Notes on the Antiquities of Mykenae

Extract

When a new field of view was opened to us some years ago by Schliemann's unearthing of Mykenae, there were no sufficient data already known to enable us to judge of the age of the civilization there presented to us. Since then the discovery of many other pre-Hellenic tombs in Greece, and the unexpected links which I have found in Egypt, afford some basis for an approximate chronology. We will therefore consider here (l) the comparisons between the objects found in the six tombs in the circle at Mykenae, and others found in Egypt, (2) the relation of these to other pre-Hellenic tombs, (3) the artistic and climatic data bearing on the Mykenaean civilization. I cannot profess these notes to be exhaustive; they are merely what occurs to a bystander who is more familiar with Egyptian archaeology; and many of the facts I am indebted to Mr. Ernest Gardner and Mr. Walter Leaf for pointing out to me, while examining the collections at Athens.

Taking the graves in the order of their numbers (as adopted in the Museum and by Furtwaengler), we find in grave I. a group of glass beads which have been greatly changed by moisture: the original colour is seen where the outer scale is broken away, it was a clear prussian blue, decomposing to white on the surface.