DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0061
logical
materials.
32 DATING OF THE MINIATURE FRESCOES
spectators, again of both sexes, looking out on what in all probability were
the sports of the bull-ring in an arena beyond. The theme of the other com-
position is ' The Sacred Grove and Dance ' in which standing men and seated
women look down from under the olive-trees on gaily dressed dancers within
a walled space, in which we may indeed recognize the ' Choros of Ariadne'.
Chrono- How far, it may be asked, do the find circumstances of these Miniature
Frescoes throw a light on the chronological place of this style of wall-
painting ?
The evidence as to the position in which they were found is, so far as
it goes, consistent and satisfactory. The fragments lay on the clay and
plaster floor-level extending throughout these basements, the bulk occurring
within their Easternmost compartment, but some scattered pieces on the
Frag- floor of the central room, and two on the actual threshold of the little cell
found on named from the ' Knobbed pithos'. At this point the stratigraphic data
M.M. Ill are qU;te clear.. The surface of the floor-level on which the Miniature
floor. 1 .
fragments were there found is 15 centimetres above that on which small
vessels and other pottery rested, representing the earlier phase (a) of
M.M. Ill (see above, Fig. 12). ' That the same basement level on which
the Miniature Frescoes rested continued in use to the last days of the
restored Palace may be gathered from the sparse occurrence on it of parts
of clay tablets belonging to the Linear Class B. But, as one now realizes, this
does not by any means involve the conclusion that these frescoes belonged
to that late epoch—though it was natural, at the time of their first discovery,
in view of the almost rococo appearance of the seated ladies, their elaborate
toilettes and highly polite gestures, to assume that they represented the
most advanced and almost decadent stage of Palace life.
Law The invariable law, repeatedly illustrated in the course of the excavation
fn^dls- °f tne Knossian Palace, is that, while the smaller clay vessels and other
coveries lesser objects found on a floor-level belong to the last period of its use,
remains, painted stucco decoration on the walls or fallen from them may go back to
a considerably earlier time. They may even belong to an earlier epoch than
the floor-level on which they lay.
M.M. Ill Thus in the present case, though it is clear that the frescoes were not
frescoes 'ater t^lan t'le 'ast L. M. II elements on the floor, and were probably at least
ascer- as old as the floor itself, it is impossible to arrive at more than a presumption.
The plaster floor, as there is good reason to believe, dates from the restora-
tion of the Palace late in M. M. Ill b and the wall decoration may have been of
the same date. But the possibility always remains that it dates from the
time of a M.M. Ill a floor.
materials.
32 DATING OF THE MINIATURE FRESCOES
spectators, again of both sexes, looking out on what in all probability were
the sports of the bull-ring in an arena beyond. The theme of the other com-
position is ' The Sacred Grove and Dance ' in which standing men and seated
women look down from under the olive-trees on gaily dressed dancers within
a walled space, in which we may indeed recognize the ' Choros of Ariadne'.
Chrono- How far, it may be asked, do the find circumstances of these Miniature
Frescoes throw a light on the chronological place of this style of wall-
painting ?
The evidence as to the position in which they were found is, so far as
it goes, consistent and satisfactory. The fragments lay on the clay and
plaster floor-level extending throughout these basements, the bulk occurring
within their Easternmost compartment, but some scattered pieces on the
Frag- floor of the central room, and two on the actual threshold of the little cell
found on named from the ' Knobbed pithos'. At this point the stratigraphic data
M.M. Ill are qU;te clear.. The surface of the floor-level on which the Miniature
floor. 1 .
fragments were there found is 15 centimetres above that on which small
vessels and other pottery rested, representing the earlier phase (a) of
M.M. Ill (see above, Fig. 12). ' That the same basement level on which
the Miniature Frescoes rested continued in use to the last days of the
restored Palace may be gathered from the sparse occurrence on it of parts
of clay tablets belonging to the Linear Class B. But, as one now realizes, this
does not by any means involve the conclusion that these frescoes belonged
to that late epoch—though it was natural, at the time of their first discovery,
in view of the almost rococo appearance of the seated ladies, their elaborate
toilettes and highly polite gestures, to assume that they represented the
most advanced and almost decadent stage of Palace life.
Law The invariable law, repeatedly illustrated in the course of the excavation
fn^dls- °f tne Knossian Palace, is that, while the smaller clay vessels and other
coveries lesser objects found on a floor-level belong to the last period of its use,
remains, painted stucco decoration on the walls or fallen from them may go back to
a considerably earlier time. They may even belong to an earlier epoch than
the floor-level on which they lay.
M.M. Ill Thus in the present case, though it is clear that the frescoes were not
frescoes 'ater t^lan t'le 'ast L. M. II elements on the floor, and were probably at least
ascer- as old as the floor itself, it is impossible to arrive at more than a presumption.
The plaster floor, as there is good reason to believe, dates from the restora-
tion of the Palace late in M. M. Ill b and the wall decoration may have been of
the same date. But the possibility always remains that it dates from the
time of a M.M. Ill a floor.