DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7382#0058
XI. PALAIKASTRO
Palaikastro lies at the extreme east of Crete about four hours' walk from Sitia. It has
a reasonable harbour and may well—even in Minoan times—have had a rich trade from
the sponge fisheries—though in modern days these centre round the other Minoan
site of Zakro to the south.
Palaikastro does not seem to have followed the usual course of history of the eastern
settlements. Its Early Minoan stratum is negligible and it is from Late Minoan times
that its wealth dates.
It was Dr Hall {Civilization of Greece in the Bronze Age, p. 273, note) who first pointed
out the obviously Egyptian provenance of these figures with their close-cropped hair and
their complete nudity. The squatting position of one is exactly paralleled by a Middle
Kingdom ivory statuette in the British Museum, and if—as seems probable—they are
to be referred to the same date,1 the fact that they were found with Late Minoan
pottery need not worry us when we remember how many other things have been found
slightly out of their context (e.g. Nos. 1-5, 90, 226).
They may easily have been brought over in Middle Minoan III; and even such small
brittle statuettes could have survived, particularly as there was no disaster at Palaikastro
comparable to the earthquake at Knossos.
1 In spite of their larger size.
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Palaikastro lies at the extreme east of Crete about four hours' walk from Sitia. It has
a reasonable harbour and may well—even in Minoan times—have had a rich trade from
the sponge fisheries—though in modern days these centre round the other Minoan
site of Zakro to the south.
Palaikastro does not seem to have followed the usual course of history of the eastern
settlements. Its Early Minoan stratum is negligible and it is from Late Minoan times
that its wealth dates.
It was Dr Hall {Civilization of Greece in the Bronze Age, p. 273, note) who first pointed
out the obviously Egyptian provenance of these figures with their close-cropped hair and
their complete nudity. The squatting position of one is exactly paralleled by a Middle
Kingdom ivory statuette in the British Museum, and if—as seems probable—they are
to be referred to the same date,1 the fact that they were found with Late Minoan
pottery need not worry us when we remember how many other things have been found
slightly out of their context (e.g. Nos. 1-5, 90, 226).
They may easily have been brought over in Middle Minoan III; and even such small
brittle statuettes could have survived, particularly as there was no disaster at Palaikastro
comparable to the earthquake at Knossos.
1 In spite of their larger size.
32