TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 79? 



I 



during this later period with other decorative types from the Egypt of the Middle 

 Kingdom, where it had iilready attained a high development. 



The Neolithic stratum of Knossos itself actually underlay later buildings 

 belonging to three distinct prehistoric classes : — 



1. The ' Kamares,' or Early Metal age Period of Crete, illustrated by the '•on- 

 tents of some of the earlier bouses. The painted pottery iu these was iu some 

 cases a mere translation into colour of the incised and punctuated Neolithic designs. 

 This period is approximately dated from the relics found in the Ilagios Onuphrios 

 deposit and the Cretan vase fragments found in Jtgypt in a Xllth Dynasty associa- 

 tion from c. 2800 to 2200 B.C. 



2. The Transitional Period, between the ' Kamares ' age and the Mycenaean. It 

 is probable that the earliest elements of the Palace itself belong to this period, 

 including an Egyptian monument ascribed to the close of the Xllth or Early 

 Xlllth Dyuasty/c. 2000 B.C. 



0. The Mycensean Period proper, the flourishing epoch of which is approxi- 

 mately fixed by the correspondence of some of the wall paintings with those 

 representing the Keftiu on Egyptian tombs, c. 1550 B.C. 



Considering the distinct gap in development which still separates the latest 

 elements of the culture represented by the Neolithic stratum of Knossos from the 

 fully developed Kamares style, it would be rash to bring down the lowest limits of 

 the settlement later than about 3000 B.C. On the other hand, the great depth of 

 the deposit must carry its higher limit back to a very much more remote date. 

 The continued exploration of the Neolithic remains of Knossos is necessary for the 

 full elucidation of many of the problems suggested by these discoveries. 



8. Explorations at Zakro in Eastern Crflte. By D. G. Hogarth, M.A. 



The excavation at Zakro in East Crete has been concluded so recently that I 

 must confine myself to a plain statement of the raw material rendered available 

 for study thereby. In estimating the final result it will be necessary to take 

 account of positive and negative evidence, not yet to hand from two other East 

 Cretan sites, lately excavated, Praesos and Gorynia. Zakro lies iu the south- 

 eastern angle of the island, and was chosen for research because it falls in tl\e 

 Eteocretan country, anciently reputed to be inhabited by aborigines, and because 

 its safe bay must always have been a main port of call for craft sailing between the 

 ^Egean coasts and Africa. The small plain of Zakro, entirely hemmed in by rugged 

 hills, is full of early remains, beginning in the later pre-Mycensean period and 

 ending with the close of the age of bronze. No implements of iron were found in 

 it at all, and no Hellenic pottery. The town, therefore, owed its existence to a com- 

 merce which ceased or passed elsewhere from the Geometric age onward. The 

 earliest settlement was on a rugged spur ; and although almost all trace of its 

 structures have disappeared, it has left abundant evidence of itself in the contents 

 of a pit about eighteen feet deep. This was found half-full of broken vases in 

 stone and claj^ largely of the singular ' Kamares ' class, not previously found in 

 Eastern Crete. These, however, are mainly of a highly developed technique, and 

 their commonest schemes of ornament reappear unchanged on vases of distinctively 

 ' Mycenaean ' fabric. In fact, Kamares shapes and decoration are more closely 

 related to Mycenaean at Zakro than had been suspected. But the absence of both 

 neolithic antecedents and the earlier kinds of painted ware from this site suggests 

 that its civilisation did not develop ou the spot, but was brought by colonists, 

 perhaps partly Cretan, partly foreign. The fine quality of ware in this pit and the 

 fact that, though of various periods, it was apparently all thi'own in at one 

 moment leads me to suspect that the pit contained the clearings of an early 

 shrine. 



At a later period the settlement extended over a lower spur nearer the sea, 

 and there very massive and large houses were ei'ected and inhabited till the verge 

 of the Geometric period. Their outer walls are Cyclopean, but their inner parti- 

 tions are of bricks of unusual size. Complete plans were obtained of two of the 



