The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-06-07

accounts of the work and its results read
! lily accessible. but the main facts have
been circulated broadly through the press
and its reports.
What one sees of the remains of this
palace at Knossos is profoundly imprss-
! sive The utilization of difference of lev
| els, the remarkable water ccnduits. the
arrangements for carrying oil 10 a con-
siderable distance from the oil presses
| through channels of stone indicate a re-
markabIe mastery of the engineering or
| constructive side of architecture. OF the
use of decoration in architecture. outside
| of painting, there is found in the rooms
! of this palace. a number of whichh have
| been removed and preserved in the muse
um at Gambia. are remarkable works of
art. The throne room of Minos has been
| by Mr.. Evans care restored and en-
| closed for protection against destruction
/ by the weather. The stone throne of
| Minos. which is the principal object of
|. note in this room is graceful in its pro-
portions, but lacking in adornment and
| singularly severe. while the provisions
! for the counsellors of court of Minos are
| Spartan in their severity.
Among the objects of interest in these
| excavations are the enormous jars, great
numbers of which stand in the various
storerooms and corridors of the palace.
Except for the fact that they are more
| carefully made and decorated, they are
| similar to the enormous jars used at the
present day by the inhabitants of Crete
| for the storage of oil, wine. etc. But that
which especially interested me in the eX-
| cavations at KnOssOs was the written clay
| tablets. a considerable number of which
were found chiefly, if not altogether,
! buried in receptables sunk beneath the
floors of the stone chambers. Before Ev-
ans excavations at Knossos he and others
had found in Crete seals and other OBJ
| jects bearing marks which resembled writ
| ing 1t was not, however. until the eX-
| cavations at Knossos that the existence
of some form of writing in Crete at a
very early period was put beyond all
/ question. He found clay tablets with
! writing, which he described as OF two
| sorts the earlier, of which there are COM
paratively few specimens, hieroglyphic
| in character perhaps resembling Egypt
! ian. the later linear. Since Evans's ex-
cavations at Knossos the Italians have al
so found some clay tablets at Phaestos,
and altogether the number of inscribed
| clay tablets show now in the museum at
| Gambia is in sthe neighborhood of two
thousand.
1t was to q considerable extent the de-
sire to examine for myself these tablets
which brought me to Crete They are In
appearance not at all like the Babylonian
clay tablets. Commonly they are some
seven inches in length by about one and
three-auarter inches in breadth. somewhat
tapering towards the ends, very much
fired and of a reddish of blackish color.
| They are inscribed on only one side
There are others which in size more
nearly resemble Babylonian clay tablets,
but the resemblance is only in size. No
one who has ever seen a Babyionian clay
tablet could possibly mistake one OF these
Cretan tablets for il, even were 1t in
scribed in cuneiform script. Until these
tablets are published in facsimile. it viii
be impossible for any outsider TO make
4 careful study OF the script, in spite OF
the courtesy of Mr. Evans putting printed
sheets Of the characters at the disposal OF
scholars. But there are certain things
which any trained observer is competent
10 notice I failed to see any resemblance
between the earlier so-calIed hierglyphic
SCRIPT and the Egyptian hieroglphic. That
the script was originally hieroglphic. or 50
far hierioglyphic tnat the suggestion came
from pictures. ! should think to be plain.
But this is true also of the so-called lin
To 10
further development of the hieoglphic
script Indeed. there is no clear line OF
demarcation between The two, and even
the linear script is still In a very rude
stage of development As it has not yet
been deciphered. we are moving in
6eld Of conjecture with regard 20 II. IL
seemed to me from the tablets which /
was able to study. that there is a system
80 enumeration. apparently decimal. as
long tablets seemed TO contain records
Mr.. Evans has already pointed out The
OF objects belonging 20 the palace or
the tcnlpIe and deposited in three cham
hers and nothing more The script had
reached that stage Of Development where
objects and numbers could Be Indicated,
but 1 doubted whether il vas sufficiently
dayelof.ei Tor sustained narrative. histori-
cal inscriptions. and the like
In what language these ancient Cretan
documents were written Is az yet entirely
unknown The art and civilization -
Crete seems. from such excavations and
discover5ee as have vet been made. ~
artedate those q Greece. which would
accord with ancient Grecian traditions.
According 20 those traditions. the early
Creek civilization that Is. the early Ny
eeraean was dependent. q some extent
mon that OF Crete This hsing the case.
r. is not rernarkahle that We shouid find
n the ure-Sfyceuaean and Nycenaean
ueriods written records IL Crete and none
ia Cree FfoR happens * that IN tnis
recars crete exercised n influence on
Hvcanae and Trims ard other similar
ritf.se z Cretan linear writing , - N
rasIit. as rude and un8eveioPed a. 4
sens e. re 20 hare beeui II Il had got
Bftle further than the stage q cesizra
;fon in rude symbols. which we're ~
rietoral orizia. OF obJects and nuuahers-
this would b. much more readily svF,ica-
49, thar II tAar script hss reached
much hleher stage q development y has
beer suggested that tsis Crsian i-uaf
writing carried ~ tn Fhiisstinss % ne
shores q Falasfine. may have been either
fir~etIv. or By marriage a. Il Were- WITH
The Eesptian hl@roziphhs TIE parent -
ne zo-calEed PhOeasclan ALPHABET ~
she tame TIA, lie Rouge pEossesazzied hss
theory - TIE Es5ptisa origin q The Fhoe-
Elclsn alphabet, 10 iOzser tsE~zHss %