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Evans's Greek finds: the early Greek town of Knossos, and its encroachment on the borders of the Minoan palace1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

J. N. Coldstream
J. N. Coldstream
Affiliation:
University College London
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Abstract

Among over 1800 boxes of Sir Arthur Evans's finds now stored in the Stratigraphical Museum at Knossos, at least 150 contain Greek pottery from Subminoan to Classical. A systematic study of this material, in relation to its recorded find spots, throws new light on the eastern part of the early Greek town, bordering the site of the Minoan Palace. Above the Palace itself, fresh evidence is produced, and fresh interpretation offered, for the Greek sanctuary described by Evans. In its immediate surroundings, there are signs of busy domestic and industrial life in the early Greek town above the South-West Houses, the West Court, the Theatral Area, and the Pillared Hall outside the North Entrance to the Palace. Greek occupation is also noted above the House of Frescoes, the Little Palace and the Royal Villa. A wider aim of this article is to trace the limits of the early Greek town of Knossos, both of its original Early Iron Age nucleus surviving from Late Minoan times, and of its spacious extension towards the north in the late eighth and seventh centuries BC.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 95 , November 2000 , pp. 259 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2000

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References

2 Dorian Knossos, 314–20, figs. 1–4; KNC, 713, ill. 17.

3 Covered by KS 2 site nos. 185–6, 188, 192, 197, 206–8, all of which have produced early Greek domestic pottery; add now SWH. See also Dorian Knossos, 314–17.

4 Coldstream, J. N., The Formation of the Greek Polis: Aristotle and Archaeology (Rheinische-Westfälische Akademie, Vorträge G 272, 1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dorian Knossos, 312–13.

5 BSA 67 (1972), 77–85Google Scholar, Deposits 1) and E. On the northward expansion of the settlement in LG times, see Dorian Knossos, 319 fig. 4.

6 e.g. KS 2 site no. 32, where G and later surface sherds have been found near the modern village of Babali or Kallithea, some 2 km from central Knossos.

7 As suggested in BSA 76 (1981), 144Google Scholar, for a tomb on Gypsades hill.

8 As first suggested by Payne, , BSA 29 (1927–1928), 231Google Scholar. Cf. now KNC, 712–14, ill. 17.

9 SWH 197–9, fig. 3, pl. 30 a–c.

10 SWH 230–2, Groups X and perhaps Y, fig. 20, pl. 47; other pieces are published here as Group A.

11 Pendlebury, , The Archaeology of Crete (London, 1939), 305Google Scholar.

12 Notably M. R. Popham's publications of LM pottery: The Last Days of the Palace at Knossos (SIMA 5; Lund, 1964)Google Scholar; The Destruction of the Palace at Knossos (SIMA 12; Göteborg, (1970), 195–202Google Scholar; 72 (1977), 185–95; 73 (1978), 179–85; 76 (1981), 329–33.

13 Hogarth, D. G., BSA 6 (1899–1900), 82–5Google Scholar, with a cursory comment on the Knossian G style by F. B. Welch, ibid., 91–2; Payne, H. G. G., BSA 29 (1927–1928), 224–98Google Scholar, the first study of early Greek pottery from Knossos.

14 BSA 73 (1978), 185–7Google Scholar.

15 These are being studied for publication by J. Eiring.

16 E.g. PM ii, 93–5. fig. 45.

17 Briefly mentioned by Evans, , BSA 8 (1901–1902), 8Google Scholar; here group H.

18 As noted by Hallager, E., The Mycenaean Palace at Knossos (Stockholm, 1977), 13Google Scholar. On discrepancies between findspots given by Hartley (1931) and those apparent today in the labelling of Evans's boxes, see nn. 24, 26, 33, 40, 65.

19 Cf. SWH, 203, 213, 222.

20 StratGuide, 30; DPStratGuide, 10.

21 M. S. F. Hood, AR 1958, 21; 1939, 20; cf. BSA 67 (1972), 77Google Scholar.

22 PM ii. 432–3.

23 Boxes 1460–75; StratGuide, 25, P II; DPStratGuide, 16.

24 DPStratGuide, 19, key plan V. Knossos Day Book 1903,KS 2, under no. 213. Hartley, 77–89: the sherds that she mentions under this heading seem to come not from this trial, but rather from ‘NW Test Pits’ in the West Court, here Group G; there, references to Hartley will be given. See also n. 26.

25 StratGuide, 30. KS 2, under no. 213. Hartley, 94–5.

26 Hartley (95, fig. 22. 2) includes an Attic ‘lid’ under this heading; this is the pyxis base, here C 13. I found no trace of the ‘Rhodian dinos’ fr., her fig. 26. 2.

27 BSA 9 (1902–3), 107; BPK, no. 162.

28 StratGuide, 3–4 under A 1, and Key-Plan; DPStratGuide, 3, and fig. 2.

29 StratGuide, 30, under V.

30 StratGuide, 4 and DPStratGuide, 3–4, under A II; area plan, fig. 3, showing locations within the North-West House. On the excavation, BSA 9 (1902–1903), 112–21Google Scholar; further references in BPK under no. 98. The clearest recent account of this building is by M. R. Popham (1970: above, n. 12), 60–1.

31 StratGuide, 30; DPStratGuide, 19.

32 MS Day Book, 1903 vol. 1, 34 (25 Mar. 1903) and 42 (30 Mar. 1903).

33 Hartley, 77 89; nb also 92, fig. 20, where seven other frs. (G 5, 28, 32–3, 40, 49–50) are ascribed to the Little Palace.

34 In addition to vases quoted below in n. 36, BSA 67 (1972), 88Google Scholar, G 14–15, pl. 24 (sphinxes); 92–3, G 84, fig. 12, pl. 27 (various animals); UM ii, GH 19 and 25 (griffins); SWH, 233 and 237, Z 5, fig. 20, pl. 48 (man with animal).

35 Cf. F, nos. 1252, 1445; BSA 29 (1927–1928), 236Google Scholar, no. 28, fig. 9.

36 Cf. F, no. 1414, the ‘Zeus’ lid; KNC 134–47, fig. 118.

37 Cf. F, no. 1140, fig. 163: KNC 107. 114, fig. 109.

38 F, no. 1569, pl. 169, quiver; Stampolidis, N., Kanta, A., and Karetsou, A. (eds), Eastern Mediterranean: Cyprus, Dodecanese, Crete, 16th–6th cent, BC (Herakleion, 1998), 135Google Scholar, no. 230 (plaque).

39 F, no. 1440 (PGB) attests the survival of a Minoan Snake Goddess. On the possibility of a Marine Goddess persisting from the Bronze Age, see Goodison, L., Death, Women and the Sun (BICS Suppl. 53; London, 1989), 147–50Google Scholar.

40 BSA 8 (1901–1902), 8Google Scholar; BSA 10 (1903–1904), 51Google Scholar: KS 2 under no. 222. Sherds described by Hartley (p. 76) under the heading ‘Wellhouse of four gypsum pillars, N of N entrance’ do not seem to correspond at all with the contents of the boxes listed here.

41 StratGuide. EI 4, ‘N Front, Test Pit 2’, second metre; not located on the north front plan, fig. 8.

42 StratGuide, 25 (Q.I. 1, 2), 30 (V 1902, T. P. 1); DPStratGuide, 16 (Q.I. 1, 2), 19 (V 1902, T. P. 1).

43 Other early Greek well deposits are listed in UM ii. 86–7.

44 BSA 10 (1903–1904), 51Google Scholar.

45 Mackenzie, Day Book 16 May 1907.

46 e.g. Palmer, L. R., The Find Places of the Knossos Tablets (Oxford, 1963), 63–8, 223–6Google Scholar; Driessen, J.. An Early Destruction of the Mycenaean Palace at Knossos (Leuven, 1990), 15 n. 47, 99 n. 350Google Scholar.

47 PM ii. 5–7, 346, 349, 712.

48 KSD 6, 12–14, figs. 10–11, pls. 4–5; USA 94 (1999), 296–7Google Scholar.

49 Hartley, 92–3.

50 BSA 73 (1978), 185 n. 34Google Scholar.

51 Hartley, 108, fig. 33.4; Higgins, (n. 50).

52 See below, nn. 60, 61.

53 Callaghan, ap Popham, , BSA 73 (1978), 186Google Scholar.

54 Hartley, 92, ‘over thirty stemmed cups’ but diagnosed as ‘Hellenistic’.

55 Late Archaic: BSA 68 (1973), 55–6Google Scholar, L 53–7, fig. 10, pl. 21. Classical: BSA 45 (1950), 171Google Scholar, fig. 5, pl. 13A; BSA 94 (1999), 323–4Google Scholar.

56 PM ii. 5–6.

57 PM ii. 349.

58 Most recently, sec Gjongejac, S. and Nicolet-Pierre, H., ‘Le monnayage d'argent d'Égine et le trésor de Hollm’, BCH 119 (1995), 283–338Google Scholar. I thank Dr. A. W. Johnston for his numismatic advice, and for drawing my attention to this article.

59 StratGuide, 10 (D XXI.1), 11 (E I.1), 22 (N III.3); DPStratGuide, 5 (E I.1), 13 (N III.3).

60 Fabricius, E., AM 11 (1886), 142, pl. 3Google Scholar; top left: ‘gleichfalls bei den Ausgrabungen auf den Kephala’.

61 H. Hallager (n. 18), 85, fig. 59 a assumes the find spot to have been in the West Magazines, source of the Minoan coarse pithoi which Kalokairinos presented to various major museums. However, Dr. K. Kopaka, from her examination of the relevant archives, kindly informs me (pers. comm. 7.3.98) that Kalokairinos' soundings were not restricted to the West Magazines, hut also extended to the south part of the Palace.

62 StratGuide, 24, fig. 21; DPStratGuide, 15.

63 After an intensive study of the Little Palace Dr E. Hatzaki kindly informs me that P I.4 is incorrectly placed on Pendlebury's StratGuide plan and should be moved to the narrow rectangular room immediately north of the location for P I.8–9. Finds of early Greek pottery would thus be confined to the south-west quarter of the Little Palace.

64 UM ii. 1–8.

65 Hartley (pp. 91–2) assigns to the Little Palace the sherds illustrated in her fig. 20.7, 8–14, 16–24, 30, fig. 22.1, 3, and pl. 15.11. Of these we found only fig. 22.1 (here L 10) in the Little Palace boxes. On other ‘Little Palace’ pieces in her fig. 20 which we found in the ‘NW Test Pits’ boxes, see above, n. 33.

66 BSA 9 (1902–1903), 130–53Google Scholar; KS 2, no. 224.

67 StratGuide, 26, Q III.2, fig. 23; DPStratGuide, 17.

68 KS 2, no. 252.

69 BSA 28 (1926–1927), 243–96Google Scholar; 254 (T. 4), 260 (T. 7), 277 (T.17, on which see also p. 248); plan, 244 fig. 1.

70 Hartley, 97–8; 108–9, diagnosis as PG and cf. to 66, fig. 10 centre, from Eleutherna. For O parallels to this shape see KNC, 19. 7, pl. 96; BSA 76 (1981), 153Google Scholar, no. 74, pl. 25; and, with four handles, F, no. 864, pl. 57.

71 e.g. KNC, 123–6, tomb 78, pls. 23 a, b, 130.

72 StratGuide, 28, T III.3; DPStratGuide, 18.

73 StratGuide, 30: ‘1904: T.P.2, W. Metochi (Bougada Metochi)’; Key Plan. DPStratGuide, 19 (no post-Minoan pottery mentioned).

74 Payne, , BSA 29 (1927–1928), 280–1Google Scholar; E. Moignard, KNC, 460–1.

75 BSA 76 (1981), 141–65Google Scholar, the earliest wholly post-Minoan tomb there. We know, however, of LM III tombs on Upper Gypsades reused in SM: BSA 53–4 (1958–1959), 194–262Google Scholar, tombs VI and VII, pls. 56–7.

76 NB the LG wells near the Venizeleion hospital, BSA 67 (1972), 81–5Google Scholar, groups D and E.

77 Perhaps a parallel case may be seen in the chance discovery of a LPG bell-krater containing eleven miniature pots suitable for a child burial, recovered from a point c. 150 m south-west of the Villa Ariadne, without any trace of a tomb: BSA 58 (1963), 38–41Google Scholar and KS 2, no. 182. In the North Cemetery, however, we know of several child burials outside the collective family tombs: see PAA 71 (1996), 246–8Google Scholar.

78 BSA 8 (1901–1902), 8Google Scholar; KS 2, no. 223, where the ‘tomb’ appears on the plan c. 10 m east of the Pillar Hall, no. 222.

79 Mackenzie, Day Book for 1902, entries lor April 10 and 17.

80 See n. 9.

81 In a third excavated sanctuary, ascribed to the local hero Glaukos, the cult seems to have begun not before the 5th c: KS 2, no. 197, and Callaghan, , BSA 73 (1978), 1–30Google Scholar. A fragment of architectural sculpture, found near the Palace (KS 2, no. 209; JHS 56 (1936), 150Google Scholar), may have belonged to a 7th-c. temple as yet undiscovered.

82 For references in KSD see BSA 94 (1999), 292Google Scholar, nn. 19–22.83KSD, 6, 180–1, pl. 3 d.

84 BSA 92 (1997), 192–3, 199–200Google Scholar, figs. 1, 4.

85 PM ii. 7.

86 Coldstream in Betts, J. H., Green, J. R., and Hooker, T. T. (eds), Studies in Honour of T. B. L. Webster, ii (Bristol, 1988), 26Google Scholar; on the Tree Painter, KNC, 315–16, figs. 109 (with goddess), 133, 150.

87 On early Greek sanctuaries founded upon the ruins of Mycenaean palaces see most recently Foley, A., The Argolid, 800–600 BC (SIMA 80; Göteborg, 1988), 145–7Google Scholar, for Tiryns; Klein, N. L., BSA 92 (1997), 247–322Google Scholar, for Mycenae.

88 Coldstream (n. 4).

89 Coldstream, Dorian knossos, 316–7, no. 15, fig. 1.

90 Callaghan, , BSA 73 (1978), 1Google Scholar.

91 BSA 58 (1963), 39 n. 11Google Scholar. One LG amphora from this site is BSA 67 (1972), 87Google Scholar, G 2, pl. 24. NB also KS 2, no. 179, another G well c. 80 m further out to the south.

92 Warren, P. M., AR 29 (1983), 76–87Google Scholar; AR 31 (1985), 124–9Google Scholar.

93 I thank the excavator, Dr. K. A. Wardle, for this information. Under the Villa itself, however, the excavations of R. W. Hutchinson and C. Ralegh Radford (1935–7) revealed, under a stone floor, a layer 90 cm deep with G and O pottery. I thank Sara Paton for showing me the unpublished reports by the original excavators of the Villa. See also Paton, S. in Cavanagh, W. G. and Curtis, M. (eds.), Post-Minoan Crete (BSA Studies 2; London, 1998), 124Google Scholar. N. B. Addendum, p. 299.

94 LG: wells 1 and 6, see n. 76. O: well 2. BSA 67 (1967), 44–5Google Scholar, K 6 and K 22 (a fine Protocorinthian piece).

95 Dreros: Demargne, P., BCH 61 (1936), 10–15Google Scholar. Lato: Demargne, J., BCH 17 (1901), 282–307CrossRefGoogle Scholar; BCH 19 (1903), 206–32Google Scholar; Wycherley, R. E., How the Greeks Built Cities (London, 1962), 51–5, fig. 10CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

96 KS 2, no. 112 (law, IC i.56, no. 2); KS 2, no. 118.

97 Cf. BSA 94 (1999), 298Google Scholar.

98 See n. 11.

99 Only four fragments, from lekythoi (D 25, G 21, H 15) and an aryballos (G 47).

100 Cooking pots: A 18–19, D 6, E 38, H 45–8. Household basins: H 49–51. Coarse pithoi: G 6, M 8, selected from among numerous pieces. Loomweights: G 61. Spindle whorl: A 20.

101 Attic LPG: B 1–2, E 5–6. Attic MG: C13, G 12–13, F 2, G 9, G 20, K 5, K 7, L 1, L 5, L 10. Gycladic MG: D 17–18. Cycladic LG: A 15. Eubocan LG: H 39. For more imports from the boxes of group A, see BSA 92 (1997), 230–2Google Scholar: X 14–17 (Attic MG II), X 18 (Euboean LG), X 19 (Cycladic LG), and X 20 (Cypriot BoR).

102 KNC, 716.

103 W. G. Cavanagh in KNC, 659–64, ills. 9–10.

104 e.g. in the Royal Road area, traces of PG and G floors and walls (BSA 67 (1972), 64–5Google Scholar, 77), but for the 7th c. only a LO well (BSA 68 (1973), 34–5Google Scholar). In the area of the South-West Houses, a LM house was reused in EPG and EO, but there are no signs of domestic occupation in the intervening periods (BSA 92 (1977), 199–202)Google Scholar.

105 The only candidates here for a 6th-c. date are B 13 and K 9.

106 Coldstream, J.N. and Huxley, G. L., ‘Knossos: the Archaic Gap’, BSA 94 (1999), 303–4Google Scholar.