TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 817 



2. Excavations at Knossos in Crete.^ By A. J. Evaxs, 31. A., D. Litt., FM.S. 



See Reports, p. 402. 



3. Exploration in the East of Crete. ^ By R. C. Bosanquet, M.A. 



The fourth Cretan campai}?ii of the British School at Atliens lasted from 

 March to June 1903. The headquarters of the expedition were again at Paheo- 

 ha.stro on the east coast. The work done may be summarised as follows: — 



1. The e.vcavation of the settlement discovered last year at Roussolakkos was 

 continued with the help of Mr. M. N. Tod and Mr. R. M. Dawkins. Jt proves to 

 be a considerable town, regularly laid out in streets and blocks. The streets are 

 narrow from 5 to 12 feet wide, well paved, -with a raised footpath at one side and 

 a deep gutter at the other. One main street has been cleared for over 1.50 yards. 

 Each bbck has a frontao;e of from 120 to 180 feet, and contains three or more 

 houses. The general plan of the town and parts of the houses date from the 

 latter part of the Kamares period, but there was extensive rebuilding during the 

 Mycen^an period. House-fronts in u.shlar masonry, bath-rooms, drainage arrange- 

 ments and a great variety of domestic utensils, indicate widespread prosperity 

 and comfort. The inhabitants had wheat and peas ; they made oil and probably 

 wine. They imported obsidian from Melos, green porphyry from the Peloponnese, 

 and liparite from the Lipari Islands. Their wealth was probably derived from 

 trade with Egypt. 



Marine designs, such as rocks, corals and seaweed, shells and cuttlefish, pre- 

 dominate on the Mycensean vases found this year. The yield of pottery was 

 exceptionally large ; Mr. C. T. Currelly has made coloured drawings of the finer 

 specimens. 



2. The ossuaries outside the town were further excavated by Mr. W. L. H. 

 Duckworth whose report on the skulls and bones from them was read on 



Thursday. 



3. The surrounding region was explored. A pre-Mycen.iean sanctuary was 

 discovered on the hill of Petsofa, above the town, and remains of an equally early 

 purple-factory on the island of Koufonisi ; the former will be described by Mr. 

 J. L. Myres,"the latter by Mr. Bosanquet ; Mr. 0. T. Currelly took part in both 

 investigations. Caves and rock-shelters were examined in the limestone plateau 

 of the interior, and a Mycensean farmstead was excavated at KouramiSno. 



4. The physical characteristics of the present population were studied by 

 Mr. Duckworth, and their dialect by Mr. Dawkins. 



4. An Early Purple-fishery} By R. C. Bosanquet, M.A. 



Leuke the 'White Isle' (modern Kouphonisi), off the south-east coast of 

 Crete, was an important fishing-station in antiquity. The tithes levied on the 

 catch' of fish and of purple-shell, mentioned in an inscription of about 350 i.e., 

 must have been very profitable, for the po.ssession of the island was the subject of 

 a long and bitter dispute among three neighbouring cities. 



Last May the island was explored by Mr. C. T. Currelly and the writer. 

 Amono' sand-hills on the north shore they found a bank of shells, some whole but 

 mostly' crushed, of the variety Murex truncu/us, which is known to have been used 

 in the manufacture of the purple dye. Scattered through the heap were frag- 

 ments of pottery and of a stratile bowl which marked it as not only prre-Hellenic 

 but pras -Phoenician. Further digging within a few yards of the heap brought to 

 lio-ht characteristic Cretan vases of the Kamares type and the foundations of a house. 



The evidence shews thau the extraction of the purple-juice was practised in 



' To be publishec' ra:"'e fully in the Annttal of the British School of Archceology 

 at Athens, ix. 



1903. 3 G 



