DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1159#0060
EXPLORATIONS IN MOCHLOS 47
with a doorway in the centre of one of the narrow ends, leading first
to an anteroom with an inner chamber behind. An argument has
been put forward, based on a curious circular building found by
Dr. Xanthoudides at Chamaizi, that the dwelling houses of the early
periods in Crete were derived from a circular model which was grad-
ually transformed into a rectangular one.1 This theory, however,
is unsupported by the evidence yielded by excavations at Vasiliki,
Pseira, Mochlos and elsewhere in Eastern Crete. At Vasiliki, where
we have the largest and best preserved E. M. II house yet known in
Crete, there was no trace of the circular form, and in the underlying
foundations, which belonged to houses of still earlier date, only rec-
tangular rooms were brought to light. Moreover, certain deeply
buried walls on the town site of Mochlos, dating from so remote an
era as the E. M. I period, belonged to rectangular rooms. To this
evidence is now added that of the Mochlos tombs. In all proba-
bility they give the type of dwelling common to the primitive inhab-
itants of Eastern Crete; the circular form of building at Chamaizi
must have been determined by the nature of its position on a hilltop,
where an elliptical house gave a greater floor space with less masonry
than would have been possible if a rectangular form had been
adopted.2
The objects from Tomb IV are as follows:
IV. 1 (fig. i8). Large bowl of black steatite (height 12.5 cm.,
diameter 29 cm.). This bowl comes from the M. M. Ill deposit
and is of a shape which never appears before the M. M. I period.
IV. 2 (figs. 18,19). Clay cup of E. M. Ill light-on-dark geomet-
ric ware. The design is very characteristic of the period (height
8.2 cm., diameter 10.9 cm.). From the evidence of vases found at
Pseira and on the Mochlos town site, the shape of this cup would
tend to place it toward the end of the E. M. Ill period, although
the design looks earlier.
IV. 3 (fig. 18). Small vase of translucent green steatite which,
in shape, recalls the clay "egg-cups" of the E. M. II mottled
ware (height 5 cm., diameter 3 cm.).
IV. 4 (fig. 18). Large shallow bowl of grey and white marble
(height 5.7 cm., diameter 21.7 cm.). A few pieces of this bowl
were found in the antechamber, but most of the fragments had
' Noack, Ovalhaua und Palast, pp. 51-70.
• The question of the primitive house in the Aegean has been most ably discussed by Dr.
Duncan Mackenzie (B. S. A., Vol. XIV, p. 843), who makes it clear that all evidence points,
at present, to a rectangular form for the houses of primitive Crete and the Aegean in general.
with a doorway in the centre of one of the narrow ends, leading first
to an anteroom with an inner chamber behind. An argument has
been put forward, based on a curious circular building found by
Dr. Xanthoudides at Chamaizi, that the dwelling houses of the early
periods in Crete were derived from a circular model which was grad-
ually transformed into a rectangular one.1 This theory, however,
is unsupported by the evidence yielded by excavations at Vasiliki,
Pseira, Mochlos and elsewhere in Eastern Crete. At Vasiliki, where
we have the largest and best preserved E. M. II house yet known in
Crete, there was no trace of the circular form, and in the underlying
foundations, which belonged to houses of still earlier date, only rec-
tangular rooms were brought to light. Moreover, certain deeply
buried walls on the town site of Mochlos, dating from so remote an
era as the E. M. I period, belonged to rectangular rooms. To this
evidence is now added that of the Mochlos tombs. In all proba-
bility they give the type of dwelling common to the primitive inhab-
itants of Eastern Crete; the circular form of building at Chamaizi
must have been determined by the nature of its position on a hilltop,
where an elliptical house gave a greater floor space with less masonry
than would have been possible if a rectangular form had been
adopted.2
The objects from Tomb IV are as follows:
IV. 1 (fig. i8). Large bowl of black steatite (height 12.5 cm.,
diameter 29 cm.). This bowl comes from the M. M. Ill deposit
and is of a shape which never appears before the M. M. I period.
IV. 2 (figs. 18,19). Clay cup of E. M. Ill light-on-dark geomet-
ric ware. The design is very characteristic of the period (height
8.2 cm., diameter 10.9 cm.). From the evidence of vases found at
Pseira and on the Mochlos town site, the shape of this cup would
tend to place it toward the end of the E. M. Ill period, although
the design looks earlier.
IV. 3 (fig. 18). Small vase of translucent green steatite which,
in shape, recalls the clay "egg-cups" of the E. M. II mottled
ware (height 5 cm., diameter 3 cm.).
IV. 4 (fig. 18). Large shallow bowl of grey and white marble
(height 5.7 cm., diameter 21.7 cm.). A few pieces of this bowl
were found in the antechamber, but most of the fragments had
' Noack, Ovalhaua und Palast, pp. 51-70.
• The question of the primitive house in the Aegean has been most ably discussed by Dr.
Duncan Mackenzie (B. S. A., Vol. XIV, p. 843), who makes it clear that all evidence points,
at present, to a rectangular form for the houses of primitive Crete and the Aegean in general.