DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0162
INTERPRETATIVE
135
In addition to these large tholoi smaller rectangular tombs were built close method of
to them, and used either to supplement them when full, or possibly for a lower burial
class of person.
There were also by the tholoi some small hut-like buildings in which
sepulchral gifts only were found, vases mainly, of stone or clay, and these
of a date subsequent to that of the tholoi. The clearest example of this
was at the tholos of Hagia Triada, but Koumasa and Drakones also showed it
to a less extent. If we assume that libations were made to the dead by their
descendants, then we can explain these later vases by supposing that they are
the vessels used for the purpose and kept in the huts in readiness. And I think
the same explanation must serve for the hundreds of small stone pots found
in the walled trench outside Tholos A at Platanos.
The dead were buried, that is, they were placed in the burial chamber
unburnt, for I have not found any certain evidence of the burnings of a body
in any of the tombs that I have excavated. It is true that in certain tholoi,
particularly in Tholos B at Koumasa, in Tholos IT at Porti, and in Tholos A
at Platanos, I observed on the floor inside quite certain marks made by a fire
of great heat. In places the floor was burnt almost to terracotta, and stones
were split by the heat. In the Porti tholos almost the whole of the thick
burial stratum was blackened by the fire and smoke, and many of the skulls
and bones (of which I took samples to the Museum at Candia) were made quite
black. Yet other scholars' examination of these remains has confirmed my
view that there is no case of burning the body at burial. The fire came later,
and the bones turned black from exposure to the heat and smoke at close
quarters.
What was the purpose of lighting these fires inside the tholoi ? Frankly
we do not know. It might have been to obtain light, or to fumigate the tomb
from the flavour of death, or for a funeral sacrifice or feast. Yet no one of
these suggested reasons would have necessitated so large a fire.
Many archaeologists have already suggested that the circular shape of
the tholos is a survival of the round prehistoric hut. Originally, that is, the
Minoan's house in death had the same form as his house in life. And after the
rectangular house plan had been devised in the neolithic age and had gradually
supplanted the circular form, the sanctity of age-long custom secured the
survival of this primitive form of house for the dead as something sacred and
holy handed down by the ancestors of the race. Yet it did not hold the field
unchallenged, for in tombs, too, the rectangular form made its appearance
early in the Early Minoan period. This is the general explanation of the exist-
ence side by side with the rectangular house of the circular tomb, which continued
to be used throughout the whole length of the Minoan and Mycenaean age.
The wonderful vaulted tombs of the late Mycenaean age on the mainland
at Mycenae and elsewhere find their prototype in the tholoi of Mesara and are
a standing example of the enormous progress made in this type of building.
135
In addition to these large tholoi smaller rectangular tombs were built close method of
to them, and used either to supplement them when full, or possibly for a lower burial
class of person.
There were also by the tholoi some small hut-like buildings in which
sepulchral gifts only were found, vases mainly, of stone or clay, and these
of a date subsequent to that of the tholoi. The clearest example of this
was at the tholos of Hagia Triada, but Koumasa and Drakones also showed it
to a less extent. If we assume that libations were made to the dead by their
descendants, then we can explain these later vases by supposing that they are
the vessels used for the purpose and kept in the huts in readiness. And I think
the same explanation must serve for the hundreds of small stone pots found
in the walled trench outside Tholos A at Platanos.
The dead were buried, that is, they were placed in the burial chamber
unburnt, for I have not found any certain evidence of the burnings of a body
in any of the tombs that I have excavated. It is true that in certain tholoi,
particularly in Tholos B at Koumasa, in Tholos IT at Porti, and in Tholos A
at Platanos, I observed on the floor inside quite certain marks made by a fire
of great heat. In places the floor was burnt almost to terracotta, and stones
were split by the heat. In the Porti tholos almost the whole of the thick
burial stratum was blackened by the fire and smoke, and many of the skulls
and bones (of which I took samples to the Museum at Candia) were made quite
black. Yet other scholars' examination of these remains has confirmed my
view that there is no case of burning the body at burial. The fire came later,
and the bones turned black from exposure to the heat and smoke at close
quarters.
What was the purpose of lighting these fires inside the tholoi ? Frankly
we do not know. It might have been to obtain light, or to fumigate the tomb
from the flavour of death, or for a funeral sacrifice or feast. Yet no one of
these suggested reasons would have necessitated so large a fire.
Many archaeologists have already suggested that the circular shape of
the tholos is a survival of the round prehistoric hut. Originally, that is, the
Minoan's house in death had the same form as his house in life. And after the
rectangular house plan had been devised in the neolithic age and had gradually
supplanted the circular form, the sanctity of age-long custom secured the
survival of this primitive form of house for the dead as something sacred and
holy handed down by the ancestors of the race. Yet it did not hold the field
unchallenged, for in tombs, too, the rectangular form made its appearance
early in the Early Minoan period. This is the general explanation of the exist-
ence side by side with the rectangular house of the circular tomb, which continued
to be used throughout the whole length of the Minoan and Mycenaean age.
The wonderful vaulted tombs of the late Mycenaean age on the mainland
at Mycenae and elsewhere find their prototype in the tholoi of Mesara and are
a standing example of the enormous progress made in this type of building.