DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0079
52
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
tholos e the other smaller, with an obscure design that can be interpreted into an
animal (?) and a dart.
A ring of pure copper much damaged by oxidation (1439) was also found.
The figure of a quadruped can just be made out on the oval bezel.
In addition to a few plain cups the finds from Tholos E were the following
(Plate XXXVI a) :—
The Finds (1) 5013. A suspension pot with four small pierced lugs, showing traces
of a red-brown wash. Height -06 m., diameter of belly -095 m.
E.M. I or n.
(2) 5015. A lamp of coarse badly fired clay with a horizontal stick handle.
Opposite the handle the rim is cut to make a bed for the wick. The marks of
burning are strong. Height -03 m., diameter -10 m. The date is Early Minoan,
to judge from the shape and the composition and imperfect baking of the clay.
The lamps that may be compared with it, those from Zakro,1 the large
number from the house at Chamaizi,2 and from Palaikastron,3 and those from
Petras 4 and Phaestos,5 all seem to be later, either Middle or Late Minoan.
This lamp and 5020 from Tholos e (p. 53) have a different shape from the
Koumasa pair (4170 and 4171, p. 14 and Plate XX), although they too are
Early Minoan. Perhaps we should seek the reason in Egyptian prototypes
which the Minoans may have copied; for it is argued that the use of the
lamp came to Crete from Egypt.6
tholos € The small Tholos e lies a few metres south-west of E. There was very
little earth over it, so that the circuit walls stand to barely -40 m. The entrance
is again on the east. The tomb had been repaired and modified and put to new
use after the construction of a second supporting wall by which the doorway
had been blocked. With the addition of this later wall the inner diameter was
reduced to 4-30 m. The thickness of the original wall was 1-20 m., but the
joint thickness of the two became 2-35 m. The width of the entrance was
•81 m. and the height of the massive stone door-jambs was 1 m. The earth
over the tomb was very hard, and had shattered the few clay vases that there
were. The bones, too, were more decayed than is usual, and were all massed
together. A few of them were blackened by fire and smoke. It would seem
that after the repairs this tomb was used as a charnel house in connection with
the larger tomb, E, or the other tombs near by.
Immediately outside Tholos e two clay objects were found (Plate
XXXVI a).
(1) 5012. A spherical suspension pot with a cylindrical neck and two
horizontal lugs each with a pair of holes. The clay is reddish without any
decoration. Height -102 m., diameter of belly -095 m. Probably E.M. II.
1 B.S.A., VII, pp. 128-129, fig. 41.
2 'E<f>. 'APX. (1906), o-tA. 149, Uiv. 10.
3 B.S.A., IX, p. 282, fig. 3 ; pp. 326-327, fig. 27.
4 B.S.A., VIII, p. 285, fig. 4.
5 Mon. Ant., XIV, p. 482, fig. 88 (from the M.M.
store-rooms and the M.M. shrine in the Palace).
6 Jahrbuch (1912), S. 56.
Dussaud, op. cit., p. 116.
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
tholos e the other smaller, with an obscure design that can be interpreted into an
animal (?) and a dart.
A ring of pure copper much damaged by oxidation (1439) was also found.
The figure of a quadruped can just be made out on the oval bezel.
In addition to a few plain cups the finds from Tholos E were the following
(Plate XXXVI a) :—
The Finds (1) 5013. A suspension pot with four small pierced lugs, showing traces
of a red-brown wash. Height -06 m., diameter of belly -095 m.
E.M. I or n.
(2) 5015. A lamp of coarse badly fired clay with a horizontal stick handle.
Opposite the handle the rim is cut to make a bed for the wick. The marks of
burning are strong. Height -03 m., diameter -10 m. The date is Early Minoan,
to judge from the shape and the composition and imperfect baking of the clay.
The lamps that may be compared with it, those from Zakro,1 the large
number from the house at Chamaizi,2 and from Palaikastron,3 and those from
Petras 4 and Phaestos,5 all seem to be later, either Middle or Late Minoan.
This lamp and 5020 from Tholos e (p. 53) have a different shape from the
Koumasa pair (4170 and 4171, p. 14 and Plate XX), although they too are
Early Minoan. Perhaps we should seek the reason in Egyptian prototypes
which the Minoans may have copied; for it is argued that the use of the
lamp came to Crete from Egypt.6
tholos € The small Tholos e lies a few metres south-west of E. There was very
little earth over it, so that the circuit walls stand to barely -40 m. The entrance
is again on the east. The tomb had been repaired and modified and put to new
use after the construction of a second supporting wall by which the doorway
had been blocked. With the addition of this later wall the inner diameter was
reduced to 4-30 m. The thickness of the original wall was 1-20 m., but the
joint thickness of the two became 2-35 m. The width of the entrance was
•81 m. and the height of the massive stone door-jambs was 1 m. The earth
over the tomb was very hard, and had shattered the few clay vases that there
were. The bones, too, were more decayed than is usual, and were all massed
together. A few of them were blackened by fire and smoke. It would seem
that after the repairs this tomb was used as a charnel house in connection with
the larger tomb, E, or the other tombs near by.
Immediately outside Tholos e two clay objects were found (Plate
XXXVI a).
(1) 5012. A spherical suspension pot with a cylindrical neck and two
horizontal lugs each with a pair of holes. The clay is reddish without any
decoration. Height -102 m., diameter of belly -095 m. Probably E.M. II.
1 B.S.A., VII, pp. 128-129, fig. 41.
2 'E<f>. 'APX. (1906), o-tA. 149, Uiv. 10.
3 B.S.A., IX, p. 282, fig. 3 ; pp. 326-327, fig. 27.
4 B.S.A., VIII, p. 285, fig. 4.
5 Mon. Ant., XIV, p. 482, fig. 88 (from the M.M.
store-rooms and the M.M. shrine in the Palace).
6 Jahrbuch (1912), S. 56.
Dussaud, op. cit., p. 116.