DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0142
PLATANOS
115
design, a rod down the centre with fan-like branches at each end, and on either the
side a hatched semicircle. cemetery
1027 (Plate XIV). From Tholos A. This is a large dome-shaped seal, IVORY SEALS
with a base design of a series of linked quatrefoils forming a regular chequer 1027
pattern. The centre of each is marked by a button, and the skeleton of each
leaf is shown by incised lines.
1028 (Plate XIV). From Tholos A. This is a stump of ivory pointed 1028
at the top. The base is covered by a number of trees, a central trunk with three
or four branches on each side, which diminish in length to the top so that each
tree fills the space of a square ; and these squares are spaced to form a regular
chequer pattern.
1047 (Plate XIV). From cell 4 of Tholos A. This consists of a . disc- 1047
like base from which rises a flattened handle-piece with arched top (broken).
The design is a network of wavy lines.
1106 (Plate XIII). This is an irregular dome with a rather complicated H<>6
meander for base-design.1
1067 (Plate XIV). This is a small dome-shaped seal with a projecting 1067
edge below separated from the dome by a groove. It is pierced horizontally.
The design, as the drawing shows, has a number of motifs, which are half effaced
and hard to make out.
It is conceivable that they are the signs of a picture alphabet, though we
have no other example of writing from Mesara.
Hemi-cylinder seems perhaps the best name for the shape of ivory seal Hemi-cyiindrical
that consists of a rectangular base, on which is the design, and a handle, often
rounded in section, projecting from one half of the back of this base along the
full length of one of the long sides.
The drawings of Nos. 1057 and 1114 on Plate XIV show the shape suffi- 1057 and nu
ciently well.
About ten seals of this form were found in Tholos B and in the outer
burials of Tholos A. They are, as Sir Arthur Evans observes,2 of particular
interest, for they correspond with an Egypto-Libyan class of seal which is
characteristic of the period from the sixth to the tenth dynasties, and they
bear geometric designs of lines crossed in a net pattern like the similar
Egyptian hemi-cylinders.3 Of the two illustrated, one has the characteristic
network of lines, and within the meshes of the net the two-lobed motif that we
have met with before (Nos. 1042 and 1087), and the other has a continuous
irregular spiral.
1074 (Plate XV). From Tholos B. This is the half of a very short 1074
cylinder split lengthways. The design is not on the ends but on the oblong
flat side, and has four scorpions debased into the familiar oval forms with
spiral tail.
1 For the Minoan meander see p. C8. 2 Evans, Palace, p. 197, fig. 145 ; Scripta Minoa, p. 129.
3 Newberry, Scarabs, figs. 46, 47, p. 59.
Seals
115
design, a rod down the centre with fan-like branches at each end, and on either the
side a hatched semicircle. cemetery
1027 (Plate XIV). From Tholos A. This is a large dome-shaped seal, IVORY SEALS
with a base design of a series of linked quatrefoils forming a regular chequer 1027
pattern. The centre of each is marked by a button, and the skeleton of each
leaf is shown by incised lines.
1028 (Plate XIV). From Tholos A. This is a stump of ivory pointed 1028
at the top. The base is covered by a number of trees, a central trunk with three
or four branches on each side, which diminish in length to the top so that each
tree fills the space of a square ; and these squares are spaced to form a regular
chequer pattern.
1047 (Plate XIV). From cell 4 of Tholos A. This consists of a . disc- 1047
like base from which rises a flattened handle-piece with arched top (broken).
The design is a network of wavy lines.
1106 (Plate XIII). This is an irregular dome with a rather complicated H<>6
meander for base-design.1
1067 (Plate XIV). This is a small dome-shaped seal with a projecting 1067
edge below separated from the dome by a groove. It is pierced horizontally.
The design, as the drawing shows, has a number of motifs, which are half effaced
and hard to make out.
It is conceivable that they are the signs of a picture alphabet, though we
have no other example of writing from Mesara.
Hemi-cylinder seems perhaps the best name for the shape of ivory seal Hemi-cyiindrical
that consists of a rectangular base, on which is the design, and a handle, often
rounded in section, projecting from one half of the back of this base along the
full length of one of the long sides.
The drawings of Nos. 1057 and 1114 on Plate XIV show the shape suffi- 1057 and nu
ciently well.
About ten seals of this form were found in Tholos B and in the outer
burials of Tholos A. They are, as Sir Arthur Evans observes,2 of particular
interest, for they correspond with an Egypto-Libyan class of seal which is
characteristic of the period from the sixth to the tenth dynasties, and they
bear geometric designs of lines crossed in a net pattern like the similar
Egyptian hemi-cylinders.3 Of the two illustrated, one has the characteristic
network of lines, and within the meshes of the net the two-lobed motif that we
have met with before (Nos. 1042 and 1087), and the other has a continuous
irregular spiral.
1074 (Plate XV). From Tholos B. This is the half of a very short 1074
cylinder split lengthways. The design is not on the ends but on the oblong
flat side, and has four scorpions debased into the familiar oval forms with
spiral tail.
1 For the Minoan meander see p. C8. 2 Evans, Palace, p. 197, fig. 145 ; Scripta Minoa, p. 129.
3 Newberry, Scarabs, figs. 46, 47, p. 59.
Seals