AEGEAN CIVILISATION 27 i 



in IQIO 156 pithoi, a few of which date from the Middle Minoan I. period, but most 

 from Middle Minoan III. and Late Minoan I. The pithoi rarely contained anything 

 but bones arid an occasional seal-stone. The body was trussed up like a fowl, with 

 the knees under the chin and the arms folded tight. It was thrust into the jar head 

 foremost, and the jar was then placed in the ground upside down. Some of the jars 

 were painted, but the greater number were a tall slender type of unpainted jar, with 

 a base so small that they were top heavy and could not stand upright without support. 

 A few Early Minoan burials that were found on the same site, though often disturbed 

 by the later pithoi, were sufficiently preserved to show that they were originally as 

 rich as the great graves of that epoch found by Mr. Seager at Mochlos. 



A hill about five miles west of Gournia called Vrokastro, short for Hebraiokastro, 

 of Jews Castle, was excavated in 1910 by Miss Edith Hall and in 1912 by Miss Hall in 

 company with Mr. Seager. In the latter year a settlement was found in the valley 

 below, and seems to have existed there from the Early Minoan age; but the chief 

 remains, dating from Late Minoan III. and the Geometric age, were found on an 

 extraordinarily steep peak overlooking the sea, almost inaccessible except on the south 

 or land side. The chief point of interest is that the transition between Late Minoan 

 III. to Geometric is made without any definite break or direct signs of a racial change. 



On the other side of Gournia, south of Kavousi and just north-east of Vasiliki, 

 there is a steep gorge above the village of Monasteraki. High up on the north side 

 of the gorge itself, called by the appropriate name of Chaos, a narrow arid precipitous 

 path leads to some ledges, on which are ruins of ancient walls, called Katalumata. 

 Mr. Seager conducted a small excavation here in 1911, which showed that the spot was 

 used as a place of refuge from the earliest times onwards. The actual remains of 

 the walls seem to be of Late Minoan III. date, but Early Minoan III., Middle Min- 

 oan I. and Late Minoan I. potsherds were all found there. These excavations in 

 East Crete have not yet been published, and their description here is due to the kind- 

 ness of Mr. Seager and a personal visit to the sites. 



If we turn to the classical period, the discovery of a 5th century Doric metope of 

 Herakles and the Calydonian boar ( Times Nov. 16, 1910) on the high ground 

 west of the Little Palace of Cnossus promises well for future excavation. Prof. Halb- 

 herr has excavated at Lebena, the harbour of Gortyna. At Gortyna itself he has 

 diverted the millstream which flowed by the great inscription of the Laws, discovered 

 in 1884, and is exploring the neighbouring buildings. 



Authorities. The only final publication of Minoan Excavations that appeared during 

 1910-12 is R. B. Seager's Explorations in the Island of Mochlos (American School of Classical 

 Studies at Athens, Boston and New York, 1912). See further G. Karo's introduction to a 

 2me serie of G. Maraghianis's Photographs of Antiquities Cretoises (Candie); A. Mosso's 

 The 'Dawn of Mediterranean Civilisation (Tr. Fisher Unwin, 1910); R. Dussaud's Les 

 Civilisations Prehelleniques (Paris, 1910); E. Reisinger's Kretische Vasenmalerei (Berlin, 

 1912); and the 3rd and illustrated edition of R. M. Burrows's The Discoveries in Crete 

 (]. Murray, 1913). "The Hymn of the Kouretes" discovered at Palaikastro in 1904 has 

 been published by R. C. Bosanquet, G. A. Murray and J. E. Harrison in Annual of British 

 School at Athens, Vol. xv. (R. M. BURROWS.) 



AEGEAN CIVILISATION 1 



Since 1910 there has been much new discovery in the field of ancient Aegean civilisa- 

 tion, and more has been learned about older discoveries, riot only in Crete (see above) 

 but also in the Greek islands, on the Greek mainland, and in Asia Minor. Among the 

 Greek Islands, Phylakopi (Melos) has been re-examined by the British Athenian School 

 and a further landward part of the site has been excavated. The distinction of periods 

 and classification of pottery confirm those arrived at by the previous diggers. Some 

 graves containing L.M. Ill ware have been opened on Leukas by Dorpfeld and held by 

 him to support his theory that here was the Homeric " Ithaca." On the Greek main- 

 land important remains of L.M. frescoes have been found by the German Institute at 

 Tiryns, and the pre-Hellenic Argos, explored by Vollgraf and others, has yielded a local 



1 See E. B. i, 245 et seq. 



