564 



NA TURE 



[October 6, 1904 



and " Peoples of the Isles of the Sea " on Egyptian monu- 

 ments of the sixteenth century n.c. ; and the royal tomb 

 at Knossos contains alabaster vessels of early eighteenth 

 dynasty date. But the " Palace style " must itself repre- 

 sent a considerable period of development, and its earlier 

 phases must go back at least a century earlier. LaXe 

 Mittoan II. may thus extend from about 1700 B.C. to 

 1500 B.C., corresponding with the Mycenaean shaft graves, 

 and at Knossos with the later Class B of the Palace archives 

 in linear script. 



Late Minoan I., an earlier stage of the later Palace, 

 marked off by an extensive catastrophe, is clearly shown 

 in the " Temple Repositories " as an age of ceramic transi- 

 tion with naturalistic art at its highest perfection, and 

 Class A of the linear script. The elaborate lid with 

 King Khyan's name, and a monument of thirteenth dynasty 

 period, date this stratum between 1900 e.g. and 1700 i.e. 



The Middle Minoan age is especially characterised by the 

 polychrome style of vase-painting on a dark ground, and 

 by the conventionalised pictographic script which precedes 

 the linear. In Middle Minoan III. the polychrome is 

 degenerate, and naturalism, in reliefs and on gems, is 

 growing ; and it is in Middle Minoan II. that the poly- 

 chrome (formerly " Kamares ") style reaches its acme. 

 The beginning of this stage is approximately dated by 

 Egyptian motives on the seal-stones, and by the sherds found 

 by Prof. Petrie in the rubbish-heaps of Kahun, dating from 

 the time of Usertesen II. of the twelfth dynasty (2300 B.C. 

 ace. to Lepsius ; Petrie and others say nearly 2700 B.C.). 

 In any case the Cretan evidence excludes the recent theory 

 which makes the twelfth dynasty border on the eighteenth. 

 Middle Minoan I. is also represented among the Kahun 

 sherds (which thus give a precise upper limit for Middle 

 Minoan II.), and mounts back at least to the middle, and 

 perhaps (on Petrie 's chronology) to the beginning of the 

 third millennium. 



Beyond this lies the long Early Minoan cvcle of nascent 

 culture, with geometrical decoration and ornament, 

 generally dark on a light ground, though the dark glaze 

 slip itself goes back to the confines of the Neolithic. Raised 

 decoration on the surface of the clay is also abundant, and 

 the hand-polished, dark-faced Neolithic ware survives 

 throughout. The painted decoration also betrays the in- 

 fluence of the earlier incised designs. A section opened 

 below the pavement of the west court shows a distinct 

 stratification of floor levels of this period, of which the 

 earliest (sub-Neolithic) shows incipient light-ground tech- 

 nique, improved Neolithic fabrics, and the first spiral orna- 

 ments, carved or incised, the prototypes, probably Cycladic 

 m origin, of the later painted spirals. Early Minoan seal- 

 stones show adaptation of seventh dynasty motives, and 

 vases of syenite, &c., betray intercourse with dynasties I. 

 to IV., while imported black ware from the first dynasty 

 layer at .Abydos is indistinguishable from that of sub- 

 Neolithic Knossos. Comparison of Neolithic with Minoan 

 rates of accumulation of debris gives a probable antiquity 

 for Knossos of 12,000 years in all. 



Discussion was opened bv Prof. Ridgeway, who agreed 

 with the proposed chronology as far back as" the beginning 

 of the eighteenth dynasty, but was not satisfied in regard 

 to the twelfth and beyond. The name " Mycenjean " was 

 no longer^ appropriate in a generic sense,' but the term 



Minoan " was open to a similar objection when applied 

 to a period so long and early. His chronological objections 

 were supported in detail by Mr. J. Garstang. Lord Ave- 

 bury, on the other hand, expressed himself prepared for 

 even longer periods in prehistoric chronology, and Prof. 

 •Sayce agreed that the interval between dynasties XII. 

 and XVm., though archaeologically a blank in Egypt, 

 may have been a long one. Dr. Kabbadias and Mr. 

 Hogarth discussed the relations in which Minoan culture 

 stands to Hellenic, the former laying stress on the 

 sociological differences, the latter on the continuity in 

 artistic essentials. 



Dr. Evans, in reply, agreed as to the large element of 

 survival from Minoan to Hellenic time, but laid stress on 

 the evidence for the introduction of a fresh ethnic element 

 in the interval. Mr. Garstang's criticisms did not affect 

 the proof that the respective stages of Minoan and Egyptian 

 NO. 1823, VOL. 70] 



culture synchronised at the points indicated in his classifi- 

 cation. ' 



Other papers on Cretan archa-ology followed. 



.Mr. R. M. Dawkins described the painted vases of the 

 Bronze age from Palaikastro, in eastern Crete, with special 

 reference to the styles of decoration, to whic'i Dr. Evans's 

 Knossian classification is applicable at all important points. 



Mr. R. C. Bosanquet reported progress in the British 

 School's excavations at Heleia (Palaikastro) and Praisos ; 

 a late Mycenaean palace has been excavated, and the main 

 street further explored, with the adjacent houses ; more 

 middle Minoan ossuaries have been opened, and also a very 

 early burial-place near Kastri, and a later cemetery with 

 larnax-burials. .\ steatite libation-table yielded an inscrip- 

 tion of seventeen Minoan characters. Within the Minoan 

 town a shattered Hellenic sanctuary contained a slab in- 

 scribed in letters of Roman date with an archaic Doric 

 hymn in honour of Young Zeus. This identifies the site 

 with the temple of Zeus Diktaios, and consequently the 

 plain of Palaikastro with the classical place Heleia. At 

 Praisos the west face of the Altar Hill has yielded frag- 

 ments of architecture and inscriptions from a sanctuary on 

 the summit, among them a fresh document of the Eteocretan 

 language in Hellenic characters of the third or fourth 

 century B.C. 



.Sir Richard Jebb gave a rendering of the hymn to Zeus, 

 and discussed its allusions to the Curetes and their cult, 

 adding a suggestion (based on Plato, Laws 624 A) as to 

 the "nine-year" legend of Minoan legislation; and Prof. 

 R. S. Conway discussed the linguistic character of the 

 Eteocretan language in the light of the new inscription 

 from Praisos, which confirms previous results, and indicates 

 an Indo-European type. 



.Mr. R. C. Bosanquet described a find of copper ingots 

 at Chalcis, in Euboea, nineteen in number, and of a 

 characteristic Bronze age form already known from Crete, 

 Cyprus, and Sardinia. The source of supply was probablv 

 in Othrys, while Chalcis was the chief emporium. The 

 bronze axe-heads frequently found hoarded in the .(^igean 

 (e.g. recently in Othrys itself) have shaft-holes too small 

 for use, and may be currency. The memory survived in 

 the Cretan expression " axe " for a fraction of a talent. 



Prof. Oscar Montelius gave a well illustrated description 

 of the geometric period in Greece, which succeeds the 

 Mycensean (late Minoan) in Hellas and the ^gean, though 

 apparently not in Asia Minor. He rejects the view that the 

 geometric style is derived from countries north of Greece, 

 holding that its characteristic motives appear earlier in 

 Greece than in the north. He regards it as a modified 

 continuation of the Mycenjean style, not due merelv to the 

 migration of the Dorians (as it is well marked in Attica, 

 which they did not conquer), but mainly to the expulsion 

 of the Tyrrhenian or Pelasgian foreigners, to whom he 

 attributes the Mycenaean culture. He dates the geometric 

 period between the twelfth and the close of the eighth 

 century, and divides it into the three stages marked by the 

 Dipylon, Phaleron, and pre-Corinthian types of vases. 



Other Archaeological Papers. 



Prof. Valdemar Schmidt, of Copenhagen, summarised the 

 latest discoveries in prehistoric science in Denmark. The 

 musical properties of the famous Bronze age trumpets in 

 the Copenhagen Museum have been re-discovered, and are 

 utilised annually. An earlier period has been established 

 in the Danish Stone age than those of the " kitchen- 

 middens " and the dolmens; for a peat bog in W. Zeeland, 

 near Mullerey Harbour, yields implements of early types 

 which were dropped by the inhabitants of floating " raft- 

 dwellings." Examination of the impressions of corn grains 

 in prehistoric pottery has established the kinds of wheat 

 and barley which were cultivated at different periods. 

 .Systematic archsological survey has established the true 

 distribution of tumuli and other monuments. The tumuli 

 follow lines which avoid swamps, converge on fords, and 

 otherwise betray themselves as roads, and offer valuable 

 clues for the location of settlements along them. 



Miss Nina Layard's further excavations on a Palaeolithic 

 site in Ipswich determined a Palceolithic floor sloping to 

 the margin of a former lake, all now buried 8 feet to 12 feet 



