The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
FURTHER DISCOVERIES AT CNOSSrS
King Ninoss Palace Fun Of Archaeological
Treasures Photographic Records on Clay.
From the Aihradui.

treasures PictOgfaphiC kccOrus on siHS'
From the AihraduL,.
SITE or CNOssUs, near ,andia. treie. june \.
The last week of excavation in the Palace
OF tnossus has produced a discovery equal
10 that of The MycenTan archives described in
my previous letter. The inscriptions above
referred TO. Of which mere than a thousand
have now come to light, are written in u Linear
aud highly developed script with only occa-
sionai resort L. more pictorial forms. Bnt, as
n previous study Of the seal stones OF eastern
crete had already made clear to me, there
existed in the island from a very remote period
another form Of writing, of "A Photographic
kind. and in its general aspect recalling
Egyptian hieroglyphics. Hitherto these char
acters had been only known to me from seals,
mostly Of prism-like form of three or four
| sides. and the evidence was naturally limited,
though the methOdiCal recurrence or groups
oil signs IN the same ColIocatlun sunlCl'ntlN
| showed that on- had here TO do with a kind Of
writing and not with Il mere aimloss parody
of Egyptian or Hittite forms. But If any doubt
still exists on the subject il must be sci al rest
forever by the evidence now supplied rom
the Palace OF MinoS."
At the northern end Of n long corridor Of the
building giving access 10 u succession or maya
! zines, themselves Of extraordinary interest,
was opened a narrow oblong chamber. which
contained a deposit Of clay tablets OF altogether
different forms from those exhibiting the linear
| N'flIl, tIii lIl~Nf " Nlll u Il'IokN l'lh WV"
Of writing identical with that of the. prism
seals. The tablet, themselves in this cas-"
| take q variety Of shapes. some ar" short
in one case a ,hree--ided example of the same
type occurred. Others take q form recalling
| that OF a scailop shell with a hoe bored through
NJ the point answering To tho valve. o'her~,
| again. are of crescent shape roughly triangular
in section. 50 that they present three surfaces,
| and perforated along their major axi,. This
| las, class j. of special interest from tho fact
that in most cases they also contain on one
side two or more seal impress ions, generally
made by prism -eal- of the kind already referred
| to. and engraved with groups Of Photographic
| signs belonging To the same system a. the
Inscriptions on the tablets themselves.
Although the word Photographic" or hero
glyphic" may be used 10 Distinguish these
| tablets from the linear class, II must h" under.
stood that they also contain y proportion OF
signs ms purely linear NJ any Of the other cate
gory. II j. also q noteworthy fact that the
written forms assume in many cases = much
more alphabetic character than their glyntlo
equivalents a. seen on The seal stones We
see. in fact, before us n distinct step IN ihe
evolution of writing ont Of mere pictorial signs.
As in tho linear class, the presence of numerals
Is clearly marked.
Very interesting questions suggest themselves
a. 10 the exact relation ~ this 'retan hero
Tiyphic script 10 the linear Glass TO which III"
great mass Of the inscriptions found in IN"
Cnossian palace belong Here. NJ least, the
tablets Of hieroglyphic type appear as a purely
isolated phenomcnon, and are practically con
fined TO a single deposit. On the other hand,
the Photographic seal, with which this latter
form Of script j. connected are, a. far a. my own
experience goes, almost wholly confined 10 III"
eastern or DiCiSan provinces ot 'rete. ana are
most abundant in the caStcrrmost region OF
all that Of Siteis, th" cenirn Of which was
the great Eteocretan stronghold of Presses,
II therefore looks as " the particular chamber
of the ralace in which this new class of Ia lets
was discovered contained records ot rihuta
or other matters relating, to the Mycenaan
cities of eastern Crete. which very probably
stood In a subject relation 10 the city Of Mines.
The men who inscribed these records wer" the
ancestors Of the true EteOcrctan stock of that
region. who, as is known from the Prasian
inscription. preserved their language TO at
least the end Of the sixth century " {. The
prism seals themselves are of types TINT 10
back on ,retan soil 20 = period long aniecedent
10 that Of tho MyCen@an civilization, and, as
7 have lsewher shown from evidence AZ that
time far less complete than II l. now, the CON
ventionalized Photographed or ,hier3glyphic
scrirt of Crete was largely developed ont of
earlier forms traceable on the more primitive
seal-stones Of the island Everything, in
short. tends to show that this form OF script
was that in use among tho ancient indigenous
stock of Crete the trle Eteorre'ans Of the
Odyssey.
The coexistence. then. among tho archives
Of the Palace of tnossllS nj this autoclthonons
system with another Of independent, character
must he regarded as a strong piece ~ ~evidon""
that the dominant MycenRan race IN tnossls
belonged 10 another stock than the Eteocretan
The linear system Of the true ,Minoan" archives
has indeed certain points Of correspondence
with N" East-Creian. and a certain. proportion
Of signs are practically identical. But II stands
/ on n lar higher level OF deNplotnlp1I, ara u
probably "Mycen@an' in a far wider sens"
than tho other.
There are Indications that tho deposit ~
tablets belonging 10 the indigenous hero
c'vphic class dates from the latest days Of tho
palace and the close Of the NyCenRan period,
which NJ Cnossus was marked by an over
vhalming catastrophe and n subsequent com
plete abandonment Of the palace site, Some
! of the impressions Of seals Of non-piCtographic
| character found with these tablets show %cririons
and hitherto unknown developments OF
Nycenpan style, also illustrated by some Of
the fresCoes, Of which an unpara lleled series
has now come to light. The style Is less bold.
Curioualy modern. Among the seal impress
sions found in the chamber Of the Photographic
tablets some present for the first time male
heads. apparently intended for portraits-an
entirely new departure in Mycenean art.
The last part Of my this seasons work in the
Palace Of tnossuS has been also si9nahIrd ny,
| the discovery of the largest deposit of tablets of
tho ordinary linear TYP" yet brought to light,
They appear to have been contained in a gypsum
chest and near 10 tive fragments Of this were
found the remains of a life.si7e figure OF a bnll
Of painted cTsso duTo. The head is rerfect and
j. unuuestionably the finest plasii" work Of
NvcpnRan age that has come down 10 orr
lines The clay seals found with this deposit
of tablets also point 70 III" best period Of art,
One represents n ship. another two waking
| oxen on an intaglio larger than any known ex-
ample. which NAV well have been a royal signet,
The seal impressions. like those found with the
Golfers containing the former deposits of tablets.
are. for the most part. signed and counter
signed with incised characters in the MyCenRan
| script. Several Of the tablets hero found are
~ n larger size Than any vet brought 10 llght.
and may he described n small octave. Nothing
| strikes one in some Of these 80 much as the
elegance Of tho letter forms. which has hardly
-, nx,allaI la. any form, of ntnr writing