DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0095
74
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CAMPAIGN OF 1S93.
"In our second campaign, in 1893,1 was assisted by Messrs. Lythgoe, Meader, and Norton, who
took part in the excavation from the beginning to the end, and had each charge of definite por-
tions of the site as responsible overseers and directors of the workmen under their command.
These gentlemen, with Dr. Washington, remained on the site, and continued the excavations for
several days after I was forced to leave, and during these days some of the most interesting objects
of sculpture were found. . . .
" We pitched our camp on the rocky elevation above the Older Temple on March 30, the Greek
government having kindly lent us three good tents from their army stores. The experiment of
camping on the site itself has proved a great success, and one which it would be well to adopt in
the future. We at once engaged workmen, and were enabled to start the next day with 112 men
and 23 carts. On April 1, we had 130 men and 30 carts ; on April 3, 200 men and 38 carts. Our
force at last reached the number of 210 men. We began to excavate on the upper plateau, the site
of the Older Temple. . . . We cleared off all the top soil down to the early substructure, about 45
metres in length by 35 metres in breadth. The burnt layer alluded to in my report of last year
again appeared on various portions of this site, together with masses of poros stone, which had evi-
dently been split into smaller pieces by the heat of a great conflagration. We were fortunate enough
to find still standing on this terrace a portion of the early wall, about 14.30 metres in length by a
little over a metre in width, which certainly must have belonged to this interesting structure, per-
haps the earliest temple of Hellas. The presence of this piece of wall may prove of exceptional
importance, inasmuch as its lower portion was evidently not visible at the time the temple was
completed, and the objects found below this line would thus antedate the erection of the temple.
Two other stones appear to be in situ.. But it is impossible at this moment to hazard even a sug-
gestion with regard to the construction of the early temple. At all events, we have cleared this
important site, and it is now in a state to be carefully studied for the light it may throw upon the
earliest history of civilization in Greece. The yield in objects of early ceramic art, some bronzes
and peculiar rude engraved stones, was very rich, and of extreme importance and interest. I have
little doubt that these finds alone are of sufficient weight to justify the energy and money expended
upon the undertaking, as they are sure to throw most valuable light on the history of the earliest
art in Greece. We dug two broad trenches outside the Cyclopean wall to the east and west of the
plateau, in order to make sure whether there were any objects of interest which had fallen over
the supporting walls.
" When the work on the platform of the Old Temple was completed, we made the slope from
the upper terrace down to the terrace of the Second Ten^de the centre of our exertions (Fig. 39).
It was exceedingly difficult to excavate on this site, because the existence of buildings at the imme-
diate foot of the slope had already been proved by our discovery last year of the outer line of the
Stoa (II). We had therefore to work with great care from above, immediately below the Cyclo-
pean wall of the upper terrace, and had to construct a steep road leading from the point marked
T to the top of the slope, dumping our earth either at the southeast dump or at the southwest
dump. When we had dug several feet below the Cyclopean wall, we at once came upon very rich
layers of early pottery of all descriptions, and soon found various vestiges of buildings. These
were erected on the height above the buildings corresponding to the North Stoa, and immediately
below the Cyclopean wall. They consisted of portions of walls built of loose unhewn stones placed
together without mortar or clamps, and evidently formed the smaller, perhaps domestic, counterpart
to the structures known as Cyclopean walls. The objects found in some of these make it not
improbable that they may have been the houses in which dwelt the priestesses or attendants of the
earlier temple, though I should not venture upon any hypothesis at this moment with any claim to
your serious consideration. There are also traces of a rough pavement sloping downwards from
about the middle of the Cyclopean wall (below it) to the west, and behind the back wall of Stoa II.
This may have been an early road leading up to these dwellings. With due care to preserve the
remains of these early buildings, we dug down to the bed-rock on this slope ; and then came
the task of clearimr the whole series of buildings on a line with the Stoa. The lensrth of these
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
CAMPAIGN OF 1S93.
"In our second campaign, in 1893,1 was assisted by Messrs. Lythgoe, Meader, and Norton, who
took part in the excavation from the beginning to the end, and had each charge of definite por-
tions of the site as responsible overseers and directors of the workmen under their command.
These gentlemen, with Dr. Washington, remained on the site, and continued the excavations for
several days after I was forced to leave, and during these days some of the most interesting objects
of sculpture were found. . . .
" We pitched our camp on the rocky elevation above the Older Temple on March 30, the Greek
government having kindly lent us three good tents from their army stores. The experiment of
camping on the site itself has proved a great success, and one which it would be well to adopt in
the future. We at once engaged workmen, and were enabled to start the next day with 112 men
and 23 carts. On April 1, we had 130 men and 30 carts ; on April 3, 200 men and 38 carts. Our
force at last reached the number of 210 men. We began to excavate on the upper plateau, the site
of the Older Temple. . . . We cleared off all the top soil down to the early substructure, about 45
metres in length by 35 metres in breadth. The burnt layer alluded to in my report of last year
again appeared on various portions of this site, together with masses of poros stone, which had evi-
dently been split into smaller pieces by the heat of a great conflagration. We were fortunate enough
to find still standing on this terrace a portion of the early wall, about 14.30 metres in length by a
little over a metre in width, which certainly must have belonged to this interesting structure, per-
haps the earliest temple of Hellas. The presence of this piece of wall may prove of exceptional
importance, inasmuch as its lower portion was evidently not visible at the time the temple was
completed, and the objects found below this line would thus antedate the erection of the temple.
Two other stones appear to be in situ.. But it is impossible at this moment to hazard even a sug-
gestion with regard to the construction of the early temple. At all events, we have cleared this
important site, and it is now in a state to be carefully studied for the light it may throw upon the
earliest history of civilization in Greece. The yield in objects of early ceramic art, some bronzes
and peculiar rude engraved stones, was very rich, and of extreme importance and interest. I have
little doubt that these finds alone are of sufficient weight to justify the energy and money expended
upon the undertaking, as they are sure to throw most valuable light on the history of the earliest
art in Greece. We dug two broad trenches outside the Cyclopean wall to the east and west of the
plateau, in order to make sure whether there were any objects of interest which had fallen over
the supporting walls.
" When the work on the platform of the Old Temple was completed, we made the slope from
the upper terrace down to the terrace of the Second Ten^de the centre of our exertions (Fig. 39).
It was exceedingly difficult to excavate on this site, because the existence of buildings at the imme-
diate foot of the slope had already been proved by our discovery last year of the outer line of the
Stoa (II). We had therefore to work with great care from above, immediately below the Cyclo-
pean wall of the upper terrace, and had to construct a steep road leading from the point marked
T to the top of the slope, dumping our earth either at the southeast dump or at the southwest
dump. When we had dug several feet below the Cyclopean wall, we at once came upon very rich
layers of early pottery of all descriptions, and soon found various vestiges of buildings. These
were erected on the height above the buildings corresponding to the North Stoa, and immediately
below the Cyclopean wall. They consisted of portions of walls built of loose unhewn stones placed
together without mortar or clamps, and evidently formed the smaller, perhaps domestic, counterpart
to the structures known as Cyclopean walls. The objects found in some of these make it not
improbable that they may have been the houses in which dwelt the priestesses or attendants of the
earlier temple, though I should not venture upon any hypothesis at this moment with any claim to
your serious consideration. There are also traces of a rough pavement sloping downwards from
about the middle of the Cyclopean wall (below it) to the west, and behind the back wall of Stoa II.
This may have been an early road leading up to these dwellings. With due care to preserve the
remains of these early buildings, we dug down to the bed-rock on this slope ; and then came
the task of clearimr the whole series of buildings on a line with the Stoa. The lensrth of these