DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0161
134
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
the minoan we have evidence in the pictures of ships on the seals of the period (such as
civilisation No. 1079, Plate XIV, from Platanos), and also in the great use made of ivory
and metal, precious stones and obsidian, all of them imports from over the sea.
The discovery of Cretan vases in Egypt is further proof, and moreover maritime
trade must have been the sole source of the great prosperity and the progress in
the arts achieved by the inhabitants of the arid, barren, rocky islet of Mochlos.
The Minoan people being naturally gifted, as they quickly showed, and
living in these favourable conditions from the neolithic age, rapidly attained
to civilisation in all its phases. In their island security they quickly out-
distanced their neighbours in the arts and crafts that mark human progress,
so that their wares became models for the other Mediterranean peoples with
whom they came in contact.
I have laid stress on analogies between the artistic products of the Minoans
of Mesara and those of contemporary or older civilisations, particularly the
Egyptian. Yet, though we admit that the Cretan went to school in Egypt
and learnt to copy the arts and crafts of the dwellers by the Nile, we must lay
equal if not greater stress on the vigour of spirit that caused him at once to
transform what he had learnt to a fashion of his own, and to put on it the stamp
of his own genius. In the working of metal, in the cutting of stone, in sculpture,
and in the fabric of faience—in every branch of handicraft the Minoan, though
he began as a copyist, shortly became the pioneer of a new point of view, the
creator of superlative works as remarkable for the freedom of their spirit as
for their artistic feeling and unrivalled technical skill. Though the impetus
that started it may have come from outside, the civilisation that thus took
form in the island struck root and bore fruit that was a true product of Cretan
soil. It was in the Later Minoan age that this fruit was to attain to its
perfection.
V. METHOD OF BURIAL IN MESARA
In all the Mesara tombs, whether vaulted or not, the same method of
burial is present. Close to each settlement vaulted tombs were built, one or
more according to its size, and the dead of the community were buried in them
over a very long period of years. Some of them contained the bodies of many
hundreds or even thousands of bodies ; in fact, they were communal vaults.
The vaulted tomb or tholos was not underground, but was visible, pro-
jecting well above the surface. Its floor was only a few inches lower than the
surrounding soil. The dead were deposited in a contracted attitude on the
natural floor of the tomb, either directly on the ground or in cists (XdpvaKes)
of wood or clay.
The low door was blocked by a large slab ; its position, always on the east
side of the tomb, may be due to some tenet of religion, or perhaps merely to
age-long conservatism. In front of each tholos was built a small sunk ante-
room through which the main chamber was entered.
method of
burial
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
the minoan we have evidence in the pictures of ships on the seals of the period (such as
civilisation No. 1079, Plate XIV, from Platanos), and also in the great use made of ivory
and metal, precious stones and obsidian, all of them imports from over the sea.
The discovery of Cretan vases in Egypt is further proof, and moreover maritime
trade must have been the sole source of the great prosperity and the progress in
the arts achieved by the inhabitants of the arid, barren, rocky islet of Mochlos.
The Minoan people being naturally gifted, as they quickly showed, and
living in these favourable conditions from the neolithic age, rapidly attained
to civilisation in all its phases. In their island security they quickly out-
distanced their neighbours in the arts and crafts that mark human progress,
so that their wares became models for the other Mediterranean peoples with
whom they came in contact.
I have laid stress on analogies between the artistic products of the Minoans
of Mesara and those of contemporary or older civilisations, particularly the
Egyptian. Yet, though we admit that the Cretan went to school in Egypt
and learnt to copy the arts and crafts of the dwellers by the Nile, we must lay
equal if not greater stress on the vigour of spirit that caused him at once to
transform what he had learnt to a fashion of his own, and to put on it the stamp
of his own genius. In the working of metal, in the cutting of stone, in sculpture,
and in the fabric of faience—in every branch of handicraft the Minoan, though
he began as a copyist, shortly became the pioneer of a new point of view, the
creator of superlative works as remarkable for the freedom of their spirit as
for their artistic feeling and unrivalled technical skill. Though the impetus
that started it may have come from outside, the civilisation that thus took
form in the island struck root and bore fruit that was a true product of Cretan
soil. It was in the Later Minoan age that this fruit was to attain to its
perfection.
V. METHOD OF BURIAL IN MESARA
In all the Mesara tombs, whether vaulted or not, the same method of
burial is present. Close to each settlement vaulted tombs were built, one or
more according to its size, and the dead of the community were buried in them
over a very long period of years. Some of them contained the bodies of many
hundreds or even thousands of bodies ; in fact, they were communal vaults.
The vaulted tomb or tholos was not underground, but was visible, pro-
jecting well above the surface. Its floor was only a few inches lower than the
surrounding soil. The dead were deposited in a contracted attitude on the
natural floor of the tomb, either directly on the ground or in cists (XdpvaKes)
of wood or clay.
The low door was blocked by a large slab ; its position, always on the east
side of the tomb, may be due to some tenet of religion, or perhaps merely to
age-long conservatism. In front of each tholos was built a small sunk ante-
room through which the main chamber was entered.
method of
burial