DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0308
EARLY CHALDAEAN PROTOTYPE 261
Libyan ' beehive' tombs cited for comparison in this work, the sepulchral
vault itself represented a primitive type of dwelling, maintained in use for
the dead by religious conservatism.
It is to be observed that this earlier type of vault coexisted with
another in which a certain advance had been made, the stone curves pro-
jecting with a slight tilt and being completed with a key-stone rather than
a cap-stone. Again, in another case, there was ' a true dome built in stone V
We have here, in fact, a perfect analogy for what is found at Mycenae.
There, too, vaulted tombs representing different typological stages coexisted,2
and there is no warrant for drawing chronological conclusions from the
structual variation.
At the same time, the existence of these very early examples of the
' tholos' type of tomb on Chaldaean soil enhances the possibility that it
made its way to the Aegean lands from the Asiatic side.
It was already pointed out in the second volume of this work, and Fresh
before these epoch-making discoveries, that the Minoan form of lyre, as first 0fMinoan
seen on seals of the hieroglyphic class, was essentially a derivation from the '-ndebted-
0 J.* -."•■.. ness t0
old Chaldaean, as found at Tello.3 The gazelles' heads with which—through early
Egypt in that case—the later Minoan lyres were decorated, are now seen to ^^
find still more remote predecessors in the horned heads of bulls and stags
such as adorned the harps of the royal musicians, whose sacrificed remains
were found with them in this and other royal tombs of Ur. Nor can we
omit to notice that the golden sprays of leaves and flowers that bedecked
the head-dresses, alike of departed queens and of the Court ladies sent to
accompany them to the World below, curiously recall the similar adornments
found in Early Minoan graves at Mochlos and elsewhere.*
The same remote indebtedness has been traced above in the case of
the Early Cretan bull 'rhytons'. Directly and indirectly, often indeed
through circuitous Nilotic channels, the debt of Minoan Crete to the still
older civilization of Sumeria becomes more and more apparent.
timbers across the opening and put over these hive Tombs of Mycenae, pp. 67, 68, and com-
planks on which straw and light earth were pare P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 41 seqq.
piled to support the upper part of the domed 3 Ibid., ii, Pt. II, p. 834 seqq., and cf.
roof. This centering was left in position and Figs. 532-4.
made a false ceiling.' 4 Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 260 seqq., and cf- Figs.
1 Ibid., 3T2. 156, 157.
2 See my remarks in Shaft Graves and Bee-
civiliza-
tion.
Libyan ' beehive' tombs cited for comparison in this work, the sepulchral
vault itself represented a primitive type of dwelling, maintained in use for
the dead by religious conservatism.
It is to be observed that this earlier type of vault coexisted with
another in which a certain advance had been made, the stone curves pro-
jecting with a slight tilt and being completed with a key-stone rather than
a cap-stone. Again, in another case, there was ' a true dome built in stone V
We have here, in fact, a perfect analogy for what is found at Mycenae.
There, too, vaulted tombs representing different typological stages coexisted,2
and there is no warrant for drawing chronological conclusions from the
structual variation.
At the same time, the existence of these very early examples of the
' tholos' type of tomb on Chaldaean soil enhances the possibility that it
made its way to the Aegean lands from the Asiatic side.
It was already pointed out in the second volume of this work, and Fresh
before these epoch-making discoveries, that the Minoan form of lyre, as first 0fMinoan
seen on seals of the hieroglyphic class, was essentially a derivation from the '-ndebted-
0 J.* -."•■.. ness t0
old Chaldaean, as found at Tello.3 The gazelles' heads with which—through early
Egypt in that case—the later Minoan lyres were decorated, are now seen to ^^
find still more remote predecessors in the horned heads of bulls and stags
such as adorned the harps of the royal musicians, whose sacrificed remains
were found with them in this and other royal tombs of Ur. Nor can we
omit to notice that the golden sprays of leaves and flowers that bedecked
the head-dresses, alike of departed queens and of the Court ladies sent to
accompany them to the World below, curiously recall the similar adornments
found in Early Minoan graves at Mochlos and elsewhere.*
The same remote indebtedness has been traced above in the case of
the Early Cretan bull 'rhytons'. Directly and indirectly, often indeed
through circuitous Nilotic channels, the debt of Minoan Crete to the still
older civilization of Sumeria becomes more and more apparent.
timbers across the opening and put over these hive Tombs of Mycenae, pp. 67, 68, and com-
planks on which straw and light earth were pare P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 41 seqq.
piled to support the upper part of the domed 3 Ibid., ii, Pt. II, p. 834 seqq., and cf.
roof. This centering was left in position and Figs. 532-4.
made a false ceiling.' 4 Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 260 seqq., and cf- Figs.
1 Ibid., 3T2. 156, 157.
2 See my remarks in Shaft Graves and Bee-
civiliza-
tion.