DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9189#0012
48
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUB. UNIV. OF PA. MUSEUM, VOL. III.
our neolithic farmstead is later than the better built one at
Magasa.
EARLY MINOAN DEPOSIT A
The first Early Minoan deposit which we have to describe
(marked A on the plan) was on that part of the hill where digging
began, and extending as it did over so large an area and yielding
objects so similar to those found in the Early Minoan tombs at
Mochlos, there was every indication that the cemetery was to
date mainly from the Early Minoan age The deposit was from
one to three feet deep and overlay hardpan or limestone so
acted on by the acids of the soil as to render it soft. There
was only one piece of wall found within this area. Just how the
dead had been interred we could not determine; the bones
which here came to light were so fragmentary that it was im-
possible to say whether they belonged to primary or to secondary
burials. They lay loose in the earth beside the vases and orna-
ments that had been buried with the dead and were badly rotted.
There were no traces of cremation. It is probable, in view of
the evidence from other Cretan sites, that these were primary
burials in "cists rudely built of small stones" like those noted
by Mr. Hogarth in caves at Zakro1 and by Mr. Seager on
Pseira, but it is also possible that larnakes were sometimes
used in this period, for among the fragments of pottery found
were many heavy sherds of coarse red clay which came from
straight sided vessels like larnakes.
By far the most common ware in this Early Minoan deposit
was the red and black mottled pottery usually known as Vasiliki
(BaaiXtKij) ware after the place where it was first found.2
The mottled colors were still in some instances fairly brilliant
although in general the soil of the Sphoungaras hill had had a
disastrous effect upon the painted surface. A feature peculiar
to the specimens from the Sphoungaras hill was that the inside
of the vase was frequently a uniform black. Often the black
1B. S. A., VII, p. 143.
2 See Seager, Transactions, I, Part III, pp. 207-220.
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUB. UNIV. OF PA. MUSEUM, VOL. III.
our neolithic farmstead is later than the better built one at
Magasa.
EARLY MINOAN DEPOSIT A
The first Early Minoan deposit which we have to describe
(marked A on the plan) was on that part of the hill where digging
began, and extending as it did over so large an area and yielding
objects so similar to those found in the Early Minoan tombs at
Mochlos, there was every indication that the cemetery was to
date mainly from the Early Minoan age The deposit was from
one to three feet deep and overlay hardpan or limestone so
acted on by the acids of the soil as to render it soft. There
was only one piece of wall found within this area. Just how the
dead had been interred we could not determine; the bones
which here came to light were so fragmentary that it was im-
possible to say whether they belonged to primary or to secondary
burials. They lay loose in the earth beside the vases and orna-
ments that had been buried with the dead and were badly rotted.
There were no traces of cremation. It is probable, in view of
the evidence from other Cretan sites, that these were primary
burials in "cists rudely built of small stones" like those noted
by Mr. Hogarth in caves at Zakro1 and by Mr. Seager on
Pseira, but it is also possible that larnakes were sometimes
used in this period, for among the fragments of pottery found
were many heavy sherds of coarse red clay which came from
straight sided vessels like larnakes.
By far the most common ware in this Early Minoan deposit
was the red and black mottled pottery usually known as Vasiliki
(BaaiXtKij) ware after the place where it was first found.2
The mottled colors were still in some instances fairly brilliant
although in general the soil of the Sphoungaras hill had had a
disastrous effect upon the painted surface. A feature peculiar
to the specimens from the Sphoungaras hill was that the inside
of the vase was frequently a uniform black. Often the black
1B. S. A., VII, p. 143.
2 See Seager, Transactions, I, Part III, pp. 207-220.