DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0093
g6
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
porti hatched horizontally. Between the triangles are four round cavities once filled
stone objects ^th inlay. Height -035 m.
Pommels 1058, 1059 (Plate XXXIX a). These objects are probably the pommels of
daggers. They have the familiar shape, fiat on one side and convex on the
other, the big hole on the flat side to take the tang of the handle, and the
horizontal hole right through for the riveting pin. 1058 is of hard black stone
•055 m. in diameter, while 1059 is of soft brown stone and measures -045 m.
across.
Whetstone iq60 (Plate XXXIX a). A whetstone found in the tholos resembling those
from Koumasa (Plate XXIII) and of the same sandstone. It is long and flat,
with a hole at each end, and was made with a great deal of care. Length
•142 m., breadth -02 m., thickness -01 m.
metal C. Metal Objects. (Plate XXXIX b.)
OBJECTS
Very little metal was found at Porti, and only in the tholos. The reason
for this dearth of metal in a cemetery of this importance must, I think, be
sought in the long ages of steady plundering to which the tombs were exposed.
What little we found in the tholos is only what escaped the plunderer's eye
under the mass of remains.
1. Copper.
Copper (1) 1432, 1433. Two copper daggers of a middle type between the
Daggers triangular shape and the long. 1432 is -11 m. long and -045 m. wide at the
slightly incurved base. 1433 is -118 m. long and -05 m. wide, and has both
the small rivets in their holes. The blade is strengthened by additional thick-
ness in the middle, making a faintly marked raised band throughout the length.
A piece of 1432 analysed by Sig. Mosso 1 showed 96-500 per cent, of copper
and 0-197 per cent, of tin, which proves these daggers to be of copper, not
bronze.
It is rather paradoxical that in a cemetery which its clay contents prove
without doubt to be almost entirely of the first Middle Minoan period, these
two daggers should point to an earlier age. It seems, however, as if the tholos
at least dates from E.M. Ill, and these two daggers probably belong to the
time of its building. Chance has preserved them, while practically all the
daggers of long type, which we must suppose to have been deposited in quan-
tities in the cemetery during its subsequent use, have been looted.
(2) 1434. A tongue-shaped, two-edged dagger blade, thin and damaged by
oxidation. Instead of rivet-holes at the base there are two round notches, one
on each side. Length -09 m., breadth -027 m.
(3) 1435. A two-edged dagger blade of the long type, with rounded base.
There are two rivet-holes. Length -155 m., breadth -032 m.
1 Mosso, Origini, op. cit., p. 68, noia 1.
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
porti hatched horizontally. Between the triangles are four round cavities once filled
stone objects ^th inlay. Height -035 m.
Pommels 1058, 1059 (Plate XXXIX a). These objects are probably the pommels of
daggers. They have the familiar shape, fiat on one side and convex on the
other, the big hole on the flat side to take the tang of the handle, and the
horizontal hole right through for the riveting pin. 1058 is of hard black stone
•055 m. in diameter, while 1059 is of soft brown stone and measures -045 m.
across.
Whetstone iq60 (Plate XXXIX a). A whetstone found in the tholos resembling those
from Koumasa (Plate XXIII) and of the same sandstone. It is long and flat,
with a hole at each end, and was made with a great deal of care. Length
•142 m., breadth -02 m., thickness -01 m.
metal C. Metal Objects. (Plate XXXIX b.)
OBJECTS
Very little metal was found at Porti, and only in the tholos. The reason
for this dearth of metal in a cemetery of this importance must, I think, be
sought in the long ages of steady plundering to which the tombs were exposed.
What little we found in the tholos is only what escaped the plunderer's eye
under the mass of remains.
1. Copper.
Copper (1) 1432, 1433. Two copper daggers of a middle type between the
Daggers triangular shape and the long. 1432 is -11 m. long and -045 m. wide at the
slightly incurved base. 1433 is -118 m. long and -05 m. wide, and has both
the small rivets in their holes. The blade is strengthened by additional thick-
ness in the middle, making a faintly marked raised band throughout the length.
A piece of 1432 analysed by Sig. Mosso 1 showed 96-500 per cent, of copper
and 0-197 per cent, of tin, which proves these daggers to be of copper, not
bronze.
It is rather paradoxical that in a cemetery which its clay contents prove
without doubt to be almost entirely of the first Middle Minoan period, these
two daggers should point to an earlier age. It seems, however, as if the tholos
at least dates from E.M. Ill, and these two daggers probably belong to the
time of its building. Chance has preserved them, while practically all the
daggers of long type, which we must suppose to have been deposited in quan-
tities in the cemetery during its subsequent use, have been looted.
(2) 1434. A tongue-shaped, two-edged dagger blade, thin and damaged by
oxidation. Instead of rivet-holes at the base there are two round notches, one
on each side. Length -09 m., breadth -027 m.
(3) 1435. A two-edged dagger blade of the long type, with rounded base.
There are two rivet-holes. Length -155 m., breadth -032 m.
1 Mosso, Origini, op. cit., p. 68, noia 1.