DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1159#0126
EXPLORATIONS IN MOCHLOS 93
periods, between which it acts as a connecting link, partaking of
the characteristics of both yet clearly belonging to neither.
The best preserved objects from this deposit are shown in Figure
48, Nos. 29-42. The shape which occurred most frequently was
that of a clay spoon or ladle like Nos. 29, 30, 41 and 42. This sort
of ladle is never met with in E. M. II deposits and must be either a
survival from the neolithic period or else a product peculiar to E.
M. I potters. These ladles are always of reddish clay, unburnished,
and are often covered with a sort of reddish wash. The horn-like
object No. 31 appears to be an early example of the "horns of
consecration" although one would hardly expect to find them ap-
pearing as a cult object in so early a period. In the illustration
(Fig. 48), they might also be taken for a boat, but the fact that the
outside surface is slightly crescent shaped and the back quite flat
makes this theory improbable. Three small votive double axes, one
of bronze (Fig. 12, No. II, 46) and two of lead, found in Tomb II,
in an unmistakable E. M. II deposit, would tend to prove that these
cult objects had their origin at a much earlier date than would have
been believed possible.
Nos. 32 and 33 (Fig. 48) belong to a type common in this E. M. I
ware and their use is not easy to determine. They are made with a
hollow stem of clay and a broad flaring rim. No. 32 contained a
bit of coarse linen and a tiny piece of bronze or copper, which
shows that metal was not unknown in this period.
No. 34 is another common shape which has been discussed in con-
nection with No. I, a, of Tomb I (Fig. 4). A number of coarse clay
cups, Nos. 36 and 39, were found, and these cups, together with the
curious vessels, Nos. 32, 33 and 34, would incline one to the belief
that this was a place of offering, as these vases could never have
served any practical household use. This would help to explain
the presence of so large a deposit of pottery on the very edge of the
cliffs in a place unsuitable for dwelling houses. We know, also, from
similar objects found among the Mochlos houses, that the people
of this period had their dwellings on the same site as that occupied
by the later town.1 It is quite possible that in the E. M. I age
this slope was already in use as a burial place and that these vases
were the offerings to the dead. No grave of the period came to light,
but in the construction of the three large chamber tombs Nos. IV,
V and VI in the E. M. II period, the westernmost of which, No. V,
overlay this mass of sherds, the E. M. I graves as well as a great
part of the pottery deposit may have been swept away.
»A. J. A., Vol. XIII, p. 279.
periods, between which it acts as a connecting link, partaking of
the characteristics of both yet clearly belonging to neither.
The best preserved objects from this deposit are shown in Figure
48, Nos. 29-42. The shape which occurred most frequently was
that of a clay spoon or ladle like Nos. 29, 30, 41 and 42. This sort
of ladle is never met with in E. M. II deposits and must be either a
survival from the neolithic period or else a product peculiar to E.
M. I potters. These ladles are always of reddish clay, unburnished,
and are often covered with a sort of reddish wash. The horn-like
object No. 31 appears to be an early example of the "horns of
consecration" although one would hardly expect to find them ap-
pearing as a cult object in so early a period. In the illustration
(Fig. 48), they might also be taken for a boat, but the fact that the
outside surface is slightly crescent shaped and the back quite flat
makes this theory improbable. Three small votive double axes, one
of bronze (Fig. 12, No. II, 46) and two of lead, found in Tomb II,
in an unmistakable E. M. II deposit, would tend to prove that these
cult objects had their origin at a much earlier date than would have
been believed possible.
Nos. 32 and 33 (Fig. 48) belong to a type common in this E. M. I
ware and their use is not easy to determine. They are made with a
hollow stem of clay and a broad flaring rim. No. 32 contained a
bit of coarse linen and a tiny piece of bronze or copper, which
shows that metal was not unknown in this period.
No. 34 is another common shape which has been discussed in con-
nection with No. I, a, of Tomb I (Fig. 4). A number of coarse clay
cups, Nos. 36 and 39, were found, and these cups, together with the
curious vessels, Nos. 32, 33 and 34, would incline one to the belief
that this was a place of offering, as these vases could never have
served any practical household use. This would help to explain
the presence of so large a deposit of pottery on the very edge of the
cliffs in a place unsuitable for dwelling houses. We know, also, from
similar objects found among the Mochlos houses, that the people
of this period had their dwellings on the same site as that occupied
by the later town.1 It is quite possible that in the E. M. I age
this slope was already in use as a burial place and that these vases
were the offerings to the dead. No grave of the period came to light,
but in the construction of the three large chamber tombs Nos. IV,
V and VI in the E. M. II period, the westernmost of which, No. V,
overlay this mass of sherds, the E. M. I graves as well as a great
part of the pottery deposit may have been swept away.
»A. J. A., Vol. XIII, p. 279.