DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0638
980
'CUPPED BLOCK' FOR OFFERINGS
The type of stone vessel here seen, Fig. 939—presumably used
for food or drink offerings—belongs to a class which, as already shown<
has not only a long history in Crete and Mycenaean Greece, but was
Fig. 939.
' Cupped Block ' of Igneous Rock from Temple Tome, of Prehistoric
Nilotic Origin.
derived from analogous cult objects in use in predynastic Egypt. (See
Fig. 910.)
The present example was originally provided with five cups hollowed
out of the hard stone by means of a cylindrical drill (Fig. 939, with the
restored outline).2 It will be seen at once that it presents a close
analogy to a specimen of the same class of object, formed of a yellowish
white limestone from the late prehistoric deposit of Hierakonpolis
(Fig. 940 a, &)'■'■ below the later Temple there. Although somewhat
worn, however, and fractured at the two ends, its edges have clearly
presented a more rounded contour than the Nilotic example and, indeed, it
is altogether of a more archaic aspect. Owing to the breaks at its two
1 P. qfM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 44, 45, and Fig. 20.
A specimen that had certainly served as an
heirloom was found in the S. House (L. M. I).
At Palaikastro one occurred with a double row
of four cups, of a developed type, compared
3 J. E. Quibell, Hierakonpolis, Pt. I, PI-
XXXI. Now in the Ashmolean Museum.
It is referred to ' Dynasty O ' (before Mena),
but the important point is that the associated
ivory images (cf. P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 25. F'S- 9)
by Prof. R. M. Dawkins with the kernoi supply the best representations of the oldei
' proto-Libyan ' race in the Nile Valley, wholly
distinguished from the historic Egyptians by
their more European physiognomy, l'ie"
pointed beards and attire—including t|ie
'Libyan sheath'. The deposit, from the
Egyptian point of view, is typically 'pre"
dynastic \
{U.S.A. Sufpl. Paper No. r, p. 135, lig. 116).
Fragments of the so-called ' salt and pepper'
bowls (cf. Fig. 941, e,f) are there stated to have
been found in connexion with the Early and
Middle Minoan ossuaries of Palaikastro.
- In Fig. 953, below, it is placed at the foot
of the central pillar.
'CUPPED BLOCK' FOR OFFERINGS
The type of stone vessel here seen, Fig. 939—presumably used
for food or drink offerings—belongs to a class which, as already shown<
has not only a long history in Crete and Mycenaean Greece, but was
Fig. 939.
' Cupped Block ' of Igneous Rock from Temple Tome, of Prehistoric
Nilotic Origin.
derived from analogous cult objects in use in predynastic Egypt. (See
Fig. 910.)
The present example was originally provided with five cups hollowed
out of the hard stone by means of a cylindrical drill (Fig. 939, with the
restored outline).2 It will be seen at once that it presents a close
analogy to a specimen of the same class of object, formed of a yellowish
white limestone from the late prehistoric deposit of Hierakonpolis
(Fig. 940 a, &)'■'■ below the later Temple there. Although somewhat
worn, however, and fractured at the two ends, its edges have clearly
presented a more rounded contour than the Nilotic example and, indeed, it
is altogether of a more archaic aspect. Owing to the breaks at its two
1 P. qfM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 44, 45, and Fig. 20.
A specimen that had certainly served as an
heirloom was found in the S. House (L. M. I).
At Palaikastro one occurred with a double row
of four cups, of a developed type, compared
3 J. E. Quibell, Hierakonpolis, Pt. I, PI-
XXXI. Now in the Ashmolean Museum.
It is referred to ' Dynasty O ' (before Mena),
but the important point is that the associated
ivory images (cf. P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 25. F'S- 9)
by Prof. R. M. Dawkins with the kernoi supply the best representations of the oldei
' proto-Libyan ' race in the Nile Valley, wholly
distinguished from the historic Egyptians by
their more European physiognomy, l'ie"
pointed beards and attire—including t|ie
'Libyan sheath'. The deposit, from the
Egyptian point of view, is typically 'pre"
dynastic \
{U.S.A. Sufpl. Paper No. r, p. 135, lig. 116).
Fragments of the so-called ' salt and pepper'
bowls (cf. Fig. 941, e,f) are there stated to have
been found in connexion with the Early and
Middle Minoan ossuaries of Palaikastro.
- In Fig. 953, below, it is placed at the foot
of the central pillar.