DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0049
22 LATER FLOORS OF BASEMENTS
white for women, generally prevalent from the Third Middle Minoan Period
onwards, had not yet been adopted. At the same time the colour scheme of the
rocks, with their black and scarlet striations, corresponds with that of the
great days of Cretan polychromy on vases, which does not extend beyond
M. M. II. The latest investigations as to the floor-level on to which it had
fallen corroborate the view that this remarkable fresco—doubtless part of
a frieze above a high dado—which in its early characteristics stands apart
from all known Minoan wall-paintings, is of exceptionally early date. Nor,
indeed, does the fact that it was found in apparent connexion with a
M. M. II b floor by any means exclude the possibility that it was executed
at a somewhat earlier date. For it must always be borne in mind that,
while small objects, such as vases resting on a floor, may be generally
referred to the latest epoch when it was in use, frescoes on walls often
survived many interior changes.
Later The stone lamps found in this space (see below, Fig. 14, a, b, c) must
with stone ^e taken in connexion with a later floor-level—50 cm. above the earliest
lampsand M. M. II layer—on which some inscribed tablets of Class B also came to
Class B. light. In the space immediately West the pavement of this, consisting of
clay with a plaster face, was better preserved, and on it lay a mass of much
decayed tablets of the same kind. Twenty centimetres above this, again,
L. M. was a clay floor, resting on which were numerous vessels belonging to the
floors earlier phase of the ' Reoccupation' period (L. M. Ill a), including ' linked'
above. or double pots, a ' cheese strainer', and stirrup vases, showing symmetrically
decorative but degenerate octopuses, which at the time gave their name to
the room. It was observable that these late remains did not extend to
the contiguous spaces, a phenomenon frequently repeated and which illus-
trates the partial and sporadic character of the reoccupation.
Base- For the decorative remains of the Palace as restored after the seismic
borderino catastrophe towards the close of M. M. Ill the basement rooms above
Central described, bordering the Central Court and South of the area that contained
Court. ' °
the ' Saffron-Gatherer', were specially productive. Some account has already
been given of the earlier stratification of these, and of the subsequent
rearrangement by which a central ' pillar-room' was formed, the Eastern-
most space being separated off by a dividing wall. There is considerable
evidence to show that at the time of the great Restoration new plaster
floors were laid down in both these basement rooms the surface of which
was about half a metre above the earliest Middle Minoan floor, itself
immediately overlying the wall-tops of the Keep.
The mark of this clay and plaster floor is clearly seen on three sides of
X,
white for women, generally prevalent from the Third Middle Minoan Period
onwards, had not yet been adopted. At the same time the colour scheme of the
rocks, with their black and scarlet striations, corresponds with that of the
great days of Cretan polychromy on vases, which does not extend beyond
M. M. II. The latest investigations as to the floor-level on to which it had
fallen corroborate the view that this remarkable fresco—doubtless part of
a frieze above a high dado—which in its early characteristics stands apart
from all known Minoan wall-paintings, is of exceptionally early date. Nor,
indeed, does the fact that it was found in apparent connexion with a
M. M. II b floor by any means exclude the possibility that it was executed
at a somewhat earlier date. For it must always be borne in mind that,
while small objects, such as vases resting on a floor, may be generally
referred to the latest epoch when it was in use, frescoes on walls often
survived many interior changes.
Later The stone lamps found in this space (see below, Fig. 14, a, b, c) must
with stone ^e taken in connexion with a later floor-level—50 cm. above the earliest
lampsand M. M. II layer—on which some inscribed tablets of Class B also came to
Class B. light. In the space immediately West the pavement of this, consisting of
clay with a plaster face, was better preserved, and on it lay a mass of much
decayed tablets of the same kind. Twenty centimetres above this, again,
L. M. was a clay floor, resting on which were numerous vessels belonging to the
floors earlier phase of the ' Reoccupation' period (L. M. Ill a), including ' linked'
above. or double pots, a ' cheese strainer', and stirrup vases, showing symmetrically
decorative but degenerate octopuses, which at the time gave their name to
the room. It was observable that these late remains did not extend to
the contiguous spaces, a phenomenon frequently repeated and which illus-
trates the partial and sporadic character of the reoccupation.
Base- For the decorative remains of the Palace as restored after the seismic
borderino catastrophe towards the close of M. M. Ill the basement rooms above
Central described, bordering the Central Court and South of the area that contained
Court. ' °
the ' Saffron-Gatherer', were specially productive. Some account has already
been given of the earlier stratification of these, and of the subsequent
rearrangement by which a central ' pillar-room' was formed, the Eastern-
most space being separated off by a dividing wall. There is considerable
evidence to show that at the time of the great Restoration new plaster
floors were laid down in both these basement rooms the surface of which
was about half a metre above the earliest Middle Minoan floor, itself
immediately overlying the wall-tops of the Keep.
The mark of this clay and plaster floor is clearly seen on three sides of
X,