Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/344

MvCENyE. 319 the level of the upper rock, I reached a bed of pebbles, where I perceived, ninety centimetres distant from each other, the remains of three human bodies. They lay with their heads to the east and their feet to the west ; all three were of large proportions, and appeared to have been forcibly squeezed into the small sp^ce of only five feet six inches which was left for them between the. inner walls." ^ Six tombs in all were brought to light ; five by Schliemann to the southward of the circle, whilst the sixth was exhumed in the following year by Stamakis at the expense of the Arch- aeological Society.^ There is little or no difference between one grave and another, whether in plan or details. All are rectangular, and hollowed out in the rock ; and the bottoms of all the graves are horizontal, but they lie at different level's, according to their position on the slope, the layer of soil being much thinner towards the north than the south side, where it was washed down by the rain.^ Before the ground was disturbed by the excavations, the bottoms of the graves were found at a depth of seven, eight, or nine metres below the upper level. 1 Schliemann, Mycence. 2 Schliemann, Mycence^ does not mention Stamakis, who nevertheless, as Government delegate, gave him substantial aid. Keen-sighted and precise, he kept a diary of the excavations, which every one interested in Mycenian antiquities must wish to see published. The hopes held out by the Archaeological Society in this direction, since his untimely death, have not been realized, owing to difficulties raised by the friends of the late archaeologist. It might clear up certain points of Schliemann's narrative which have remained obscure. A paper by Milchofer, Die Ausgrabungen in Mykene^ may be consulted with profit. See also the brief but precise description of Furtwangler, Mykenische Vasen, Nor should Belger's articles which appeared in the Berliner philologische Wochenschrifty wherein Schuchardt's book is criticized in no unfriendly spirit, be left out of account. [This is an oversight. Schliemann {Mycence^ p. 30) speaks in the most flattering terms of the technical skill and the aid which he received from Stamakis. — Trans.] ^ The numbering of the graves is widely different between Schliemann and Stamakis; the former begins with the first grave which he recognized as such, but which is called fifth by the latter, because it was the last to be emptied of its contents. One numbering is as good as another; for convenience' sake, however, we follow with Sch'uchardt and Furtwangler that of Stamakis, who arranged the Mycenian collection in the Central Museum at Athens. The correspondence of the numbers is as follows — Stamakis I. — II. — III. — IV. — V. — VI. Schliemann . . . . . II. . . . V. . . . III. . . . IV. — . . . I. — . . . VI.