Part III. A Possible Middle Helladic Fortification Wall

Abstract

Schliemann on his plan of the acropolis of Mycenae marks a terrace wall on the north-west corner of the ‘summit’. Steffen on his plan of the acropolis marks the same wall as one of his ‘kyklopische Stutz- u. Abschnittsmauern’. Dr. Leicester Holland included the wall in his plan of the palace made during our excavations there in 1920–23. Then we thought that this wall was a terrace wall which supported the end of the inclined roadway which climbed the Citadel from the Ramp to the north-west Propylon (9) of the Palace with its paved forecourt (7).In 1939 in excavating the rock shelf to the east of the Guardroom (3, 4) and below the terrace wall which supports the temple foundations on the north, we found a much ruined wall (Fig. 7, Z) on the very edge of the rock shelf, which here drops abruptly to the north. This wall was associated with a Middle Helladic deposit. Above this lay a somewhat disturbed Late Helladic stratum where the splendid ivory group of two women and a boy was discovered. The wall is a packed construction of largish stones about 1·25 m. thick, and the deposit behind it rests in a hollow in the rock and was at most 1·25 m. deep.