DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0039
HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS
THE chief archaeological value of Gournia is that it has given us a remarkably clear picture of
the everyday circumstances, occupations, and ideals of the Aegean folk at the height of
their true prosperity. Other sites have been far richer in artistic treasure, but not one has
surpassed Gournia in evidence for excellent standards widely maintained. Our workmen
called the place a ^toftr^avixi] nohs,' industrial town.' Farming, pasturing, fishing, building, weaving,
shoe-making, bronze-casting, the manufacture of stone and terra-cotta vases occupied the people's
time. It is highly probable that in such quiet homes were born and bred the artists and artisans
whose handicraft enriched the palaces of Knossos and Phaestos, for in several instances, where almost
duplicate objects have been found in the capitals and at Gournia, the one from Gournia is the better
artistically, and it is even harder to believe that provincials, unproductive themselves, were blessed with
superior powers of selection than to suppose that they created.
FIG. II. OIL VAT IN ROOM D 30
Country life is proverbially conservative. This saying is verified in the daily experience of every
excavator in the Near East. His eyes are astonished by the appearance of objects buried thousands
of years, which might have been made yesterday, and whose utility his peasant workmen at once un-
derstand. At times, the record of ancient usage is unusually clear. In Dd, one of the oldest houses
on the East Slope, we found room 30 just as the owners had left it. On a stone bench stood their
oil vat, with scarce a crack in it, the spout turned out over a hole in the pavement of the room, into
which a stamnos or amphora could be set to receive the water with which the oil had been washed.
By means of small handles attached to the spout one could give a slight turn to the vat, and, using the
large horizontal handle opposite the spout, one could tip it. Troughs found beside the vat provided
a channel for drawing off the water. Mr. Bosanquet found a similar vessel in a Hellenistic house at
Praesos and recognized its likeness to the modern separator. He tells us, "There can be little doubt
as to its use. In the modern process the olive kernels before being pressed are drenched with hot water,
and the product after pressing contains more water than oil. The oil in due course separates itself
and rises to the surface, and it is necessary either to bail it out from the top or to drain away the water
from the bottom. . . The latter method is in general use, large and complicated tanks being constructed
on this principle; the Praesos jar illustrates the simplest form of it, in which, after thecontents have been
allowed to stand some time, the tap is set running and the water escapes, a watcher being ready to stop
the flow and change the recipient as soon as the oil appears." (B. S. A. VIII, p. 268.)
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THE chief archaeological value of Gournia is that it has given us a remarkably clear picture of
the everyday circumstances, occupations, and ideals of the Aegean folk at the height of
their true prosperity. Other sites have been far richer in artistic treasure, but not one has
surpassed Gournia in evidence for excellent standards widely maintained. Our workmen
called the place a ^toftr^avixi] nohs,' industrial town.' Farming, pasturing, fishing, building, weaving,
shoe-making, bronze-casting, the manufacture of stone and terra-cotta vases occupied the people's
time. It is highly probable that in such quiet homes were born and bred the artists and artisans
whose handicraft enriched the palaces of Knossos and Phaestos, for in several instances, where almost
duplicate objects have been found in the capitals and at Gournia, the one from Gournia is the better
artistically, and it is even harder to believe that provincials, unproductive themselves, were blessed with
superior powers of selection than to suppose that they created.
FIG. II. OIL VAT IN ROOM D 30
Country life is proverbially conservative. This saying is verified in the daily experience of every
excavator in the Near East. His eyes are astonished by the appearance of objects buried thousands
of years, which might have been made yesterday, and whose utility his peasant workmen at once un-
derstand. At times, the record of ancient usage is unusually clear. In Dd, one of the oldest houses
on the East Slope, we found room 30 just as the owners had left it. On a stone bench stood their
oil vat, with scarce a crack in it, the spout turned out over a hole in the pavement of the room, into
which a stamnos or amphora could be set to receive the water with which the oil had been washed.
By means of small handles attached to the spout one could give a slight turn to the vat, and, using the
large horizontal handle opposite the spout, one could tip it. Troughs found beside the vat provided
a channel for drawing off the water. Mr. Bosanquet found a similar vessel in a Hellenistic house at
Praesos and recognized its likeness to the modern separator. He tells us, "There can be little doubt
as to its use. In the modern process the olive kernels before being pressed are drenched with hot water,
and the product after pressing contains more water than oil. The oil in due course separates itself
and rises to the surface, and it is necessary either to bail it out from the top or to drain away the water
from the bottom. . . The latter method is in general use, large and complicated tanks being constructed
on this principle; the Praesos jar illustrates the simplest form of it, in which, after thecontents have been
allowed to stand some time, the tap is set running and the water escapes, a watcher being ready to stop
the flow and change the recipient as soon as the oil appears." (B. S. A. VIII, p. 268.)
27