DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0371
REMAINS OF CARBONIZED COLUMNS 321
in the light-well of the Staircase, especially towards the South-East corner of
the basement area of the ' Hall of the Colonnades', were certainly due to the
direct action of fire, and similar phenomena occurred in the West light-well
of the ' Hall of the Double Axes'. Here, too, we had to cut our way down
from about three metres above the floor-level through a calcined mass of
pale brick-red earth,—almost as hard as the native limestone,^which had to be
attacked with picks. In this case, again, great heaps of lime wjiich probably
had to do with an extensive scheme of redecoration were piled on the floor
and against the side walls.
Remains of Carbonized Columns: Downward Taper, Reeding and
Fluting.
Here, too, as in the neighbouring area, this accumulation from above Remains
had preserved the shafts of the two wooden columns on the borders of the bonized
open area in a remarkable manner. Both of these sloped slightly away columns,
from the position of their bases in a South-Easterly direction. Their
material was of the usual cypress woodx and in the case, already referred
to,2 of the more Northerly of the two, which was the better preserved,
a length of 2-60 metres, out of a total height of about 3! metres, could
be made out. A distinct taper downwards was perceptible, the lower
extremity of the shaft in its semi-carbonized condition being 45 centimetres
in diameter, while near the top it had a width of at least 10 centimetres more.
Although in Late Minoan times there seems to have been a tendency Down-
to make the shafts of columns of an even diameter, it is impossible to ignore J™rer of
the evidence supplied by the M. M. Ill frescoes3 and repeated in small shafts.
ivories like those of Spata and Menidi as to their original taper. The
convenience of a tapering form in working up an original trunk is itself
obvious, and a good illustration of such a usage has been supplied by the
main beam of the pillar room of the Royal Villa, which—as shown by the
sockets for it left in the construction—was somewhat rudely fashioned out
of a trunk, one end of which thickened out considerably. The upright wedge
of dovetail shape is in the same way inserted in the masonry of the ' East
Corridor' (Suppl. PI. XXXV,a).
This Minoan usage of making columns that tapered downwards to their
base has puzzled architects accustomed to Egyptian, Greek, and later forms,
1 Cyfressus horizontalis, rather than semper- P. of M., i, p. 443, Fig. 319 (B. S. A., x,
virens. See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 7, note 3. PL II), and the related fresco from the Palace
2 Ibid., i, p. 343 and note 4. Megaron of Mycenae, P. of M., ii, Pt. II,
3 As for instance those beneath the Cist p. 601, Fig. 373, d.
floors of the Thirteenth Magazine at Knossos,
III. Y
in the light-well of the Staircase, especially towards the South-East corner of
the basement area of the ' Hall of the Colonnades', were certainly due to the
direct action of fire, and similar phenomena occurred in the West light-well
of the ' Hall of the Double Axes'. Here, too, we had to cut our way down
from about three metres above the floor-level through a calcined mass of
pale brick-red earth,—almost as hard as the native limestone,^which had to be
attacked with picks. In this case, again, great heaps of lime wjiich probably
had to do with an extensive scheme of redecoration were piled on the floor
and against the side walls.
Remains of Carbonized Columns: Downward Taper, Reeding and
Fluting.
Here, too, as in the neighbouring area, this accumulation from above Remains
had preserved the shafts of the two wooden columns on the borders of the bonized
open area in a remarkable manner. Both of these sloped slightly away columns,
from the position of their bases in a South-Easterly direction. Their
material was of the usual cypress woodx and in the case, already referred
to,2 of the more Northerly of the two, which was the better preserved,
a length of 2-60 metres, out of a total height of about 3! metres, could
be made out. A distinct taper downwards was perceptible, the lower
extremity of the shaft in its semi-carbonized condition being 45 centimetres
in diameter, while near the top it had a width of at least 10 centimetres more.
Although in Late Minoan times there seems to have been a tendency Down-
to make the shafts of columns of an even diameter, it is impossible to ignore J™rer of
the evidence supplied by the M. M. Ill frescoes3 and repeated in small shafts.
ivories like those of Spata and Menidi as to their original taper. The
convenience of a tapering form in working up an original trunk is itself
obvious, and a good illustration of such a usage has been supplied by the
main beam of the pillar room of the Royal Villa, which—as shown by the
sockets for it left in the construction—was somewhat rudely fashioned out
of a trunk, one end of which thickened out considerably. The upright wedge
of dovetail shape is in the same way inserted in the masonry of the ' East
Corridor' (Suppl. PI. XXXV,a).
This Minoan usage of making columns that tapered downwards to their
base has puzzled architects accustomed to Egyptian, Greek, and later forms,
1 Cyfressus horizontalis, rather than semper- P. of M., i, p. 443, Fig. 319 (B. S. A., x,
virens. See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 7, note 3. PL II), and the related fresco from the Palace
2 Ibid., i, p. 343 and note 4. Megaron of Mycenae, P. of M., ii, Pt. II,
3 As for instance those beneath the Cist p. 601, Fig. 373, d.
floors of the Thirteenth Magazine at Knossos,
III. Y