Knossos: The archaic gap

The Annual of the British School at Athens

Volumn 94, Issue , 1999, Pages 289-307

  Coldstream, J N ^a   Huxley, G L ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN   (Ireland)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85010126218     PISSN: 00682454     EISSN: 20452403     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0068245400000605     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. P. Demargne, La Crète dédalique (Paris. 1947), 348-53; T. J. Dunbabin, Gnomon, 24 (1952), 195-7: J. K. Brock, Fortetsa, 219 n. 2; J. Boardman, The Cretan Collection in Oxford (Oxford, 1961). 148 : M. S. F. Hood, KS 2 18-19; J. N. Coldstream in D. Musti and A Sacconi (eds), La transizione del Miceneo all'Alto arcaismo: dal palazzo alla città (CNR: Rome, 1991), 297-9: G. L. Huxley in KLH 128-9. For a recent pan-Cretan treatment of the 6th-c. gap see M. Prent. Caeculus: Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, Groningen University, 3 (1996-1997), 35-46. Here we make no attempt to cover the whole island, but concentrate on the state of Knossos and its terntory.
2. KNC 712-23.
3. KNC 1-52.
4. H. G. G. Payne. BSA 29 (1927-1928), 224-31.
5. Brock, Fortetsa. 1-5 fig. 2.
6. E.g. BSA 76 (1981), 141-65 = KS 2 nos. 323, 325, 328.
7. Briefly mentioned as ‘Geometric’ by E. J. Forsdyke, BSA 28 (1926-1927), 248, 234, 260, 277. In 1997 JNC examined the ‘Geometric’ pottery from these tombs, now stored in the Stratigraphical Museum, amounting to 21 vessels, all of which are of the 7th e. These will be published in a forthcoming article in BSA 95 (2000).
8. J. H. Musgrave in KNC 681. This detail seems to have escaped the notice of one reviewer of KNC, who classes the notion of the Knossian family tomb among ‘old ideas maintaining their hold over new facts’ (J. Whitley, AJA 102 1998), 613).
9. K. Davaras, BSA 63 (1968), 133-46.
10. A. Lembesi, PAE 1970 (1972), 270-97.
11. Fortetsa, 99 no. 1144, pl. 76; p. 214.
12. KNC figs. 81. 2. 88 (East Greek): pl. 110. T. 56.2 Corinthiain): pl. 158. T. 107, 127 (urn lid with Daedalic head).
13. W. G. Cavanagh in KNC 660-2 ill. 10.
14. e.g. in Fortetsa, esp. Tomb P (p. 101): Gypsades. BSA 76 (1981). 143.
15. KNC 243, on the final burials in tile unplundered tomb 285.
16. The EO and LO deposits are listed in UM ii. 87: add those from the South-West House area, under n. 18.
17. J. N. Coldstream and C. E. Macdonaid, BSA 92 (1997), 194, 197-9, 200-2, 213-22: deposits F (EO kiln), G and H stratified EO and EO LO layers in area of roadway and J (EO reoccupation of Minoan house).
18. KSD 12.
19. KSD 57-8 nos 1-4: 57-8 nos. 259-65.
20. R. A. Higgins, KSD 182: 89-90 nos. 252-8.
21. KSD 58 nos. 5-10.
22. KSD 117-18 nos. 19-23. 26 9 (beads): 145-8 nos. 115-33 (bronze pins): 153-4 nos 187-91 bronze fibulae: 169 no. 304 bone fibula with birds.
23. Evans, PM ii. 5-7.
24. BSA 31 (1930-1931). 108 fig. 334. On the date, Higgins ap. Popham, BSA 73 (1978), 185 n. 34, p. 27 a. On the Geometric pottery, BSA 31 (1930-1931). 92 BSA 73 (1978), 186.
25. E. Fabricius, AM 11 (1886), 142, pl. 3. top left: ‘gleichfalls bei den Ausgrabungen auf dem Kephala’. This vessel looks later than the series of the bird askoi from the North Cemetery dating from LPG until EG (KNC 366-7): the gear pattern on the bird's back suggests the MG phase. This askos is known only from a drawing, having perished with the rest of Kalokairinos's collection in the destruction of his house during the war of 1899. E. Hallager (The Mycenaean Palace at Knossos, Stockholm, 1977), 85, fig. 59 a assumes the findspot to have been in the West Magazines, but Dr K. Kopaka has kindly informed me that this vase could have been found anywhere on the Kephala hill.
26. JHS 56 (1936), 150 : cf. AM 31 (1906), pl. 23.
27. Fortetsa, 5: KNC 722 and Site Plan (vol. III).
28. KNC 722.
29. e.g. KNC 73, T. 24.1, Ionian cup in upper fill of dromos; T. 126.11. EC oinochoe fr., unstratified; 139, T.104.103, local amphora of c. 600 from chamber floor, indicating ‘a major disturbance of this otherwise pre-O complex’ (H. W. Catling). In addition, sherds of Attic BF were found in the fills above Tombs 24, 26, 30, 106, and 208.
30. JHS 57 (1937), 137-8.
31. BSA 68 (1973), 33-4, 46.
32. UM ii. 85.
33. AR 31 (1985), 124, 127.
34. BSA 92 (1997), 240.
35. BSA 73 (1978), 49-60.
36. UM ii. 79, GH 126-37, pl. 73.
37. UM ii. 6. 75, 83-6; on the cups cf. p. 93 (P. J. Callaghan).
38. Callaghan in UM ii. 133 and KLH 133.
39. Tocra, i. 78-80. nos. 921-31, pls. 55-6: Tocra ii. 36-8. nos. 2102-8. The ease for a South Cretan origin was presented in BSA 68 (1973). 46-7.
40. KSD 53, K 5-6 (pottery). 59. no. 1 1 (clay figurine), 156, no. 210 (bronze), 175-6. no. 360 (faience). In Higgins's view, other clay figurines that may fall within our Archaic gap are his no. 6 (post-Daedalic head) and 90-1, 262-5, various animals, ‘seventh or sixth centuries’.
41. Of the ‘fifth-century’ tomb excavated by Payne in Fortetsa village containing ‘Attic pottery and a limestone palmette from a stele’ (KS 2 no. 51) nothing further is known.
42. Tomb V. Fortetsa, 26-7, no. 258, pl. 17. Above Tomb IX four Late Archaic vases appear to have been absorbed into Early Hellenistic pit graves: Fortetsa, 29. nos. 256-9, pl. 21.
43. Fortetsa, 5: KNC 55, 722.
44. Boardman, BSA 67 (1962), 28-30, pls. 2-3: cf. Hood KS 2 35-6 under no. 24. Of the other Archaic objects presented in Boardman's article, the only piece that falls within our Archaic gap is a relief pithos fragment from Evans's collection, not certainly from Knossos: Of the ‘fifth-century’ tomb excavated by Payne in Fortetsa village containing ‘Attic pottery and a limestone palmette from a stele’. 31-2, pl. 4. Part of a Late Archaic limestone relief (sphinx?), Of the ‘fifth-century’ tomb excavated by Payne in Fortetsa village containing ‘Attic pottery and a limestone palmette from a stele’. 30, pl. 3 c, may be from an early tomb in the cemetery under the Venizeleion, otherwise reported as Roman (KS 2 no. 72).
45. BSA 68 (1973), 45-61.
46. BSA 92 (1997), 199-200 fig. 4. 222-7, 240-2. Deposit K.
47. UM ii. 90-2. Deposits H 1-4.
48. BSA 92 (1997), 199 (fig. 4), 228-30, 242. Deposits L. M. N. O.
49. BSA 92 (1997), 244 intrusive blocks in South-West House, 192, fig. 1, right.
50. KSD 68-70 nos. 61-70, hydrophoroi: 77-80 nos. 142-68, seated goddesses (cf. p. 184). The figurines in Higgins’ catalogue were selected from a corpus of over a thousand fragments.
51. M. Jarman in KSD 177-9: Nb also the marble pig, pl. 77 a.
52. KSD 24-5 nos. 8-11 (5th-c. lamps): 186 (open-air nocturnal ritual continuing even into Roman times).
53. KSD 131-3 no. 14, fig. 29: 182. We accept H. van Effenterre's minor correction to the text (JHS 96 (1976), 154 10.2307/631233).
54. KSD 6. 12-14. figs. 10-11, pls. 4-5.
55. Evans, PM ii. 5-7, 346, 349.
56. Callaghan ap. Popham, BSA 73 (1978). 186-7, pl. 27 b.
57. BSA 92 (1997), 244.
58. S. Benton, JHS 57 (1937), 38-43 10.2307/626102, pl. 3. KS 2 no. 132.
59. BSA 68 (1973), 60 nos. 117-18, pl. 25. On the date see N. Winter, Greek Architectural Terracottas from the Prehistoric to the End of the Archaic Period (Oxford, 1993), 288, pl. 114.
60. BSA 92 (1997), 227 no. 80; 243 (H. W. Catling).
61. Callaghan, BSA 71 (1976), 1-30.
62. BSA 92, 26.
63. In the sanctuaries ol Corinth, Perachora, the Argive Heraion, and Tegea, the practice of dedicating miniature pots began well back in the 7th-c.; see most recently M. E. Voyatzis, The Early Sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea (Göteborg, 1990), 79-82. with references.
64. P. Demargne, BCH 61 (1936), 10-13.
65. J. Demargne, BCH 17 (1901), 282-307 10.3406/bch.1901.3388 and 19 (1903), 206-32; R. E. Wycherley, How the Greeks Built Cities (London, 1962), 51-5 fig. 10.
66. BSA 67 (1972), 77, 81-5, Deposits D and E.
67. KS 2 42 no. 111. with references.
68. IC i. 36 no. 2 with part of a law (see under KS 2 no. 112): JHS 73 (1933), 126-7 (= KS 2 no. 118), Archaic inscription.
69. For discussion see A. Chaniotis in Amnisos 79-83. In historical times the Knossian harbour is likely to have been at Herakleion. where PG sherds were found near the sea shore: AD 23 (1968), B 429.
70. Amnisos, 288-9, i 1. pl. 114. 1.
71. P. Brize in Amnisos 254-73: cf. L. Adams, Orientalizing Sculpture in Soft Limestone. (BAR supp. vol. 42; Oxford, 1978), 85-91.
72. J. Schäfer in Amnisos 182-3, drawing attention also to two reused kymation blocks of this period: pl. 34.2-3.
73. Schäfer. J. Schäfer in Amnisos 182-3.
74. For the Early Iron Age pottery sequence presented in Amnisos (V. Stürmer, pp. 226-48) some additional comparisons with Knossos may help to date the earliest and latest pieces. Earliest: D, 2. a14. p. 236, pl. 70. 3, body fr. of hydria with bracket motifs on shoulder and belly. SM-PG: cf. BSA 67 (1972). 68. A 1. fig. 1. pl. 14; also D, 2. a15, p. 236, pl. 70. 4, shoulder fr., either from a similar hydria or from a SM PG amphora bearing an elongated S ornament, as KNC 302, 331-2, fig. 128 (e.g.). Latest: D, 2. a24, p. 236, pl. 96. 9, krater rim with white-on-dark circles; the overhanging rim seems to be a LO characteristic, cf. BSA 73 (1978), 56 no. 39, fig. 9, pl. 13, and also UM ii. 84, GG 6, pl. 67.
75. Rod tripods: Fortetsa, 22 no. 188, pl. 13 (with cauldron), and KNC 568-9. Cauldron with lotus handle: KNC 561.
76. e.g. Amnisos 239, D, 3. a7, pls. 71.8 and 98. 8, with close counterparts in the Knossian well deposit RR/H (pp. 245-6 n. 74). The ‘gap’ of c. 480-400 BC suspected by Schäfer (pp. 181. 183) may be more apparent than real: the cup D, 2. 323. pl. 99.1 (p. 237, ‘beginning of 4th-c.’) has a close counterpart among the series from the Glaukos sanctuary, dated by Callaghan to the mid 5th-c. (BSA 73 (1978), 6-8 no. 12, fig. 5); and the lekanis rim D, 3. a5, pl. 98. 6 (p. 239, ‘Archaic’) is of a type that continues though the fifth century: cf. BSA 92 (1996), 241, e.g. fig. 19, N 6, 9: BSA 45 (1950), 173, fig. 9 a, trom a context of c. 400 BC.
77. V. Stürmer in Amnisos, 251-2.
78. J. M. Camp, Hesp. 48 (1979), 397-411 10.2307/147843.
79. The skin of Epimenides was said lo have been kept at Lakedaimon: Diogenianus 8.28, Apostolius 17.14 in Corp. Paroem. Gr. i (Göttingen, 1839-1851), i. 309, ii. 689.
80. A. M. Snodgrass, ‘Cretans in Arcadia’. Antichità cretesi, 2 (1973), 196-201, Voyatzis (n. 65), 219.
81. Sellada: F. Hillerv Gaertringen (ed.), Thera II: Theräische Gräber (Berlin, 1902). Messavouno; E. Pfuhl, AM 28 (1903), 1-288.
82. Boardman, BSA 61 (1966), 151, pl. 29, 13.
83. See n. 40.
84. See n. 80.
85. The Stopford well, BSA 55 (1960), 159-71, abandoned in EO: the Villa well, BSA 68 (1973), 37-42, EO; Royal Road Well LA, BSA 68 (1973), 42-5, LO; UM well 12 (above, n. 36), abandoned c. 600 BC.
86. As envisaged in KNC 722.
87. E. Schwyzer, Dialectorum Graecarum exempla epigraphica potiora (Leipzig, 1923, repr. Hildesheim. 1960), no. 193.
88. Vitruvius, De Arch. vii. 17.
89. Marinatos, PAE 1933, 98-9, figs. 3-5, PAE 1934, 130. fig. 2: PAE 1935, 198.
90. Amnisos, 231-3, 251-2, pls. 78, 79, 104.
91. V. Webb, Archaic Greek Faience (Warminster, 1979), Henceforth AGE.
92. AGF 134-5 nos. 941-9, pl. 22.
93. New Kingdom: J. S. Murray, Historical Studies, (1911), pl. 25. no. 75 = BM no. 17060. Also unpublished examples in the Louvre and the British Museum (Camirus).
94. Cf. British Museum 64, 10 7.777-8, 847-8 from the Oamirus Acropolis, probably the Well, unpublished.
95. Comparative material from Camirus, BM 64.10 7.815, 843, 780, 781, 782, all with suspension loop at back of lion's neck. From Cyprus cf. J. Leclant. Kïtion. ii (Nicosia, 1976), 149-50 no. 1013, pl. 7, but this has an inscription on the back pillar.
96. Cf. British Museum 64.10-7.836, 801, 870. Camirus Acropolis unpublished; Ialysus. Clara Rhodos 3, fig. 40, gr. 23, p. 50, with sub-Geometric chest, glass bead, and other finds suggestive of a mid seventh century date. Related finds from Cyprus, Kïtion, ii. nos. 443, 1068, pls. 6-7. A widespread and popular type.
97. Bes. with distinctive representation of the open mouth and teeth. Megiddo, G. Loud, Megiddo, ii (1948), pl. 205 (18). Similar Bes amulets were found in the Inatos cave deposits, nos. 317, 318, 319 (Egyptian Blue); see n. 104.
98. Cf. Petrie, Amulets, passim. for a selection of amulets, including Saite types.
99. For related figurines (though not amulets) produced by the East Greek/Naucratite production, see AGF 81ff., nos. 277-433.
100. See extremely detailed bibliography given by J. Leclant, in Kïtion. ii. 127-30 n. 9 for the range of depiction of Bes found in the Near East, the Levant, and the Phoenician West: add KNC, 604-6, pls. 297-8 for related material, especially T. 78. f20, Ptah-Sekar-Osiris, LG-EO.
101. Idaean Cave: Halbherr and Orsi. Museo. Italiano. ii. 70 no. 1. Nefertum with good inscription: add a new example from the excavations of J. Sakellarakis. Inatos, Cave of Eilithyia, from excavations bv C. Davaras, exhibited in the Herakleion Museum no. 312, unpublished: cf. also the head, no. 314, Kition, an exact replica from Bothros I. dated by convention to c. 600 450 BC: Karageorghis, BCH 91 (1967), 321-3 fig. 119 and p. 324 10.3406/bch.1967.2222 : Leclant, Kïtion. ii. 139, no. 439, pls. 12, 13. Camirus: BM unpublished, 64, 10-7, 926, 850.
102. From Kition. in the Louvre. Antiquités orientales. MNB 99, unpublished.
103. E. Riefstahl, ‘Doll, queen or goddess’. Brooklyn Museum Bulletin. (1943-5), 7-23; U. Jantzen, Samos viii. B 1517, B 1216, B 243, pls. 14, 15, 16; Camirus, BM 64.10 7.528. Bronze Inventory, no. 138. unpublished.
104. Camirus Well, See discussion in AGF 137, and R. Higgins. BM Cat. Terracottas. 21-4. where he dates the Well Deposit to between 700 and 650 BC.