DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0068
APPENDIX D. BRONZE AGE BURIAL
ON both sides of the small plain that stretches northward from the acropolis of Gournia to
the sea, rise limestone promontories; the eastern is rugged and picturesque (at right of
Plate, Site from the South, supra). On its summit are scanty remains of house-walls, amid
which lie scattered potsherds of the usual Gournia style, showing that this was a suburb of
the ancient town. In the steep western slope of this promontory are shallow rock-shelters, once
used for burial. They were left as nature made them, without improvement from the hand of man.
The disorder and fragmentary condition of the human remains they contained may be the result of
search for plunder, or may be due simply to "the terrific denuding influences which act on Cretan
soil." 1 In favor of the second explanation is the fact that the rock which once projected over the
shelters had been broken away, and only shallow'pockets'in the sharp declivity marked the places
of burial. One shelter alone still bears some resemblance to a small cave, receding about five feet
beneath the overhanging cliff. In this recess, which was filled with soft, sandy soil, we found nine
vases and one skull, in the midst of broken bones. A tenth vase and a second skull were our only re-
ward for a day's hard labor in clearing a hole in the rock that opened from this cave. These skulls
are described on p. 59; the vases are listed below,2 and the interesting specimens starred on the list,
are illustrated in Fig. 37. This pottery (E. M. I or a rude E. M. II) was made by hand and baked in
£ 7
fig. 37. pottery from early minoan burials, gournia. scale 1:4.
an open fire over wood embers; it is undecorated, except in rare instances, when the surface has been
polished by hand or incised in simple geometric designs, which are without the white filling common
at Knossos and in Central Europe. The only vase having painted decoration that came to light on this
slope was a simple 'Kamares' cup (Fig. 39), found with fragments of a larnax of early type, on the
open hillside. The cup bears white festoons on a lustrous black background; the casella fragments show
fig. 38. pottery from early minoan burials, aghia photia. scale 1:4.
a band of the same lustrous black on a buff ground and are thinner (c. 2 cm.) and firmer than the coarse
terra-cotta of later Cretan ossuaries.
Many trial trenches were dug to test the ground between the promontory and Gournia Town, but
without result until we reached the north end of the low acropolis. Here, within 150 feet of the Ridge
1 Hogarth on Zakro cave-burials, B. S. A., VII, pp. 142-5; cf. Aghios Nikolaos, B. S. A., IX, p. 344 ff.
2 Vases from Rock-shelter A, Gournia.
*a Shallow cup, with spout and rim-handle, perforated. Plain yellow clay. H.2.8cm. Fig. 37, 1. Reg. No. 3790.
b Cover of plain red clay; small knob handle. D. 6.5 cm. Reg. No. 3784. (cf. Pbylakopi, p. 88, fig. 73.)
*c Spouted bowl, a Vasiliki shape; two opp. holes in sides. Gray clay; hand-polish. H.8cm. Fig. 37, 7. Reg. No. 3787.
*d Typical sub-neolithic vase; four tiny suspension handles; cylindrical neck and foot. Gray clay; incised with herring-
bone pattern and oblique lines. H. 10 cm. Fig. 37, 9. Reg. No. 3781 (cf. note 36, 3, p. 6, supra).
*e Flat dish on a foot. Gray clay; low hand polish. H. 4.3 cm. Fig. 37, 3. Reg. No. 3791. (cf. p. 50 supra.)
*f Small 'bean-pot'; 2 ear-handles, each with 2 vert, holes. Pink clay; red body-paint. H.6cm. Fig. 37, 2. Reg. No. 3785.
*g Rude jug. Brown clay; black sooty coating, worn steel gray. H. 9.5 cm. Fig. 37, 6. Reg. No. 3718.
*h Rude cup, loop-handle. Gritty, brown clay, smoked. H. 4.2 cm. Fig. 37, 4; (cf. PI. XII 17).
Reg. No. 3789.
*i Small hole-mouthed jar; two bosses and cover. Hard gray clay. H.5.9. Fig.37,5. Reg.No.3783.
*j Jug even more primitive than g. Red clay. H. 8.9 cm. Fig. 37, 8. Reg. No. 3720.
Nos. 10, 11, Fig. 37, are from Rock-shelter B, 20 ft. below Rock-shelter A.
' The peasants said that this axe-head was found in a ruined rock-shelter about 100 ft. lower on
the slope than Cave 11; it is to be regretted that no pottery was found with it, by which to determine
the date. The evidence we have is in favor of its belonging to the close of the Early Minoan Period.
4 Vases from Cave I, Aghia Photia; cf. p. 6, note 66, 3-5.
a Flaring cup with trough-spout of genuine 'Vasiliki' ware; like PI. XII 10. H. 8 cm. Reg.
No. 3757 " axe-head, l. 14j cit1.
ON THE ISTHMUS OF HIERAPETRA
Road were rock-shelters like those on the promontory, containing vases of a
slightly advanced style (E. M. II; PI. A, 3, 5, p. 60, and vases like Fig. 37,
2, 3). The marvel is that they remained intact, in nooks which had been
much frequented by our workmen for their daily siesta, near a dump that had
been in constant use for three years.
fig. 39. scale 1:4. Other rock-shelters of greater size occur in pudding-stone ledges about four
miles east of Hierapetra. Miss Hall and 1 encamped three days (July 16-18,
1904) to explore this neighborhood, following a clue given us by peasants, who had found pottery in a
cave used by them as a sheepfold. From them we bought three vases (PI. A, 2; Fig. 38, 2, 5) and an
axe-head of a type unknown at Gournia.3 Our own efforts resulted in the discovery of additional
pottery, but no metal. The vases from Aghia Photia are, in general, less ancient than those from
Gournia rock-shelters. They fall into two groups. The contents of one cave4 excavated by us corre-
spond to the lowest strata at Vasiliki (E. M II, cf. Fig. 38, 3,4, with PI. XII, 13, 20), except that the
white paint on one cup (PI. A 4) takes us a step in advance toward E. M. 111. But another cave's con-
tents,5 including the peasants' finds in 1903 and some of our own in 1904, reveal a later style, to which the
name ' proto-Kamares' is applicable in Crete. Typical vases of this style (PI. A, 1, 2, p. 60) have poly-
chrome decoration on a black ground, but are of sturdier shape and simpler design than the character-
istic ' Kamares' ware. They may be assigned with a remarkable jug from Knossos (B. S. A., XI, p. 19,
PI. I) to the First Middle Minoan Period. Of much greater age is a process of burnishing and rippling,
employed on a small jug from Aghia Photia (Fig. 38, 1); this process was popular in neolithic
Knossos. Mr. Seager was probably right in his conjecture that successive generations placed
offerings in the same cave.
For the last stage of Early Minoan pottery at Gournia, the reader is referred to Miss Hall's article
on the next page of this book. No true ' Kamares' ware was present in her North Trench excavations,
fig. 40. vases of stone, clay, and silver from middle minoan burials, gournia. scale 1:4.
but within 50 yards of the Trench lay buried complete specimens of great beauty, whose unexpected
discovery richly rewarded my last day's digging (PI. C, 2,3). The most important feature of this
discovery was the fact that, for the first time, a Middle Minoan vessel of precious metal (PI. C 1) and
similar shapes in clay were found in juxtaposition thereby proving the truth of a theory long maintained
that ' Kamares ' ware was fashioned after metal prototypes. These cups were deposited in a 'house-
tomb,' 0 i. e., in an enclosure exactly resembling an ordinary dwelling as to remains of walls and door-
way, but full of bones and skulls in disorder—a veritable charnel-house. Another 'house-tomb,' 15
feet farther north, contained the objects illustrated in Fig. 40, as well as scores of cups in fragments.7 A
few of these cups had rounded contours, but the majority were of metallic shapes, often decorated with
white ferns and spirals on the lustrous black ground. Some specimens of dark-on-light decoration
in early Gournia style and a sherd bearing the 'drip pattern' in black on buff prove that the two tech-
niques were continuing side by side, and that these 'house-tombs' were of the same period as the depos-
its under the floor levels of the Town (pp. 37, 38, PI. VI).
*b= PI. A 4; like preceding, with addition of white paint. H. 56 cm. Reg. No. 3760.
*c Globular jug; short neck; 4 tiny suspension handles. Gray clay; shallow scorings. H.9.8cm. Fig. 38, 4. Reg. No. 3792.
*d Round-bodied jar; cylindr. neck and foot; two ledge-handles incised, having pairs of vert, perforations. Gritty
pink clay; bl.-red paint. Lattice decoration of early 'Cycladic' style. H. (inc.) 13 cm. Fig. 38, 3. Reg. No. 3793.
5 Vases from Cave II, Aghia Photia.
*a Cup with slightly concave sides. Red clay, hand-polished. H. 6.5 cm. Fig. 38, 2.
*b Spherical jar; short neck; 2 low ledge-handles, each with 3 vert, holes. Gray clay, hand-polished. H. 7.5 cm. Fig.40, 5.
*c Small jug. Brownish-gray clay,'rippled'and burnished. H. 7.9 cm. Fig. 38, 1. Reg. No. 3724.
*d =P1. A 1. Spouted jug. Black body-paint; decoration in white and orange. H. 7.5 cm. Reg. No. 3794.
6 Called by Bosanquet 'bone-enclosure' at Palaikastro, J. H. S., XXII, pp. 386-7.
7 Objects from 'House-tomb' II, Gournia.
*a Jug with bridge-spout and knobbed cover. Steatite, veined like marble. H. 6 cm. Fig. 40, 2. Reg. No. 556.
*b Small round bowl with knobbed cover. Steatite. H. 3.5 cm. Fig. 40, 1. Reg. No. 554.
*c Plain round bowl of common type. Steatite. H. 4.5 cm. Fig. 40, 7. Reg. No. 551.
*d Small stone bowl with angular outlines and slightly flaring rim. Horiz. striations. H. 4.4 cm. Fig. 40, 8. Reg. No. 557.
*e Cup with foot; strip handle. Pink clay; bl. body-paint. White bands and fishes. H. 5.3 cm. Fig. 40, 3. Reg. No. 3623.
*f Small bowl. Steatite. 20 fine vertical flutings. H. 4.7 cm. Fig. 40, 9. Reg. No. 550 (cf. 'blossom-bowls,' PI. V, 5-7).
*g Tiny bowl, type of c. Steatite. H. 2.4 cm. Fig. 40, 11. Phila.
*h Handleless cup, concave sides. Gray marble. H. 5.7 cm. Fig. 40, 10. Phila.
Nos. 4, 6, Fig. 40, are small bowls with knobbed covers, of limestone, prettily veined (H. 4.3 cm.), which were found in
House-tomb I with three beautiful cups, PI. C 1 (=Fig. 40, 5), 2, and 3. These cups are described on p. 60.
ON both sides of the small plain that stretches northward from the acropolis of Gournia to
the sea, rise limestone promontories; the eastern is rugged and picturesque (at right of
Plate, Site from the South, supra). On its summit are scanty remains of house-walls, amid
which lie scattered potsherds of the usual Gournia style, showing that this was a suburb of
the ancient town. In the steep western slope of this promontory are shallow rock-shelters, once
used for burial. They were left as nature made them, without improvement from the hand of man.
The disorder and fragmentary condition of the human remains they contained may be the result of
search for plunder, or may be due simply to "the terrific denuding influences which act on Cretan
soil." 1 In favor of the second explanation is the fact that the rock which once projected over the
shelters had been broken away, and only shallow'pockets'in the sharp declivity marked the places
of burial. One shelter alone still bears some resemblance to a small cave, receding about five feet
beneath the overhanging cliff. In this recess, which was filled with soft, sandy soil, we found nine
vases and one skull, in the midst of broken bones. A tenth vase and a second skull were our only re-
ward for a day's hard labor in clearing a hole in the rock that opened from this cave. These skulls
are described on p. 59; the vases are listed below,2 and the interesting specimens starred on the list,
are illustrated in Fig. 37. This pottery (E. M. I or a rude E. M. II) was made by hand and baked in
£ 7
fig. 37. pottery from early minoan burials, gournia. scale 1:4.
an open fire over wood embers; it is undecorated, except in rare instances, when the surface has been
polished by hand or incised in simple geometric designs, which are without the white filling common
at Knossos and in Central Europe. The only vase having painted decoration that came to light on this
slope was a simple 'Kamares' cup (Fig. 39), found with fragments of a larnax of early type, on the
open hillside. The cup bears white festoons on a lustrous black background; the casella fragments show
fig. 38. pottery from early minoan burials, aghia photia. scale 1:4.
a band of the same lustrous black on a buff ground and are thinner (c. 2 cm.) and firmer than the coarse
terra-cotta of later Cretan ossuaries.
Many trial trenches were dug to test the ground between the promontory and Gournia Town, but
without result until we reached the north end of the low acropolis. Here, within 150 feet of the Ridge
1 Hogarth on Zakro cave-burials, B. S. A., VII, pp. 142-5; cf. Aghios Nikolaos, B. S. A., IX, p. 344 ff.
2 Vases from Rock-shelter A, Gournia.
*a Shallow cup, with spout and rim-handle, perforated. Plain yellow clay. H.2.8cm. Fig. 37, 1. Reg. No. 3790.
b Cover of plain red clay; small knob handle. D. 6.5 cm. Reg. No. 3784. (cf. Pbylakopi, p. 88, fig. 73.)
*c Spouted bowl, a Vasiliki shape; two opp. holes in sides. Gray clay; hand-polish. H.8cm. Fig. 37, 7. Reg. No. 3787.
*d Typical sub-neolithic vase; four tiny suspension handles; cylindrical neck and foot. Gray clay; incised with herring-
bone pattern and oblique lines. H. 10 cm. Fig. 37, 9. Reg. No. 3781 (cf. note 36, 3, p. 6, supra).
*e Flat dish on a foot. Gray clay; low hand polish. H. 4.3 cm. Fig. 37, 3. Reg. No. 3791. (cf. p. 50 supra.)
*f Small 'bean-pot'; 2 ear-handles, each with 2 vert, holes. Pink clay; red body-paint. H.6cm. Fig. 37, 2. Reg. No. 3785.
*g Rude jug. Brown clay; black sooty coating, worn steel gray. H. 9.5 cm. Fig. 37, 6. Reg. No. 3718.
*h Rude cup, loop-handle. Gritty, brown clay, smoked. H. 4.2 cm. Fig. 37, 4; (cf. PI. XII 17).
Reg. No. 3789.
*i Small hole-mouthed jar; two bosses and cover. Hard gray clay. H.5.9. Fig.37,5. Reg.No.3783.
*j Jug even more primitive than g. Red clay. H. 8.9 cm. Fig. 37, 8. Reg. No. 3720.
Nos. 10, 11, Fig. 37, are from Rock-shelter B, 20 ft. below Rock-shelter A.
' The peasants said that this axe-head was found in a ruined rock-shelter about 100 ft. lower on
the slope than Cave 11; it is to be regretted that no pottery was found with it, by which to determine
the date. The evidence we have is in favor of its belonging to the close of the Early Minoan Period.
4 Vases from Cave I, Aghia Photia; cf. p. 6, note 66, 3-5.
a Flaring cup with trough-spout of genuine 'Vasiliki' ware; like PI. XII 10. H. 8 cm. Reg.
No. 3757 " axe-head, l. 14j cit1.
ON THE ISTHMUS OF HIERAPETRA
Road were rock-shelters like those on the promontory, containing vases of a
slightly advanced style (E. M. II; PI. A, 3, 5, p. 60, and vases like Fig. 37,
2, 3). The marvel is that they remained intact, in nooks which had been
much frequented by our workmen for their daily siesta, near a dump that had
been in constant use for three years.
fig. 39. scale 1:4. Other rock-shelters of greater size occur in pudding-stone ledges about four
miles east of Hierapetra. Miss Hall and 1 encamped three days (July 16-18,
1904) to explore this neighborhood, following a clue given us by peasants, who had found pottery in a
cave used by them as a sheepfold. From them we bought three vases (PI. A, 2; Fig. 38, 2, 5) and an
axe-head of a type unknown at Gournia.3 Our own efforts resulted in the discovery of additional
pottery, but no metal. The vases from Aghia Photia are, in general, less ancient than those from
Gournia rock-shelters. They fall into two groups. The contents of one cave4 excavated by us corre-
spond to the lowest strata at Vasiliki (E. M II, cf. Fig. 38, 3,4, with PI. XII, 13, 20), except that the
white paint on one cup (PI. A 4) takes us a step in advance toward E. M. 111. But another cave's con-
tents,5 including the peasants' finds in 1903 and some of our own in 1904, reveal a later style, to which the
name ' proto-Kamares' is applicable in Crete. Typical vases of this style (PI. A, 1, 2, p. 60) have poly-
chrome decoration on a black ground, but are of sturdier shape and simpler design than the character-
istic ' Kamares' ware. They may be assigned with a remarkable jug from Knossos (B. S. A., XI, p. 19,
PI. I) to the First Middle Minoan Period. Of much greater age is a process of burnishing and rippling,
employed on a small jug from Aghia Photia (Fig. 38, 1); this process was popular in neolithic
Knossos. Mr. Seager was probably right in his conjecture that successive generations placed
offerings in the same cave.
For the last stage of Early Minoan pottery at Gournia, the reader is referred to Miss Hall's article
on the next page of this book. No true ' Kamares' ware was present in her North Trench excavations,
fig. 40. vases of stone, clay, and silver from middle minoan burials, gournia. scale 1:4.
but within 50 yards of the Trench lay buried complete specimens of great beauty, whose unexpected
discovery richly rewarded my last day's digging (PI. C, 2,3). The most important feature of this
discovery was the fact that, for the first time, a Middle Minoan vessel of precious metal (PI. C 1) and
similar shapes in clay were found in juxtaposition thereby proving the truth of a theory long maintained
that ' Kamares ' ware was fashioned after metal prototypes. These cups were deposited in a 'house-
tomb,' 0 i. e., in an enclosure exactly resembling an ordinary dwelling as to remains of walls and door-
way, but full of bones and skulls in disorder—a veritable charnel-house. Another 'house-tomb,' 15
feet farther north, contained the objects illustrated in Fig. 40, as well as scores of cups in fragments.7 A
few of these cups had rounded contours, but the majority were of metallic shapes, often decorated with
white ferns and spirals on the lustrous black ground. Some specimens of dark-on-light decoration
in early Gournia style and a sherd bearing the 'drip pattern' in black on buff prove that the two tech-
niques were continuing side by side, and that these 'house-tombs' were of the same period as the depos-
its under the floor levels of the Town (pp. 37, 38, PI. VI).
*b= PI. A 4; like preceding, with addition of white paint. H. 56 cm. Reg. No. 3760.
*c Globular jug; short neck; 4 tiny suspension handles. Gray clay; shallow scorings. H.9.8cm. Fig. 38, 4. Reg. No. 3792.
*d Round-bodied jar; cylindr. neck and foot; two ledge-handles incised, having pairs of vert, perforations. Gritty
pink clay; bl.-red paint. Lattice decoration of early 'Cycladic' style. H. (inc.) 13 cm. Fig. 38, 3. Reg. No. 3793.
5 Vases from Cave II, Aghia Photia.
*a Cup with slightly concave sides. Red clay, hand-polished. H. 6.5 cm. Fig. 38, 2.
*b Spherical jar; short neck; 2 low ledge-handles, each with 3 vert, holes. Gray clay, hand-polished. H. 7.5 cm. Fig.40, 5.
*c Small jug. Brownish-gray clay,'rippled'and burnished. H. 7.9 cm. Fig. 38, 1. Reg. No. 3724.
*d =P1. A 1. Spouted jug. Black body-paint; decoration in white and orange. H. 7.5 cm. Reg. No. 3794.
6 Called by Bosanquet 'bone-enclosure' at Palaikastro, J. H. S., XXII, pp. 386-7.
7 Objects from 'House-tomb' II, Gournia.
*a Jug with bridge-spout and knobbed cover. Steatite, veined like marble. H. 6 cm. Fig. 40, 2. Reg. No. 556.
*b Small round bowl with knobbed cover. Steatite. H. 3.5 cm. Fig. 40, 1. Reg. No. 554.
*c Plain round bowl of common type. Steatite. H. 4.5 cm. Fig. 40, 7. Reg. No. 551.
*d Small stone bowl with angular outlines and slightly flaring rim. Horiz. striations. H. 4.4 cm. Fig. 40, 8. Reg. No. 557.
*e Cup with foot; strip handle. Pink clay; bl. body-paint. White bands and fishes. H. 5.3 cm. Fig. 40, 3. Reg. No. 3623.
*f Small bowl. Steatite. 20 fine vertical flutings. H. 4.7 cm. Fig. 40, 9. Reg. No. 550 (cf. 'blossom-bowls,' PI. V, 5-7).
*g Tiny bowl, type of c. Steatite. H. 2.4 cm. Fig. 40, 11. Phila.
*h Handleless cup, concave sides. Gray marble. H. 5.7 cm. Fig. 40, 10. Phila.
Nos. 4, 6, Fig. 40, are small bowls with knobbed covers, of limestone, prettily veined (H. 4.3 cm.), which were found in
House-tomb I with three beautiful cups, PI. C 1 (=Fig. 40, 5), 2, and 3. These cups are described on p. 60.