The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-29

world, recalled to the light of day and
the gaze of mankind from a night OF
three thousand years,
On the same side of the palace are
| also the royal magazines or storerooms,
! approached by a long corridor which
leads to a succession of twelve apart
ments. In many of these stand rows OF
enormous oil vases five feet in height,
some highly ornate and furnished with
numerous small handles through which
ropes or bands were possibly drawn;
one has a pair of handles on the inside,
perhaps intended for the insertion of a
| strap to counteract the pressure Wheh
the vessel was full Beneath the floors
| of some of the chambers and passages
are curious receptacles of closely fitted
stonework, one above the other, appa-
rently designed for the concealment OF
| treasure or the storage of supplies in
case of a siege.
But of all the discoveries hitherto
made in the course of the excavations
the most important is that of the pre-
historic Cretan script, by which the
long debated question of the existence
of writing in the Mycenaean age has
been definitely solved. A series of
signs, both of the linear and of the pic
tographic class, had already been OBJ
served on early Cretan seal stones and
other objects, which suggested the con-
clusion that a regular system Of writing
was in use among the prehistoric Gre
tans. A number of clay tablets have
now been brought to light bearing in
scriptions in the indigenous linear
character and upward of a thousand
examples have been secured. These
tablets, which were found at various
times during the excavations, are in all
probability palace archives or lists OF
stores and munitions of war in the roy
al arsenal; some of them are Illustrated
with representations of chariots and
horses heads. Within the last few
days of the operations a new discovery
of extraordinary interest was made. A
deposit of clay bars and perforated
tablets was unearthed inscribed with
Photographic characters resembling the
Egyptian hieroglypllics and CORES
ponding with those already found on
the early Cretan seals. Thus we OBJ
tain conclusive evidence that two dis
tinct systems of writing-the linear and
the pictographic-were employed in the
island during the "Homeric" age
1t is impossible to describe at present
more than few of the other interest
ing objects found in the course of the
excavations. Numerous remnants of
the stone age, obsidian tools and spec
linens of early rude pottery have been
discovered, some at the lowest levels,
others in the immediate vicinity of the
walls, having apparently been dug up
when the foundations of the Mycenaean
buildings were being laid. These indi-
cate the existence of a still earlier city
on the same site. A vast amount of
pottery of the Mycenaean and geome-
trio types has been obtained, together
with specimens of the peculiar Cretan
ware of which the cave at Kamares
has hitherto supplied the best exam
pies. Among the numerous handsome
stone vases are several of the graceful |
tapering form depicted in the fresco al
ready described A remarkably life |
like head of a Molossan hound, exc
cuted in the finest white marble, some
fioriated mouldings, very delcately
and a beautiful clay ever with
spiral ornamentation may also be spec
tally noticed The browning discovery, |
however, was made in the last few
days of the excavations when the re-
mains of painted stucco bull, mar
realistic work, were brought to |
light in the northeast propyaea. The
head, which is fortunately in perfect
is unqueStionably the
most remarkable specimen of Mycenae-
an plastic art as yet discovered Here
we have, perhaps, the effigy of the
beautiful animal which won the heart
of Pasiphae, or of the equally famous
that transported Europa to
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