos tomb may be found
there.'