cretan offerings: studies in honour of peter warren || the middle minoan cemetery on ailias at...

The Middle Minoan Cemetery on Ailias at KnossosAuthor(s): Sinclair HoodSource: British School at Athens Studies, Vol. 18, CRETAN OFFERINGS: Studies in honour ofPeter Warren (2010), pp. 161-168Published by: British School at AthensStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23276773 .

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16

The Middle Minoan Cemetery on Ailias at Knossos*

Sinclair Hood

'The noble badger heads the lists, the first of

archaeologists'. An older acquaintance who overlapped with me at Magdalen, Oxford in the 1930s, knowing my interest in archaeology, would tease me with this

couplet whenever we met. Badgers, however, led to the discovery of the Ailias cemetery. Here high on the

slopes of the ridge east of the Kairatos stream east of the Palace that doyen of Knossian excavators, Spiros Vasilakis, who had worked with Sir Arthur Evans and John Pendlebury before the war, noticed pottery exposed by the activity of badgers and correctly deduced the presence of ancient tombs. Nikolaos

Platon, Ephor of Antiquities for the whole of Crete, was informed, and allowed me to make trials on behalf of the British School at Athens. These revealed the first tomb (I), excavated in 1950 with the help of

Stylianos Alexiou, then a young epimelete assisting Platon.1 Five other tombs (V-IX) were excavated between 1951 and 1955 (FIG. 16.1 a and b)\ Tombs II IV were the result of over-optimism and proved not to be so. Tomb IX, the last excavated, was at 'X' on the plan.2 Tomb VIII was c. 75 m south of the main

group.3 The stairs (fig. 16.1 b) on the slope below Tomb VII were evidently Minoan and presumably in use in connection with the cemetery here. Traces of other

possible tombs were noted,4 and a second Minoan

stairway was excavated to the south near the church of

Ayia Paraskevi (FIG. 16.3).5

Tomb I was the smallest of the tombs. It appeared to

have some of the earliest burials, and to have gone out of use before any of the others. It only contained the

remains of 20 burials, as opposed to the other tombs with evidence of many dozens. Unlike the later tombs it was circular in shape. Tomb VI, like Tomb I, had remains of some relatively early burials and was not in use it seems after the end of MM II. Similar in shape, it had a stone wall built down the middle, evidently to

help support the roof dug in the soft and crumbly kouskouras rock of the area (fig. 16.1 a).6 The ceilings in all of these tombs had collapsed long ago, perhaps back in the Bronze Age. What may have been another

early MM circular rock-cut tomb, much wrecked by erosion and the activity of badgers, was cleared in 1960

during the excavation of a small group of tombs with

LM IIIA burials low on Ailias, south of the Palace.7

Possibly these circular rock-cut tombs were substitutes for built 'tholos' tombs like those of the Mesara. But

the later Ailias tombs (V and VII-IX) had broken away from any such tradition, with their irregular groups of

chambers, like the solitary MM IIIA rock-cut Tomb XVIII in the Gypsades cemetery at Knossos.8

Some of the burials in Tomb I appear to go back to MM IB, when wheel-made pottery and fine egg-shell ware were already in evidence. The main use of the

cemetery, however, was in MM II—III, with some burials

clearly as late as LM IA. But no clear evidence was noted for burials in LM IB, and there were no signs of still later ones. The absence of recognisable LM IB burials might just reflect the curtailing of grave goods observable throughout Crete in MM times.9

The bodies of the dead had in almost every case been tightly contracted and then in MM I—II mostly squeezed into large storage jars (pithoi) (FIG. 16.5) which appear to have been made for domestic use, not

especially for burials.10 But in MM III specialised clay coffins (larnakes), usually oval (FIG. 16.4), but a few

rectangular in shape (FIG. 16.6), replaced pithoi; it was

clearly easier to fit contracted burials into such a coffin. The rectangular versions were quite different from

* Acknowledgements. I am deeply grateful to Dr Doniert Evely for typing the text of this paper in the required format, and

for helping with the selection, and undertaking the

arrangement, of the illustrations. I also owe much to the editor,

Dr Olga Krzyszkowska, for her patience when I have twice

changed the subject of this paper and for her tolerance of the

delays before it was finally completed. [Ed. note: see also

'Personal reminiscences', this volume, pp. xxxi-xxxii],

1 Cook 1951, 252 (Tomb 1). 2 Cook 1952, 45-6 (Tomb V and stairway); Cook and

Boardman 1954,49-50, fig. 15 a and b for larnakes and pithos

(Tombs VI and VII); Hood 1956,32-3, figs. 1-3 for larnakes

and pithos (Tombs VIII and IX). 3 Hood and Smyth 1981,54, no. 257, and map showing position

of the six tombs.

4 Hood and Smyth 1981, 54 nos. 254, 258-60.

5 Hood and Smyth 1981, 54 no. 262.

6 Hood 1971, pi. 113, caption on 231.

7 Hood and Smyth 1981, 55 no. 278. A report on these by

Laura Preston and myself, with a study of the skeletal material

by Argyro Nafplioti, is due to appear in a future BSA.

8 Hood, Huxley and Sandars 1958-59, 221, fig. 21.

9 The scanty grave-goods in Gypsades Tomb XVIII are an

example of this.

10 See too Hood 1967, 64, ill. 51.



SINCLAIR HOOD

Fig. 16.1. Ailias Cemetery: a) plan showing most of cemetery; b) east-west section at south.



THE MIDDLE MINOAN CEMETERY ONAILIAS ATKNOSSOS

Fig. 16.2. Alias Cemetery: a) plan of Tomb VII; b) plan of Tomb VI.



SINCLAIR HOOD

Fig. 16.3. Ailias Cemetery. Stairs to the south,

from the west.

Fig. 16.4 (above). Ailias cemetery,

Tomb V. Burials in oval larnakes,

from the northwest.

Fig. 16.5 (left). Ailias Cemetery, Tomb I. Burials in pithoi.

Fig. 16.6.Ailias Cemetery, Tomb VIII. Skeleton in rectangular larnax.



THE MIDDLE MINOAN CEMETERY ON AILIAS AT KNOSSOS

Fig. 16.7. Small finds from theAilias Cemetery: a) model dagger of bronze (VII.40; scale 2:3); b) goat-head pendant of chalcedony (VII.ll; 2:1); c) fly pendant of cornelian (VII.24; 3:1); d-f) stone bowls

(VII.100, VI.18, VII.101; all 1:2); g) scarab of rock-crystal (VII.2; 3:1); h) miniature cup of silver (VII. 37; 2:1); i—j) gold finger-rings (VII. 19, VII.7; both 2:1).



SINCLAIR HOOD

Fig. 16.8. Small finds of bronze from theAilias Cemetery: a—b) armlets (VII. 57a, VII.56; 1:1); c—f) earrings (VII. 62, VII. 63, VII. 61, VII. 48; all 1:1); h) needle (VI.10; 1:1, eye detail 2:1); (g, i-n) pins (VII.53, VII.51, VII. 70,

VII. 74, VII. 75, VII. 85, VII. 52; all 1:1).



THE MIDDLE MINOAN CEMETERY ONAILIAS ATKNOSSOS

Fig. 16.9. Small finds from theAilias Cemetery: a) silver pendant, squatting man (VII.12; 3:1); b) soft stone seal

depicting a lion's head, CMS II.2 no. 48 (V; 3:1, photograph courtesy of the CMS Archive); c) stone bowls (VII).

those larnakes found later, in LM II—III, being short and relatively wide, and without feet.

All six tombs, even Tomb I, had evidently been cleared of earlier burials at least once to make room for new ones. The earlier remains were stuffed into

pits dug in the tomb floor, which might be quite shallow as in Tomb I; or they were dumped in piles against the side walls. In Tomb VII (FIG. 16.2 a) a shallow pit on the east side contained remains of three or four children, but the south end of the tomb had been walled off for use as an ossuary which yielded 25 skulls of earlier burials. Two small rectangular pits outside Tomb VII

may have been dug for planting olive trees in fairly recent times.

Small red saucers, miniature versions of larger clay trays, abundant in Tombs VI and VII may have been used for offerings made in connection with clearances of earlier burials. Some pithoi showed signs of having been emptied of the original burial and reused; in several cases an intact pithos burial was accompanied by an extra skull or skulls, which may have belonged to previous occupants.

Grave goods consisting of pottery with the pithos or larnax burials were normally, it seems, placed on the floor of the tomb beside them. Apart from pottery the

surviving grave goods were largely confined to small

objects of personal use or adornment like jewellery and seals. All the tombs except Tomb I produced seals, but only 27 altogether were recovered (e.g. fig. 16.9

Z?).11 Seals and jewellery were probably subject to

looting throughout the time the tombs were in use. A massive gold ring of the signet type, but with a plain oval bezel, found in Tomb VII beneath a larnax may have been deliberately put there to hide it (fig. 16.7 j).

Several isolated gold sequins with a hole to one side for sewing them to fabric may have come from clothing or shrouds in which the burials were wrapped and been

11 Hood 1971, pis. 42 and 49, captions on 222-3; also CMS

II.2 nos. 43-68. [Ed. note CMS II.2 no. 48, here FIG. 16.9 b

made of soft stone, greyish-black in colour, slightly rough; not steatite as indicated in CMS],



SINCLAIR HOOD

lost when these were removed by looters. Looting was

probably quite general, occurring whenever a tomb was

opened to receive a new burial. Some other gold and silver objects, however, had survived, like a length of

gold chain,12 and a small finger-ring of thin gold with lilies in relief on the bezel, originally backed by a core of wood or paste of some kind (fig. 16.7 z). Silver trinkets included a fine seal engraved with a bird, a miniature drinking cup (FIG. 16.7 h) and a pendant in the shape of a squatting figure resembling the Egyptian god Bes (FIG. 16.9 a).13 Among other small pendants were the head of a goat in chalcedony and a cornelian

fly (FIGS. 16.7 b and c respectively). A large bead of gold and ivory was unique, but

among other beads were over 100 of rock-crystal. A

group of amethyst beads from Tomb VIII may have come from a necklace brought from Egypt, where similar beads were common in the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XII and XIII). A rock-crystal scarab, however, appears to be a Cretan imitation (FIG. 16.7

g). A very small bead of unusual shape, like a curved

seed, and made of blue lapis lazuli, was probably foreign, like the material itself, for which Afghanistan is likely to have been the source.

The rarity of stone vases in these tombs is curious.

Only four were recovered (FIGS. 16.7 d-f, 16.9 c): all of them in good condition and relatively small; one had a stone lid.

A number of short bronze pins (FIG. 16.8 g, i-n), not it seems made for use as hair-pins, may have served to keep in place garments or shrouds in which the dead were buried. Simple jewellery of copper or bronze included some solid-bar armlets and a number of hoop earrings (FIGS. 16.8 a-b and c-f respectively).

Weapons of any kind were noticeable by their absence. But there was one small model of a short sword or dagger (FIG. 16.7 a): a toy, or perhaps a salute to the custom of placing weapons with the dead, now obsolete. The absence of weapons may reflect the

relatively late date of these tombs, since metal daggers are a standard feature in earlier tombs in this part of Crete as well as in eastern Crete and the Mesara.14

The tombs of necessity, owing to the slope in which

they were dug, have entrances facing west. As Lucy

Goodison has shown, the early circular 'tholos' tombs of Crete all have entrances facing more or less east. One or two sherds from the Ailias cemetery area looked as if they might be EM, but possibly the Early Minoan

predecessors of our tombs lie to the west of the

Kairatos, on the 'Acropolis' hill and its environs, with entrances facing east towards the Palace and the settlement round it. Perhaps traces of such earlier tombs may be identified by the present intensive survey of the Knossos area, with or without the help of the local badgers.

REFERENCES

Alexiou, S., and P. Warren, 2004. The Early Minoan Tombs

of Lebena, Southern Crete. SIMA 30. Savedalen.

Cook, J. M., 1951. 'Archaeology in Greece, 1949-1950', JHS 71: 233-53.

, 1952. Archaeology in Greece, 1950-1951', JHS 72: 27-49.

Cook, J. M., and J. Boardman, 1954. Archaeology in Greece, 1952-1953', JHS 74: 23-52.

Hood, M. S. F., 1956. Archaeology in Greece, 1955', AR: 3-35.

, 1967. The Home of the Heroes. The Aegean before the Greeks. London.

, 1971. The Minoans. Crete in the Bronze Age. London.

Hood, M. S. F., G. Huxley and N. Sandars, 1958-59. 'A Minoan cemetery on Upper Gypsades (Knossos Survey

156)', BSA 53-54: 194-262.

Hood, M. S. F., and D. Smyth, 1981. Archaeological Survey of the Knossos Area. BSA Suppl. 14. London.

12 Hood 1971, pi. 67, caption on 225.

13 Hood 1971, pi. 65, caption on 225. [Ed. note: for the silver

seal, CMS 11.2 no. 43, see Krzyszkowska, this volume, Chapter

17, FIG. 17.2 c], 14 E.g. the early contexts of the daggers from the recently

published Lebena 'tholos' tombs: Alexiou and Warren 2004,

13 no. 39, 17 nos. 109-10, 136 nos. 544-8 and 147 no. 33.



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