CRETAN ARCHAEOLOGY 2 6 9 



should be added that the hostile relations of the Hatti with Assyria began at least as 

 early as the reign of Shalmaneser I at Calah (i4th cent. B.C.). 



See J. Garstang, Land of the Hittites, 1910; and Sakjegeuzi, 2nd report in Ann. Anth. & 

 Arch., v. p. 63.. Report of Cornell Expedition to Asia Minor etc,, vol. i, pt. 2, 1911. O. Puch- 

 stein, and others, Boghazkoi, Die Bauwerke etc., 1912. F. v. Luschan and others, Ausgra- 

 bungen in Sendschirli, new parts, 1910. F. v. Reber, Stellung der Hettiter in der. Kunstge- 

 schichte, 1910. D. G. Hogarth, Carchemish and its Neighbourhood in Ann. Anih. .& Arch. 

 ii, 4, p. 165; and Hittite Problems and the Excavation of Carchemish in Proc. Brit.. Acad., v. 



(D..G. HOGARTH.) 

 CRETE x 



The principal excavations of Minoan sites in Crete since 1909 have been at Cnossus, 

 at Tylissus, at Hagia Triada, and at three points near Gournia. At Cnossus, Sir 

 Arthur Evans, assisted by Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, conducted excavations on an ex- 

 tensive scale in 1910. In the palace itself, the difficult work was attempted of placing 

 what remained of the fourth and fifth flights of the grand staircase in their original 

 position. An interesting conclusion follows from the restoration, .that the upper 

 landing of the fifth flight does not lead on to the ground floor of the central court, but 

 answers in height to what must have been the first floor of the rooms on the other 

 or western side. It must itself , therefore, have led on to some raised building, probably 

 a terrace, that ran along the eastern side of the court. On the south of the palace, 

 the huge cavity, filled with debris of pottery of the Middle Minoan I. period, which 

 had at first been thought to be a truncated beehive tomb, proved on final excavation 

 to be a cistern or reservoir. It has a circumference of 95 and depth of 56 feet and was 

 apparently supplied with water from springs in the hill itself. To within 9 feet of 

 its floor, where we may imagine was the average water level, it was accessible by a 

 spiral staircase with shallow sloping steps and a low balustrade. It must, have been 

 built in Early Minoan times, and filled in when, a solid foundation was needed for the 

 Middle Minoan Palace, 



Further progress was made with the excavation of the Little Palace, 300 yards to 

 the west of the Theatral Area, and joined to it by a paved road. Two pillar rooms were 

 here found, and two staircases, leading to upper storeys. A fresh piece of Minoan 

 road also came to light, with the ruts of the chariot wheels marked in the stone slabs, 

 The excavation, however, is obviously and dramatically unfinished, and fine Minoan 

 walls run straight into the olive grove on the hillside, while frescoes of Roman houses, 

 high above them, emerge from amid the tree roots. About half way between the 

 Palace and the sea, just north of the " Royal Tomb " at Isopata, were discovered 

 six chamber tombs, whose vases had their colours unfixed, and were clearly made 

 expressly for funeral purposes. Some of these vases were polychrome, not of the 

 Middle Minoan type, but with spirals of brilliant rose red and light blue; others were 

 covered with a resinous black, in imitation of Egyptian alabastra. One of the tombs, 

 about 20 feet square, has been christened by its discoverer, " The Tomb of the Double 

 Axes." On one side of the entrance was a raised stone platform, and in this was cut 

 the pit in which the body itself was laid. On the outer face of this platform, and 

 along the other sides of the tomb, were ledges, clearly intended for sitting on, and 

 perhaps originally furnished with benches. From the back wall. jutted out a stone 

 pier, the front of which was carved in low relief into a half column. Near the pillar, 

 and apparently fallen from the platform, lay two thin ritual double-axes, the remains 

 of a bull's head rhyton and one of the bright blue and red jars already described. 

 The axes probably stood, socketted in plaster horns of consecration, at the head of the 

 grave, and the jar was to hold libations poured from the bull's head. The ledges were 

 for the family when taking part in this memorial service. An interesting problem is 

 raised as to whether the tombs may have been reopened at intervals for a repetition 

 of such a service. 



No actual excavation was undertaken at Cnossus in 1911 and 1912, but much 

 work has been done, especially on the frescoes. A short article on the light that is 



1 See E. B. vii, 421 et seq. 



