Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 4,1): Emergence of outer western enceinte, with new illustrations, artistic and religious, of the Middle Minoan Phase (London, 1935)

DEPOSIT CONTEMPORARY WITH REPOSITORIES 199

that included the close of M.M. Ill and the very beginning of the First
Late Minoan Period.

Together with these other objects there was also found a series of
lentoid and amygdaloid bead-seals mostly of a roughly executed amuletic
class which, as shown by their occurrence in the urn burials of the
Sphungaras Cemetery, near Gournia, belong to this same M. M. I 6-h. M. I a
phase.1

The stone statuette of the Snake Goddess above described, as well as
the two parallel examples from the same group, is the absolute contempo-
rary of the sister forms in faience from the 'Temple Repositories' of
Knossos. Apart from the general parallelism in style, they represent the
same phase in fashions. Certain peculiarities of the corsets and details in
the diaper-work patterns seen on the aprons of figures of both groups, as
has been already pointed out in the case of the Cambridge figure,2 are
practically identical.

So, too, the manner in which the tail of the snake is coiled round the
ears of the Goddess curiously corresponds with the arrangement of those
coiled about the head of the larger figure from the Repositories (Fig. 139).

Date of
statuette
and as-
sociated

III*.-

h.U.la.

Contem-
porary
faience
figures of
Reposi-
tories.

Corre-
spon-
dence in
details.

1 P. of A/., i, p. 672 seqq., and, for the
chronological evidence of the Sphungaras
finds, see Edith H. Hall, Excavations in
Eastern Crete (Philadelphia, 1912), published
by the University Museum. There were,
however, some other bead-seals of a definitely
Late Minoan class. A pedestalled vessel of
limestone, 20-5 cm. in height, also said to have
been found with the group, was of L. M. II
date. Round its shoulders were four upright
handles, apparently in an unfinished condition,

with raised coils between and a spiral band
decorated its upper rim. A L. M. I b jug was
also contained in the group. It must be added
that so far as I myself was able to judge not a
single object in the whole series shown to me
and here described presented any evidence of
falsification. They were all unquestionably
genuine and, with the exceptions mentioned,
clearly belonged to the same group.
- See above, p. 33.