DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0425
PARALLEL VAULTS AT ISOPATA AND RAS-SHAMRA 775
It seems probable that there had originally existed some channels for Openings
conducting" such drink-offerings as may have filtered into these recesses ^traJra
into the Cist grave visible just within the doorway of the inner chamber, blocking
and fore
hall.
Fig. 7o-i. Smaller Built Sepulchral Chamber, Tomb I, at Isopata, with
Opening in1 Back Wall,
A low door-like opening was in fact visible in the masonry of the entrance
blocking, exactly opposite the similar opening in the Western inner wall of
the great vault. In Fig. 753 a good idea is given of this low ' doorway' and
of the lateral arch in the Fore Hall of the Isopata Tomb beyond—a blind
entrance, again, to Mother Earth. This view also illustrates the general
structure, so closely recalling the Ras-Shamra vault, Fig. 751.
In the smaller neighbouring tomb, No. i of the Isopata Cemetery,
identical in its method of construction—with keel-shaped vault and the front
and back walls upright—a similar opening occurred in the inner masonry,
opposite the entrance (see Fig. 754). In this case it was made one course
above the floor-level, being thus suggestive of a low window rather than
a door. The resemblance between this tomb and one at Minet-el-Beida
provided with a similar aperture in the back wall is so striking that the
representation of the latter given in Fig. 755' might almost serve as an
illustration of the Knossian vault!
The smaller built tomb at Isopata contained fragments of vases in the
1 From a photograph kindly supplied me by Prof. Schaeffer.
It seems probable that there had originally existed some channels for Openings
conducting" such drink-offerings as may have filtered into these recesses ^traJra
into the Cist grave visible just within the doorway of the inner chamber, blocking
and fore
hall.
Fig. 7o-i. Smaller Built Sepulchral Chamber, Tomb I, at Isopata, with
Opening in1 Back Wall,
A low door-like opening was in fact visible in the masonry of the entrance
blocking, exactly opposite the similar opening in the Western inner wall of
the great vault. In Fig. 753 a good idea is given of this low ' doorway' and
of the lateral arch in the Fore Hall of the Isopata Tomb beyond—a blind
entrance, again, to Mother Earth. This view also illustrates the general
structure, so closely recalling the Ras-Shamra vault, Fig. 751.
In the smaller neighbouring tomb, No. i of the Isopata Cemetery,
identical in its method of construction—with keel-shaped vault and the front
and back walls upright—a similar opening occurred in the inner masonry,
opposite the entrance (see Fig. 754). In this case it was made one course
above the floor-level, being thus suggestive of a low window rather than
a door. The resemblance between this tomb and one at Minet-el-Beida
provided with a similar aperture in the back wall is so striking that the
representation of the latter given in Fig. 755' might almost serve as an
illustration of the Knossian vault!
The smaller built tomb at Isopata contained fragments of vases in the
1 From a photograph kindly supplied me by Prof. Schaeffer.