DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1159#0015
10 EXPLORATIONS IN MOCHLOS
At Palaikastro E. M. Ill vases were found in 1903 stratified
above the E. M. II wares.1 Gournia, where stratification could be
observed, furnished similar data. Thus the chronological sequence
of the mottled and the light-on-dark geometric styles was fixed
even without the evidence of Vasiliki, where the stratification
was best defined. There in 1906 a number of mottled sherds were
found lying at the bottom of a deep pit, probably an unfinished
well, the rest of which was filled with great masses of E. M. Ill vase s.2
At Zakro and at Hagia Photia, E. M. Ill vases occurred in the rock
shelter burials already mentioned on p. 8. At Koumasa and Porti
in the Messara several large tholoi of the Early and Middle Minoan
periods have been cleared. These great burial chambers, which
evidently served as town charnel houses, confirmed the evidence
of Eastern Crete on all the main points. Certain minor differences
due to local varieties of form and decoration were observed; each
small settlement had its own methods of vase making and the clays
used differed widely in various parts of the island.
At Hagia Triada the Italian Expedition also cleared a similar
tholos of large size which yielded many small vases and objects
mixed with the remains of hundreds of bodies.* These tholoi of
the Messara, since they remained in use until some time in the M. M.
I period, do not furnish such good evidence for the classification of
objects as do well stratified town sites or even the small graves of
Eastern Crete, where a tomb and the objects it contains often
belong to one period, if not to a single interment.
Curiously enough no tholos of the Messara type has been found
in Eastern Crete, nor do the cist graves and chamber tombs of East-
ern Crete appear in the Messara. There is no reason to suppose
that this indicates any difference in race between the inhabitants of
the two parts of the island, as the objects associated with both
types of burial can belong only to one race and culture, so similar
are they in all their main aspects. The tholos never appears in
Eastern Crete until the L. M. Ill period and then must be regarded
as a type borrowed from the Greek mainland rather than the sur-
vival of the early tholoi of the Messara.
Although the Early Minoan deposits at Vasiliki, Gournia and
Palaikastro were remarkably rich in pottery, they gave but little
idea of this early culture as a whole. Here the gap was partially
filled by the Messara tholoi, which yielded examples of weapons,
stone vases and seals. The weapons were for the most part short
• B. S. A., Vol. XI, p. 271. Fig. 5. » Trans., Vol. II, Part II, p. 118.
' Mm. Ant., Vol. XIV, p. 678.
At Palaikastro E. M. Ill vases were found in 1903 stratified
above the E. M. II wares.1 Gournia, where stratification could be
observed, furnished similar data. Thus the chronological sequence
of the mottled and the light-on-dark geometric styles was fixed
even without the evidence of Vasiliki, where the stratification
was best defined. There in 1906 a number of mottled sherds were
found lying at the bottom of a deep pit, probably an unfinished
well, the rest of which was filled with great masses of E. M. Ill vase s.2
At Zakro and at Hagia Photia, E. M. Ill vases occurred in the rock
shelter burials already mentioned on p. 8. At Koumasa and Porti
in the Messara several large tholoi of the Early and Middle Minoan
periods have been cleared. These great burial chambers, which
evidently served as town charnel houses, confirmed the evidence
of Eastern Crete on all the main points. Certain minor differences
due to local varieties of form and decoration were observed; each
small settlement had its own methods of vase making and the clays
used differed widely in various parts of the island.
At Hagia Triada the Italian Expedition also cleared a similar
tholos of large size which yielded many small vases and objects
mixed with the remains of hundreds of bodies.* These tholoi of
the Messara, since they remained in use until some time in the M. M.
I period, do not furnish such good evidence for the classification of
objects as do well stratified town sites or even the small graves of
Eastern Crete, where a tomb and the objects it contains often
belong to one period, if not to a single interment.
Curiously enough no tholos of the Messara type has been found
in Eastern Crete, nor do the cist graves and chamber tombs of East-
ern Crete appear in the Messara. There is no reason to suppose
that this indicates any difference in race between the inhabitants of
the two parts of the island, as the objects associated with both
types of burial can belong only to one race and culture, so similar
are they in all their main aspects. The tholos never appears in
Eastern Crete until the L. M. Ill period and then must be regarded
as a type borrowed from the Greek mainland rather than the sur-
vival of the early tholoi of the Messara.
Although the Early Minoan deposits at Vasiliki, Gournia and
Palaikastro were remarkably rich in pottery, they gave but little
idea of this early culture as a whole. Here the gap was partially
filled by the Messara tholoi, which yielded examples of weapons,
stone vases and seals. The weapons were for the most part short
• B. S. A., Vol. XI, p. 271. Fig. 5. » Trans., Vol. II, Part II, p. 118.
' Mm. Ant., Vol. XIV, p. 678.