DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0175
140
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE
It is curious that no objects of bronze, whether swords or
daggers, have as yet come to light in deposits of this period.
No doubt the long dagger of M.M.i continued in use until
M.M.ni. A corroded cube of iron was found at Mavrospelio
but does not imply any knowledge of the use of the metal. It
may have been magnetic.
Figurines also are lacking except for the foot of a painted
terra-cotta figurine from Knossos,1 and so for the most part is
jewellery, for valuables would be searched for after the earth-
quake which seems to have brought M.M.n to a close. A few
beads occurred in the M.M.nb deposit at Mavrospelio. They
included a cylindrical example in white faience with zigzag
fluting, beads in white, blue and brown faience, globular, semi-
globular and fluted, cylindrical, oval and pointed oval. Globu-
lar beads in amethyst and crystal occur. The only stone vase
to be found in an M.M.n deposit also came from this pit. It
is a squat jug in steatite with a wide circular mouth.
The seals of M.M.11 show a great advance over those of
M.M.i, which was after all in the nature of a transitional period
when the hieroglyphic script was coming in and when human
and animal figures were first being introduced as the centre of
the composition, not as mere subordinates to a geometric
pattern. Now in M.M.11 these figures are adapted to the shape
of the seal, attention is paid to grouping and composition and
the inscriptions are well arranged with an eye to calligraphy.
A new type of hieroglyphs, or rather an improvement on
the old type, was now in use. This did not survive the end
of M.M.11 and is therefore an admirable criterion cf date.
These signs were impressed or inscribed on bars, fiddle-shaped
labels, and flat tablets. A hoard of these, together with clay
seal impressions, was found in a deposit just East of the North
end of the Long Corridor which served the West Magazines.
This deposit had been sealed in at the close of M.M.11. A very
similar group came to light in the North-West Quarter of the
Palace at Mallia, which contained also elements of the M.M.i
script. The signs on the tablets and bars are naturally more
cursive than those engraved with care on a seal stone, but their
recurrence on both is conclusive.
Already a numerical system has been worked out, very much
on Egyptian lines. A stroke, straight or slightly curved for
the unit, a dot for ten, a longer slanting stroke for a hundred,
a lozenge for a thousand and a V for a fraction, probably \.
1 P. of M., Ill, 453. But it certainly looks of Hellenic date.
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE
It is curious that no objects of bronze, whether swords or
daggers, have as yet come to light in deposits of this period.
No doubt the long dagger of M.M.i continued in use until
M.M.ni. A corroded cube of iron was found at Mavrospelio
but does not imply any knowledge of the use of the metal. It
may have been magnetic.
Figurines also are lacking except for the foot of a painted
terra-cotta figurine from Knossos,1 and so for the most part is
jewellery, for valuables would be searched for after the earth-
quake which seems to have brought M.M.n to a close. A few
beads occurred in the M.M.nb deposit at Mavrospelio. They
included a cylindrical example in white faience with zigzag
fluting, beads in white, blue and brown faience, globular, semi-
globular and fluted, cylindrical, oval and pointed oval. Globu-
lar beads in amethyst and crystal occur. The only stone vase
to be found in an M.M.n deposit also came from this pit. It
is a squat jug in steatite with a wide circular mouth.
The seals of M.M.11 show a great advance over those of
M.M.i, which was after all in the nature of a transitional period
when the hieroglyphic script was coming in and when human
and animal figures were first being introduced as the centre of
the composition, not as mere subordinates to a geometric
pattern. Now in M.M.11 these figures are adapted to the shape
of the seal, attention is paid to grouping and composition and
the inscriptions are well arranged with an eye to calligraphy.
A new type of hieroglyphs, or rather an improvement on
the old type, was now in use. This did not survive the end
of M.M.11 and is therefore an admirable criterion cf date.
These signs were impressed or inscribed on bars, fiddle-shaped
labels, and flat tablets. A hoard of these, together with clay
seal impressions, was found in a deposit just East of the North
end of the Long Corridor which served the West Magazines.
This deposit had been sealed in at the close of M.M.11. A very
similar group came to light in the North-West Quarter of the
Palace at Mallia, which contained also elements of the M.M.i
script. The signs on the tablets and bars are naturally more
cursive than those engraved with care on a seal stone, but their
recurrence on both is conclusive.
Already a numerical system has been worked out, very much
on Egyptian lines. A stroke, straight or slightly curved for
the unit, a dot for ten, a longer slanting stroke for a hundred,
a lozenge for a thousand and a V for a fraction, probably \.
1 P. of M., Ill, 453. But it certainly looks of Hellenic date.