DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0647
EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN PILLAR CRYPT 989
the rubble material interspersed with scattered human remains, heaped up
within roughly built compartments that included the whole Southern section
of the Pillar Crypt.
At first these were supposed to represent an intrusion of some practice Evidence
of o-eneral sepulture within the building, carried out at intervals throughout quake
some'period of ruin. But a fuller survey of the evidence has revealed the *1&'™S
true character of this tumultuary deposit. There is, in fact, every reason Pillar
for'concluding" that the disposal of the whole material was carried out at ryp'
one time,1 the date of the hurried clearance that it represents being clearly
marked by the pottery found in the dumps, none of it later than the mature
■L. M. I a class itself, which was abundantly forthcoming.1
; A special significance attaches to the date thus marked. It corre-
sponds with that of a considerable destruction in the Palace itself, best
illustrated by the ruin that in a part of the Domestic Quarter entailed a
radical change in plan, including the construction of the new 'East Stairs'.
Of its seismic nature there can be little doubt. The analogy, moreover,
supplied by the historic records of later earthquake ravages at Candia, the
■local successor of' Knossos; would lead us to suppose that the periodical
overthrows—serious shocks recurring about twice a century'2—had resulted
in large numbers of human victims.3 In that little town—then of
well under 18,000 inhabitants—538 persons were killed during the earth-
quake of 1856, while in the more serious overthrow of 1810 the loss was
estimated at 2,000. It is clear that, at each renewal after a seismic
destruction, human remains were sedulously removed from within the
■ Palace itself, and none were brought to light by the excavation. This seems
also to have been the case with the private houses of Knossos. In the
' House of the Sacrificed Oxen'—as in that bordering on it, overwhelmed
by blocks hurled from the Palace angle and destroyed at the same M. M.
Ill b date—we find evidence of a ceremonial filling in. It was there marked
by remains of the skulls of two slaughtered oxen—such as those ' in which
the Earth-shaker doth delight'-1—and, beside them, tripod altars of the
hearth-shaped type. But in that case again there were no human bones.
Mr. Pendlebury, who carefully examined about Candia may be regarded as die most
-the sherds, with the competent assistance of earthquake-stricken in Europe. South of the
■Mrs. Pendlebury, informs me that no single
specimen came to light belonging to the
immediately succeeding L. M. lb phase.
The geologist, V. Raulin, Description
'physique de tile de Crete, i, p. 429, considers
that, for a non-volcanic region, the district
watershed and West of Ida the liability is
appreciably less.
s See on this P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 313, 314.
1 Homer, //. xx. 403 seqq. ypvyev t'us ore
ravpos . ■ • ydvvrai 8e T£ Tots 'Erotn'^oW.
the rubble material interspersed with scattered human remains, heaped up
within roughly built compartments that included the whole Southern section
of the Pillar Crypt.
At first these were supposed to represent an intrusion of some practice Evidence
of o-eneral sepulture within the building, carried out at intervals throughout quake
some'period of ruin. But a fuller survey of the evidence has revealed the *1&'™S
true character of this tumultuary deposit. There is, in fact, every reason Pillar
for'concluding" that the disposal of the whole material was carried out at ryp'
one time,1 the date of the hurried clearance that it represents being clearly
marked by the pottery found in the dumps, none of it later than the mature
■L. M. I a class itself, which was abundantly forthcoming.1
; A special significance attaches to the date thus marked. It corre-
sponds with that of a considerable destruction in the Palace itself, best
illustrated by the ruin that in a part of the Domestic Quarter entailed a
radical change in plan, including the construction of the new 'East Stairs'.
Of its seismic nature there can be little doubt. The analogy, moreover,
supplied by the historic records of later earthquake ravages at Candia, the
■local successor of' Knossos; would lead us to suppose that the periodical
overthrows—serious shocks recurring about twice a century'2—had resulted
in large numbers of human victims.3 In that little town—then of
well under 18,000 inhabitants—538 persons were killed during the earth-
quake of 1856, while in the more serious overthrow of 1810 the loss was
estimated at 2,000. It is clear that, at each renewal after a seismic
destruction, human remains were sedulously removed from within the
■ Palace itself, and none were brought to light by the excavation. This seems
also to have been the case with the private houses of Knossos. In the
' House of the Sacrificed Oxen'—as in that bordering on it, overwhelmed
by blocks hurled from the Palace angle and destroyed at the same M. M.
Ill b date—we find evidence of a ceremonial filling in. It was there marked
by remains of the skulls of two slaughtered oxen—such as those ' in which
the Earth-shaker doth delight'-1—and, beside them, tripod altars of the
hearth-shaped type. But in that case again there were no human bones.
Mr. Pendlebury, who carefully examined about Candia may be regarded as die most
-the sherds, with the competent assistance of earthquake-stricken in Europe. South of the
■Mrs. Pendlebury, informs me that no single
specimen came to light belonging to the
immediately succeeding L. M. lb phase.
The geologist, V. Raulin, Description
'physique de tile de Crete, i, p. 429, considers
that, for a non-volcanic region, the district
watershed and West of Ida the liability is
appreciably less.
s See on this P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 313, 314.
1 Homer, //. xx. 403 seqq. ypvyev t'us ore
ravpos . ■ • ydvvrai 8e T£ Tots 'Erotn'^oW.