DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1066#0108
CRETE, FORERUNNER OF GREECE
At the beginning of excavations only a few
stones in situ showed above the surface; most of
the houses were entirely hidden, being discovered
in the course of digging by workmen who, in
following roads, came upon their stone thresholds.
The upper parts of the houses had fallen long ago,
covering the site with their ruins. On the top of
the hill, where denudation is constant, there was
but a scant covering of earth over the native
rock; here some of the best objects of bronze,
stone, and terra-cotta were found within two feet
of the surface, and, indeed, at certain spots which we
now know to have been within dwellings, the native
rock lay bare. Where earth is so shallow there is
little chance for noting strata, and pottery had
constantly to be consulted to eke out the evidence
furnished by the few overlapping walls. But on
the side slopes, where earth accumulates rapidly,
the workmen were sometimes obliged to dig fifteen
feet before reaching virgin soil, live rock, beaten
floor, or stone paving, as the case might be. And
now one may ride along the old paved streets,
checkered by the shadow of ancient house walls,
and repeople in imagination the long-deserted
homes of the Minoan folk.
All that was found in the first and second cam-
paigns at Gournia appeared to be of about the
same age, the First Late Minoan period (1700-
1500 b.c), but in 1904 it was impossible to doubt
that certain houses (X, Y) were buried before the
town as a whole was built, and that others (e.g. Z)
were occupied and perhaps built after the town had
been destroyed. The older houses are of Middle
Minoan date. The town was attacked and burned
94
At the beginning of excavations only a few
stones in situ showed above the surface; most of
the houses were entirely hidden, being discovered
in the course of digging by workmen who, in
following roads, came upon their stone thresholds.
The upper parts of the houses had fallen long ago,
covering the site with their ruins. On the top of
the hill, where denudation is constant, there was
but a scant covering of earth over the native
rock; here some of the best objects of bronze,
stone, and terra-cotta were found within two feet
of the surface, and, indeed, at certain spots which we
now know to have been within dwellings, the native
rock lay bare. Where earth is so shallow there is
little chance for noting strata, and pottery had
constantly to be consulted to eke out the evidence
furnished by the few overlapping walls. But on
the side slopes, where earth accumulates rapidly,
the workmen were sometimes obliged to dig fifteen
feet before reaching virgin soil, live rock, beaten
floor, or stone paving, as the case might be. And
now one may ride along the old paved streets,
checkered by the shadow of ancient house walls,
and repeople in imagination the long-deserted
homes of the Minoan folk.
All that was found in the first and second cam-
paigns at Gournia appeared to be of about the
same age, the First Late Minoan period (1700-
1500 b.c), but in 1904 it was impossible to doubt
that certain houses (X, Y) were buried before the
town as a whole was built, and that others (e.g. Z)
were occupied and perhaps built after the town had
been destroyed. The older houses are of Middle
Minoan date. The town was attacked and burned
94