1872.] DISCOVERY OF A HOUSE. 133
seem to be more than 1 foot 9 inches long, and they are so
skilfully put together, that the wall forms a smooth surface.
This house is built upon a layer of yellow and brown ashes
and ruins, at a depth of 6 meters (ao feet), and the portion of
the walls preserved reaches up to within 10 feet below the
surface of the hill. In the house, as far as we have as yet
excavated, we found only one vase, with two breasts in front
and one breast at the side; also a number of those frequently
mentioned round terra-cottas in the form of the volcano
and top, all of which have five or six quadruple rising
suns in a circle round the central sun.* These objects, as
well as the depth of 6 meters (20 feet), and the architecture
of the walls described above, leave no doubt that the house
was built centuries before the foundation of the Greek
colony, the ruins of which extend only to a depth of 6i
feet. It is with a feeling of great interest that, from this
great platform, that is, at a perpendicular height of from
33 to 42 feet, I see this very ancient building (which
may have been erected 1000 years before Christ) standing
as it were in mid air. To my regret, however, it must in
any case be pulled down, to allow us to dig still deeper.
As I said before, directly below this house there is a layer of
ruins consisting of yellow and brown ashes, and next, as
far as the terrace, there are four layers more of ashes and
other dibris, each of which represents the remains of one
house at least. Immediately above the terrace, that is 13
feet below the foundation of that very ancient house, I find
a wall about 6 feet thick, built of large blocks of lime-
stone, the description of which I must reserve for my next
report, for a large portion of the building I have mentioned,
and immense masses of the upper strata of dibris, as well
as the high earthen wall of the terrace (26 feet thick and 20
feet high) must be pulled down, before I can lay bare any
portion of this wall and investigate how far down it extends.
* See Plate XXII., No. 321.
seem to be more than 1 foot 9 inches long, and they are so
skilfully put together, that the wall forms a smooth surface.
This house is built upon a layer of yellow and brown ashes
and ruins, at a depth of 6 meters (ao feet), and the portion of
the walls preserved reaches up to within 10 feet below the
surface of the hill. In the house, as far as we have as yet
excavated, we found only one vase, with two breasts in front
and one breast at the side; also a number of those frequently
mentioned round terra-cottas in the form of the volcano
and top, all of which have five or six quadruple rising
suns in a circle round the central sun.* These objects, as
well as the depth of 6 meters (20 feet), and the architecture
of the walls described above, leave no doubt that the house
was built centuries before the foundation of the Greek
colony, the ruins of which extend only to a depth of 6i
feet. It is with a feeling of great interest that, from this
great platform, that is, at a perpendicular height of from
33 to 42 feet, I see this very ancient building (which
may have been erected 1000 years before Christ) standing
as it were in mid air. To my regret, however, it must in
any case be pulled down, to allow us to dig still deeper.
As I said before, directly below this house there is a layer of
ruins consisting of yellow and brown ashes, and next, as
far as the terrace, there are four layers more of ashes and
other dibris, each of which represents the remains of one
house at least. Immediately above the terrace, that is 13
feet below the foundation of that very ancient house, I find
a wall about 6 feet thick, built of large blocks of lime-
stone, the description of which I must reserve for my next
report, for a large portion of the building I have mentioned,
and immense masses of the upper strata of dibris, as well
as the high earthen wall of the terrace (26 feet thick and 20
feet high) must be pulled down, before I can lay bare any
portion of this wall and investigate how far down it extends.
* See Plate XXII., No. 321.