Pendlebury, John D.: The archaeology of Crete: an introduction (London, 1939)

146

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE

M.M.u
Chronology

We see then the great intimacy of the relations between the
great centres of Knossos and Phaistos and the Xllth Dynasty
in Egypt. If we take M.M.ila to begin about 2000 b.c. and
to end somewhere in the reign of Senusert II, say about 1875,
and M.M.n&to run down to the end of the Xllth or beginning
of the XHIth Dynasty, between 1800 and 1750 b.c., we shall
not be far wrong.

The end of M.M.u seems to have been marked by a severe
earthquake which sealed in a number of deposits both at
Knossos and Phaistos, leaving them in a pure unmixed state.1
At Pseira, Mallia, Mokhlos, Gournia, and Palaikastro a similar
disaster seems to have brought an end to their corresponding
period (M.M.i). At all these sites the succeeding M.M.iii
Period seems to have begun immediately, though at Vasilike
the disaster may have wiped out or disheartened the whole
population, for it was not reoccupied. It is only on the assump-
tion of some catastrophe such as an earthquake that we can
account for the complete break which occurs between obviously
consecutive periods. That it was not a disaster brought about
by enemies seems clear from the absence of burning which one
associates with a sack and also from the way in which M.M.iii
follows on with no lack of continuity.

SITES WHERE MIDDLE MINOAN II REMAINS HAVE
BEEN FOUND

CENTRAL CRETE

JUKTAS.

KNOSSOS

MALLIA

PSYKHRO

{a) Excavated Sites

Sanctuary . A few sherds in the sanctuary
proper. Evans, P. of M., I,
15L.

Palace . . Consolidation of the building.

P. of M., I, 203 ; III, 356.

Koulouras, IV, 61.
Cemetery . Chamber tombs at Mavrospelio.

Forsdyke, B.S.A., XXVIII,

295-

Deposit . A few sherds which may belong
to this period. Imported.
Mallia, I, 51, and many of the
inscriptions. Ecritures Minoeli-
nes.

Cave . . Earliest deposit in the upper part
of the Diktaian Cave. Hogarth,
B.S.A., VI, 101, Fig. 27.

1 P. of M., I, 299.