The Palace of Knossos : provisional report for the year 1903 / [Arthur J. Evans]. [With] Excavations at Palaikastro. II / [R.C. Bosanquet and others].

  • Evans, Arthur, Sir, 1851-1941.
Date:
1903?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Palace of Knossos : provisional report for the year 1903 / [Arthur J. Evans]. [With] Excavations at Palaikastro. II / [R.C. Bosanquet and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in the capacity of foreman, and Kyrios Papadakis again acted as mender and formatore. A great deal of labour and material was again expended on works of conservation, such as supporting the remains of upper storeys and stair- cases, especially in the Royal Villa, the whole superincumbent earth behind which had to be buttressed up by a high wall. Another large undertaking of the kind was the rebuilding of the upper part of the Northern wall of the Theatre and restoring the adjoining tiers of stone seats, without which the whole of these interesting remains would have been rapidly disinte- grated. The central strip of the pavement of the Long Gallery, which had to be removed to explore the cists below, was afterwards restored by means of gypsum slabs cut for the purpose. A watch tower, the upper framework of which is of wood, was also built in the Central Court in order to secure a general panorama of the Palace. A great many supplementary observations were also carried out within the Palace limits, and the researches of Dr. Mackenzie were specially successful in discovering several window openings, the presence of which had not been hitherto detected. The most important of these opened in the wall to the North of the Light well of the Queen’s Megaron, giving light to the Private Staircase. In pursuit of the search for tombs a large area was methodically ex- plored, extending over a quarter of a mile to the North of the Palace, but, though a good many graves were found, they had all been rifled in antiquity, and none of them could ever have been of great importance. One result of these explorations was that a large number of houses, going back to Early Minoan times, were traced over the whole of this area and to the Last as far as the rocky steep that there overhangs the stream. § 2. The South-East House. Already towards the close of the preceding Season parts of a staircase, passage, and adjacent rooms were unearthed at the South-East angle of the I alace aiea. The excavation now completed on this side has brought out an exceptionally perfect house-plan, which will be seen in Fig. 1. The building itself may be regarded as an inner dependence of the Palace, not improbably an official residence. Although, owing to the declivity on this side, the whole is set at a slightly different angle from the main