DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9189#0023
EDITH H. HALL-EXCAVATIONS IN EASTERN CRETE.
59
those pithoi which were either whole or could be restored.
Inasmuch as the entire hill was strewn with fragments of heavy
jars, we must conclude that the original number was far greater.
Some thirty of the hundred and fifty found, those which had
painted decoration and the unpainted ones which were in good
condition, were taken to the excavation house; the rest were
buried again in the trial trenches.
Without exception the burial-jars were placed upside down
(Plates XI and XII). They were inserted neither at regular in-
tervals nor at a uniform depth. They must have been entirely
covered by earth, for sometimes a large flat stone had been laid
above them as if for additional protection and such stones would
never have stayed in place had they not been held in position by
earth. The soil between and below the j ars was generally filled with
FlG. 31.—Middle Minoan I Jar. Scale 2: 3.
beach pebbles and where the pithoi stood close together, larger
stones appeared, which had served as wedges to keep them in place.
Sometimes covers were found underneath the jars but this was
not the rule, it evidently being held preferable that the mouth
of the jar should be left open. A cleaner method of burial could
scarcely be devised; the body came into contact only with the
clay of the inclosing jar or with the beach pebbles below it and
59
those pithoi which were either whole or could be restored.
Inasmuch as the entire hill was strewn with fragments of heavy
jars, we must conclude that the original number was far greater.
Some thirty of the hundred and fifty found, those which had
painted decoration and the unpainted ones which were in good
condition, were taken to the excavation house; the rest were
buried again in the trial trenches.
Without exception the burial-jars were placed upside down
(Plates XI and XII). They were inserted neither at regular in-
tervals nor at a uniform depth. They must have been entirely
covered by earth, for sometimes a large flat stone had been laid
above them as if for additional protection and such stones would
never have stayed in place had they not been held in position by
earth. The soil between and below the j ars was generally filled with
FlG. 31.—Middle Minoan I Jar. Scale 2: 3.
beach pebbles and where the pithoi stood close together, larger
stones appeared, which had served as wedges to keep them in place.
Sometimes covers were found underneath the jars but this was
not the rule, it evidently being held preferable that the mouth
of the jar should be left open. A cleaner method of burial could
scarcely be devised; the body came into contact only with the
clay of the inclosing jar or with the beach pebbles below it and