DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1159#0014
EXPLORATIONS IN MOCHLOS 9
At Knossos, as has been said, some floor levels found in 1908
contained undisturbed deposits of this period, but by far the best
examples come from a large house at Vasiliki. This house, which
dates from the latter part of the E. M. II period, contained only
vases of the mottled technique. Later it was found to overlie a
still earlier building which contained examples of all the three classes
which are assigned to the E. M. II period. In the Messara, at
Koumasa and Porti, Dr. Xanthoudides found vessels of similar
type. They were also found at Palaikastro.1 The E. M. II vases
from these sites, although identical in shape with those from Vasiliki,
are usually of dull red clay and lack the brilliant mottled surface
of the vases found on the Isthmus of Hierapetra. It would thus
appear either that the potters of Vasiliki used a clay of better
quality, or that their methods of painting and firing differed from
those of their contemporaries in other parts of the island.
Just at the end of the E. M. II period a new ware made its appear-
ance. Though reproducing all the shapes of that period, it orig-
inated a new technique in which a geometrical design was applied
in yellowish white on a ground of dark glaze-paint. The old mottled
fabrics of the E. M. II period did not yield immediately to this new
style, which is known as E. M. III. At first the two wares existed
side by side, but gradually, as the new technique gained ground,
the mottled vases decreased in number and at length completely
disappeared.
That the E. M. Ill period was of long duration seems clear.
In its earlier stages we find the mottled and new light-on-dark geo-
metric wares existing side by side, with the same forms common
to both. As the mottled vases disappear, the extreme shapes of
the previous period undergo considerable modification; the necks
of the jugs grow shorter, the long side spouts shrink to half their
former size, and by the time polychromy makes its appearance
it is hard to determine from shape alone whether the vases should
be classed as belonging to the E. M. Ill or the M. M. I period.
Another reason for allowing a long duration to this period is the
enormous quantity of the light-on-dark geometric ware that is found
on early sites on and near the Isthmus of Hierapetra. The first
large deposit was found in 1904 at Gournia, where a great heap
of these sherds had been piled up just outside the town limits.2
This heap was composed of thousands of fragments of the light-on-
dark geometric ware and must represent accumulations of a long
term of years.
»B. S. A., Vol. X, p. 197, Fig. 1. «Gournia, p. 57; Trans,, Vol. I, Part III, p. 191.
At Knossos, as has been said, some floor levels found in 1908
contained undisturbed deposits of this period, but by far the best
examples come from a large house at Vasiliki. This house, which
dates from the latter part of the E. M. II period, contained only
vases of the mottled technique. Later it was found to overlie a
still earlier building which contained examples of all the three classes
which are assigned to the E. M. II period. In the Messara, at
Koumasa and Porti, Dr. Xanthoudides found vessels of similar
type. They were also found at Palaikastro.1 The E. M. II vases
from these sites, although identical in shape with those from Vasiliki,
are usually of dull red clay and lack the brilliant mottled surface
of the vases found on the Isthmus of Hierapetra. It would thus
appear either that the potters of Vasiliki used a clay of better
quality, or that their methods of painting and firing differed from
those of their contemporaries in other parts of the island.
Just at the end of the E. M. II period a new ware made its appear-
ance. Though reproducing all the shapes of that period, it orig-
inated a new technique in which a geometrical design was applied
in yellowish white on a ground of dark glaze-paint. The old mottled
fabrics of the E. M. II period did not yield immediately to this new
style, which is known as E. M. III. At first the two wares existed
side by side, but gradually, as the new technique gained ground,
the mottled vases decreased in number and at length completely
disappeared.
That the E. M. Ill period was of long duration seems clear.
In its earlier stages we find the mottled and new light-on-dark geo-
metric wares existing side by side, with the same forms common
to both. As the mottled vases disappear, the extreme shapes of
the previous period undergo considerable modification; the necks
of the jugs grow shorter, the long side spouts shrink to half their
former size, and by the time polychromy makes its appearance
it is hard to determine from shape alone whether the vases should
be classed as belonging to the E. M. Ill or the M. M. I period.
Another reason for allowing a long duration to this period is the
enormous quantity of the light-on-dark geometric ware that is found
on early sites on and near the Isthmus of Hierapetra. The first
large deposit was found in 1904 at Gournia, where a great heap
of these sherds had been piled up just outside the town limits.2
This heap was composed of thousands of fragments of the light-on-
dark geometric ware and must represent accumulations of a long
term of years.
»B. S. A., Vol. X, p. 197, Fig. 1. «Gournia, p. 57; Trans,, Vol. I, Part III, p. 191.