DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0108
THE EARLY MINOAN PERIOD
73
pendant at the bottom on the right of the centre. It may
be chance that has preserved so much at Mokhlos whereas
the Messara is singularly poor. But since such gold work as
remains at Koumasa and Platanos is almost certainly E.M.m,
and one can hardly believe that tomb robbers will confine
themselves to digging for objects of the earliest date while
ignoring the upper levels, it seems as if this contrast reflects
the comparative wealth of the East and the South pretty
fairly.1
The most advanced work is seen in the fine chains from which
depend leaves or pendants,2 and in the representations of flowers
and sprays. The gold is thin leaf and the designs on it are either
repousse work or pricked. In the case of bracelets the edges
seem to have been turned over to grip a core of leather.3
Headbands occur with designs pricked out on them. That
shown in Plate XIII has two dogs on each side facing the centre.
At each end are holes for the strings which tied the tiara on,
but in some cases it seems as if pins, such as that shown with
a daisy head, were used instead. Another 4 has two eyes upon
it, which has led to the suggestion that we have here a fore-
runner of the gold masks of Mycenae.5 This, however, was
the thickest gold of all and seemed to the excavator to have
been clearly intended to be worn during the lifetime of the
owner. Holes occur along the top of many of these diadems,
and it is possible that some of the pendants may have been
attached to them as a fringe, though from their position at the
top it rather suggests that a net cap was worn over the head.
Perhaps to this period belongs a tiny gold mask intended to
cover a core of some other material.6 In gold long tubular
beads occur and small flat ones,7 as well as simple forms which
will be elaborated in E.M.m. Rock crystal, limestone, corne-
lian, shell, and faience were also used, the shapes being flat,
short tubular, or flattened spherical or pear-shaped.
1 But cf. V.T.M., no, where it is explained by the theory that the
plundering of previous interments was a regular feature so that only
the last burial escaped intact. This, if true, makes the contrast between
East and South one of morals rather than wealth.
2 Exactly paralleled by one from the lower stratum in Tomb A
at Platanos. V.T.M., in. Cf. the group of jewellery, probably
contemporary from Thyreatis, now in Berlin. Karo, Schachtgraber
von Mykenae, 188, 300, 350.
3 Mochlos, 68. 4 Ibid., 27.
6 P. of M., I, 97. 0 Mochlos, 78.
' Ibid., 55, 78.
73
pendant at the bottom on the right of the centre. It may
be chance that has preserved so much at Mokhlos whereas
the Messara is singularly poor. But since such gold work as
remains at Koumasa and Platanos is almost certainly E.M.m,
and one can hardly believe that tomb robbers will confine
themselves to digging for objects of the earliest date while
ignoring the upper levels, it seems as if this contrast reflects
the comparative wealth of the East and the South pretty
fairly.1
The most advanced work is seen in the fine chains from which
depend leaves or pendants,2 and in the representations of flowers
and sprays. The gold is thin leaf and the designs on it are either
repousse work or pricked. In the case of bracelets the edges
seem to have been turned over to grip a core of leather.3
Headbands occur with designs pricked out on them. That
shown in Plate XIII has two dogs on each side facing the centre.
At each end are holes for the strings which tied the tiara on,
but in some cases it seems as if pins, such as that shown with
a daisy head, were used instead. Another 4 has two eyes upon
it, which has led to the suggestion that we have here a fore-
runner of the gold masks of Mycenae.5 This, however, was
the thickest gold of all and seemed to the excavator to have
been clearly intended to be worn during the lifetime of the
owner. Holes occur along the top of many of these diadems,
and it is possible that some of the pendants may have been
attached to them as a fringe, though from their position at the
top it rather suggests that a net cap was worn over the head.
Perhaps to this period belongs a tiny gold mask intended to
cover a core of some other material.6 In gold long tubular
beads occur and small flat ones,7 as well as simple forms which
will be elaborated in E.M.m. Rock crystal, limestone, corne-
lian, shell, and faience were also used, the shapes being flat,
short tubular, or flattened spherical or pear-shaped.
1 But cf. V.T.M., no, where it is explained by the theory that the
plundering of previous interments was a regular feature so that only
the last burial escaped intact. This, if true, makes the contrast between
East and South one of morals rather than wealth.
2 Exactly paralleled by one from the lower stratum in Tomb A
at Platanos. V.T.M., in. Cf. the group of jewellery, probably
contemporary from Thyreatis, now in Berlin. Karo, Schachtgraber
von Mykenae, 188, 300, 350.
3 Mochlos, 68. 4 Ibid., 27.
6 P. of M., I, 97. 0 Mochlos, 78.
' Ibid., 55, 78.