DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0129
GREAT HOARDS OF CLAY SEAL IMPRESSIONS
figures developed, not only into the finely cut hieroglyphic signs, but, from
the second Middle Minoan Period onwards were transformed into intaglio
types of the highest naturalistic and artistic merit.
Of the sphragistic style of the great transitional Age that links the
closing Middle Minoan phase with the earliest Late Minoan collective records
have been preserved in the great hoards of clay seal impressions from Zakro
and Hagia Triada and at Knossos itself in those of the Temple Repositories.
Some salient points regarding these have already been brought out and many
of the gems themselves and of the gold signet-rings that now come into
prominence have received illustration in the course of the preceding Sec-
tions of this Work.
The next great landmark is afforded by some considerable hoards of
clay seal impressions, more particularly referred to below, that mark the
closing Palatial Age of Knossos, and which owe their interment to the
final catastrophe. But to understand the somewhat conventionalized stage
there reached it is necessary to take a general survey of the intermediate
examples of the gem-engraver's Art that enable us to carry back its history
to the days of its greatest achievements.1
A rough chronological guide to the date of individual seal-stones is
often supplied by their form and material. In the more primitive Age the
use, for instance, of soft and easily worked substances, such as soapstone
and ivory, inspired the craftsmen to carve the upper part of the seals in a
great variety of animal reliefs.
M.-M. Ill
and
' Transi-
tional
phase'
illustrated
by hoards
of seal-
Similar
deposits
of close
of Palatial
Period at
Knossos.
E. M.
designs in
relief.
1 In attempting, for the first time, a sum-
mary classification of Minoan bead-seals and
signets of the Middle and first two Late
Minoan phases, I have been largely aided by
my own Collection, which consists of over 200
selected specimens. It has been the result of
a quest for this material, extending now over
forty years, and it may. at least be claimed to
be more continuously representative of the
various stages than any other collection, either
public or private. The nucleus was formed in
the years from 1894 onwards, devoted by me
to the archaeological exploration of the Centre
and East of the Island. Its formation was
greatly assisted by the practice of the Cretan
housewives in the villages of wearing Minoan
bead-seals as' milk stones', for which, however,
they were willing to accept substitutes. In
'893 I had already been able to acquire at
Kk
Athens a certain number of early stones (some
of them presenting hieroglyphs) obtained from
Crete by an antiquary there, and in the follow-
ing year the series had been greatly added to
by the acquisition, from a native proprietor,
who had land on and near the site of Knossos,
of a small local collection of great interest,
including a gold signet-ring. At the same
time I secured in a similar manner a batch of
specimens from the Siteia Province in the
extreme East of the Island. In later years
my series received important additions through
exchange (for Cretan coins) with the late
Mr. R. B. Seager. Favourable circumstances
also enabled me to add the Thisbe intaglios on
gold beads and signet-rings, and—as the result
of a special journey to the West of the
Peloponnese—the ' Ring of Nestor \
figures developed, not only into the finely cut hieroglyphic signs, but, from
the second Middle Minoan Period onwards were transformed into intaglio
types of the highest naturalistic and artistic merit.
Of the sphragistic style of the great transitional Age that links the
closing Middle Minoan phase with the earliest Late Minoan collective records
have been preserved in the great hoards of clay seal impressions from Zakro
and Hagia Triada and at Knossos itself in those of the Temple Repositories.
Some salient points regarding these have already been brought out and many
of the gems themselves and of the gold signet-rings that now come into
prominence have received illustration in the course of the preceding Sec-
tions of this Work.
The next great landmark is afforded by some considerable hoards of
clay seal impressions, more particularly referred to below, that mark the
closing Palatial Age of Knossos, and which owe their interment to the
final catastrophe. But to understand the somewhat conventionalized stage
there reached it is necessary to take a general survey of the intermediate
examples of the gem-engraver's Art that enable us to carry back its history
to the days of its greatest achievements.1
A rough chronological guide to the date of individual seal-stones is
often supplied by their form and material. In the more primitive Age the
use, for instance, of soft and easily worked substances, such as soapstone
and ivory, inspired the craftsmen to carve the upper part of the seals in a
great variety of animal reliefs.
M.-M. Ill
and
' Transi-
tional
phase'
illustrated
by hoards
of seal-
Similar
deposits
of close
of Palatial
Period at
Knossos.
E. M.
designs in
relief.
1 In attempting, for the first time, a sum-
mary classification of Minoan bead-seals and
signets of the Middle and first two Late
Minoan phases, I have been largely aided by
my own Collection, which consists of over 200
selected specimens. It has been the result of
a quest for this material, extending now over
forty years, and it may. at least be claimed to
be more continuously representative of the
various stages than any other collection, either
public or private. The nucleus was formed in
the years from 1894 onwards, devoted by me
to the archaeological exploration of the Centre
and East of the Island. Its formation was
greatly assisted by the practice of the Cretan
housewives in the villages of wearing Minoan
bead-seals as' milk stones', for which, however,
they were willing to accept substitutes. In
'893 I had already been able to acquire at
Kk
Athens a certain number of early stones (some
of them presenting hieroglyphs) obtained from
Crete by an antiquary there, and in the follow-
ing year the series had been greatly added to
by the acquisition, from a native proprietor,
who had land on and near the site of Knossos,
of a small local collection of great interest,
including a gold signet-ring. At the same
time I secured in a similar manner a batch of
specimens from the Siteia Province in the
extreme East of the Island. In later years
my series received important additions through
exchange (for Cretan coins) with the late
Mr. R. B. Seager. Favourable circumstances
also enabled me to add the Thisbe intaglios on
gold beads and signet-rings, and—as the result
of a special journey to the West of the
Peloponnese—the ' Ring of Nestor \