Part IV. Prehistoric Cemetery: A Deposit of L.H. III Pottery

Abstract

In 1939, following up the suggestion of Tsountas that Schliemann's Grave Circle with the tombs found under the houses round it had once formed part of a Prehistoric Cemetery which had been, so to speak, cut in two when the Lion Gate and Cyclopean Citadel Wall were built, we excavated an area north-west of the Lion Gate outside the walls in the hope of finding tombs belonging to the Cemetery. We were not disappointed and we found fifteen tombs ranging in date from Middle Helladic to Late Helladic II. A report of this discovery with an account of the tombs has already been published.In 1950 one of the objects of our excavation was to extend the exploration outside the Cyclopean walls of this area, now known as the Prehistoric Cemetery. The south-west corner of the area already excavated had proved to be rich in M.H. tombs (Graves XI, XIII–XV). We decided, therefore, to clear the immediately adjoining section to the south-east, where we hoped to find other graves of the Cemetery. The excavation was entrusted to Miss D. H. F. Gray, and her notebook has been freely drawn upon in the preparation of this report.The part excavated divides naturally, as will be seen by the plan (Fig. 2), into a northern and a southern division which are separated by an east–west cross–wall (A–A on the plan). This wall is the eastern continuation of a wall found in the south-western area in 1939 just to the south of Grave XIII. Immediately to the east of Grave XIII the wall is crossed by a north–south wall, B–B, at a higher level. This later wall seems almost certainly Hellenistic, for it belongs to the uppermost strata of the area which contained Hellenistic tiles, loom weights, and pottery. It runs northwards for about 2·50 m. to 3·00 m. and then returns at a right angle eastwards, C–C, forming the southern boundary of the area excavated in 1939. The return at its east end runs into another, rather irregular north–south Hellenistic wall, D–D, which we took as the limit of our excavations in this direction.