DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0328
28o
THE RESTORATION OF L. M. la
Evidence
of severe
disloca-
tion
1520 B.C.
Widespread Evidences of Partial Catastrophe and Restoration towards
End of L.M. la.
It is to this approximate date, then, that we must also ascribe the
construction of the East Stairs and the partial catastrophe that had led to
this new arrangement. The steps themselves are of an exceptionally
hard grey limestone material, resembling, as already noted, that of the
Stepped Portico, West of the Central Court. The chronological evidence as
to the latter flight, moreover, also points to a more or less contemporary date.
It is clear that it was earlier than the adjacent Antechamber of the ' Room
of the Throne', which was certainly a work of L.M. II. On the other
hand, a pithos found beneath the upper steps and platforms of this Portico
belonged to a stratum intermediate between the M. M. Ill cists below—
a continuation of the ' Temple Repositories '—and the constructions above.
Signs of a similar dislocation and renovation at this epoch were also found
beneath the pavement of the eighteenth West Magazine in the shape of a group
of L. M. la cups and amphoras showing well-marked traces of the powdery
white paint. It may be added that, beneath the pavement by the North
doorway of a small columnar chamber adjoining the ' South Propylaeum' on
the West,1 an exceptionally large deposit of L. M. la pottery came to light,
identical in its general fades and in the forms of vessels found,2 with the
ceramic materials that lay beneath the ' East Stairs '. Here, again, we may
trace the result of some partial catastrophe in that part of the building which,
indeed, may well have given occasion for a scheme of redecoration at this
Epoch, such as seems to be implied by the style of the Processional Frescoes
on the neighbouring walls.3
Evidences, indeed, are forthcoming of works of restoration pointing to
some seismic disturbance in the earlier part of the L. M. I Period, not only
in the Palace itself, but in some of the surrounding houses. In the case of
the 'South House'built in the post-seismic M. M. lllb phase there are
abundant proofs of a remodelling at this epoch, including the filling in of the
basin of the lustral area,—M. M. Ill b sherds in all cases underlying the later
work, itself associated with L. M. I a pottery.
It further appears that the section of the Domestic Quarter adjoining
1 Restored in 1929.
2 Many fragments occurred, for instance, of
' flower-pots' similar to those described. There
was here also a distinct survival of remains of
M. M. Ill 'Medallion Pithoi'.
3 The suggestion that the Processional
Frescoes were due to a redecoration of the
walls in this region in the ' mature L. M. I a
ceramic stage' was already made in P. of M.,
ii, Pt. II, pp. 735, 736.
THE RESTORATION OF L. M. la
Evidence
of severe
disloca-
tion
1520 B.C.
Widespread Evidences of Partial Catastrophe and Restoration towards
End of L.M. la.
It is to this approximate date, then, that we must also ascribe the
construction of the East Stairs and the partial catastrophe that had led to
this new arrangement. The steps themselves are of an exceptionally
hard grey limestone material, resembling, as already noted, that of the
Stepped Portico, West of the Central Court. The chronological evidence as
to the latter flight, moreover, also points to a more or less contemporary date.
It is clear that it was earlier than the adjacent Antechamber of the ' Room
of the Throne', which was certainly a work of L.M. II. On the other
hand, a pithos found beneath the upper steps and platforms of this Portico
belonged to a stratum intermediate between the M. M. Ill cists below—
a continuation of the ' Temple Repositories '—and the constructions above.
Signs of a similar dislocation and renovation at this epoch were also found
beneath the pavement of the eighteenth West Magazine in the shape of a group
of L. M. la cups and amphoras showing well-marked traces of the powdery
white paint. It may be added that, beneath the pavement by the North
doorway of a small columnar chamber adjoining the ' South Propylaeum' on
the West,1 an exceptionally large deposit of L. M. la pottery came to light,
identical in its general fades and in the forms of vessels found,2 with the
ceramic materials that lay beneath the ' East Stairs '. Here, again, we may
trace the result of some partial catastrophe in that part of the building which,
indeed, may well have given occasion for a scheme of redecoration at this
Epoch, such as seems to be implied by the style of the Processional Frescoes
on the neighbouring walls.3
Evidences, indeed, are forthcoming of works of restoration pointing to
some seismic disturbance in the earlier part of the L. M. I Period, not only
in the Palace itself, but in some of the surrounding houses. In the case of
the 'South House'built in the post-seismic M. M. lllb phase there are
abundant proofs of a remodelling at this epoch, including the filling in of the
basin of the lustral area,—M. M. Ill b sherds in all cases underlying the later
work, itself associated with L. M. I a pottery.
It further appears that the section of the Domestic Quarter adjoining
1 Restored in 1929.
2 Many fragments occurred, for instance, of
' flower-pots' similar to those described. There
was here also a distinct survival of remains of
M. M. Ill 'Medallion Pithoi'.
3 The suggestion that the Processional
Frescoes were due to a redecoration of the
walls in this region in the ' mature L. M. I a
ceramic stage' was already made in P. of M.,
ii, Pt. II, pp. 735, 736.