Destruction and Construction in the Palace at Knossos: LM IA - B

This paper presents recent evidence for such an earthquake, whether or not connected with the eruption of Thera, as well as for construction after this event. Evidence from Evans's excavations is discussed in this light, particularly from the Domestic Quarter where, alongside evidence for destruction and construction, occurs an example where destruction debris was never cleared out, resulting in the blocking of the main drainage system throughout LM IB. The question is then asked whether reconstruction and repair in the Palace had been completed by the end of the period following the Theran eruption.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this paper is to present a small amount of new evidence for an earthquake destruction at Knossos at the end of LM IA followed by reconstruction, and to combine this with Evans's evidence from certain other parts of the Palace in order to make some tentative remarks concerning the state of the Palace in the years immediately following the eruption of Thera.

Given the absence of evidence for tephra fall-out at Knossos, archaeologists have been attracted by the idea of a causal connection between the earthquake destruction at Knossos at the end of LM IA and the Theran eruption (e.g. Hood 1978, 684). Such a hypothesis remains unproven and it is unlikely that archaeological investigation at Knossos can help unless earthquake damage is accompanied by direct evidence of the eruption in the form of tephra fall-out such as has been discovered on Kos and Rhodes. At the last Congress, Mr Hood asked about the possibility of a connection between earthquake and eruption; no such link could be postulated if the earthquake happened more than two years before or after the eruption (see Thera and the Aegean World II, 270, 275). Again, the archaeologist cannot help, since even the most sensitive dating of ceramics can never be that sensitive. For Knossian history, however, the cause of the earthquake, if such it was, is perhaps less important than the effects and long term consequences, and it is this aspect which is approached here.

RECENT EXCAVATION IN THE SOUTH-WEST AREA OF THE PALACE

In 1987, under the direction of Mr Hood, the British School at Athens undertook a series of investigations within and on the borders of the Palace at Knossos. Each investigation had specific aims; excavation in the south-west, to the east of the Corridor of the Procession, attempted to elucidate the earlier history of the area beginning with the knowledge from Mr Hood's 1973 trials that a substantial deposit of Middle Minoan IIA pottery along with clay sealings and faience existed in Early Magazine A (Catling 1973-74, 34). Six tests were made named DVII.16-22 after Pendlebury's system (Fig. 1, 2).

In Area 16, it took some time to reach the rest of Mr Hood's MM IIA deposit due to the existence of a substantial fill with mature but uninspiring LM IA pottery (Fig. 3). This sloped down to the south up to and under a well-preserved wall, Delta (Fig. 4). Its foundations comprised cut blocks apparently thrown into the bottom of this cutting which had removed some of the MM IIA deposit and earth floor. The pottery in this foundation trench gives a terminus post quem for the construction of Wall Delta. That cut blocks had, in a sense, been wasted for foundations, could indicate relatively rapid construction after the collapse of a wall or walls due to an earthquake. No evidence of burning was found amongst the debris. Further evidence can be adduced to support the earthquake idea since Wall Delta was built up against and parallel with an even more substantial wall, Kappa, which itself had been constructed at the MM IIIB / LM IA transition. Several metres of burnt destruction debris were found in a test made in DVII.17 (Fig. 5, bottom left). The construction of Wall Delta had the effect of strengthening Wall Kappa, presumably in order to withstand future earthquakes.

To the west, in DVII.20, next to the Corridor of the Procession (Fig. 1, 2), further evidence of construction was discovered. Before excavation (Fig. 6), the area comprised a gypsum door-jamb base marking the position of a door which should have opened onto a tiny area in front of the south façade of Wall Kappa. Architecturally, this seemed a most unlikely original arrangement, and there existed the possibility that, when the door was in use, Walls Kappa and Delta had terminated before the east wall of the Corridor of the Procession (Wall Upsilon). Indeed, this arrangement is indicated in Fyfe's 1902 plan of the Palace (Evans 1901-2, Pl. 1).

The floor associated with the door-jamb base had disappeared, although a fragment of a gypsum slab found next to it may have once been part of the floor (Fig. 6). As soon as excavation began, a number of small conical cups were found which could have been associated with the simple foundation deposit for the laying of the floor. This hypothesis seems to be strengthened by the discovery of a hollow dug into an MM IB deposit immediately north of the door-jamb base. In it were found a spiral-decorated cup-rhyton and two clay, melon-shaped loomweights (Fig. 8) of the kind well known from Knossos (e.g. Catling et al. 1979, Fig. 43-44; Warren 1980-81, Fig. 42).

Furthermore, cleaning of the section below Wall Kappa revealed a line of white gypsum which can plausibly be identified as the remnants of a floor. Its depth corresponds well with the door-jamb base; the level is indicated by an ink line in Fig. 7. Thus, the west ends of Walls Delta and Kappa appear to be later blockings, and when the gypsum floor was in use, the door led into a kind of corridor in the direction of the West Magazines to the north.

The date of the foundation deposit in DVII.20 is crucial for the construction event represented here; there is no evidence of destruction followed by construction, yet could the laying of the floor have occurred at the same time as Wall Delta was built - i.e. after the earthquake at the end of LM IA? The decoration of the cup-rhyton is merely LM I, but the shape itself is probably LM IB. This is not the place to present detailed arguments for such a date and a few comments must suffice. Firstly, the shape was certainly in use during LM IB as is clear from the Stratigraphical Museum Extension Excavations at Knossos (Warren 1980-81, Fig. 27-29, 33, 37) and Professor Warren has pointed out how close the decoration of our cup-rhyton is to his kantharos (Warren 1980-81, Fig. 31). Secondly, there is no example of the shape in an unequivocal LM IA context. Having said that, two exceptions might come to mind, namely two from Deposit F of the Acropolis Houses (Catling et al. 1979, V 250-251, Fig. 31, Pl. 9d-e), and one from the deposit beneath the East-West Staircase in the Domestic Quarter (Evans 1930, 276, 279, Fig. 186c). Having examined the sherd material from Deposit F, I have concluded that it should be dated to LM IB and hope to present the evidence elsewhere. The East-West Staircase deposit is another matter since Popham (1977, 194f.) has convincingly demonstrated that Evans was correct in placing it in LM IA. It is probably pushing the evidence a little far to suggest an alternative reason for the presence of the cup-rhyton in that deposit, but it can be done, nonetheless. The deposit itself chiefly comprised 'ordinary crockery in use among the humbler inhabitants of the building' (Evans 1930, 276). It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that when the East-West Staircase was built, after the LM IA earthquake, to the destruction pottery was added the cup-rhyton as part of a foundation deposit. Whether this is fact or fantasy, the third argument for a post-earthquake date for this shape is more convincing. The most completely preserved deposit of mature LM IA pottery comes from Thera. Amongst the shapes represented there are rhyta of different kinds, yet no cup-rhyton of the type in question. The shape is, therefore, likely to post-date the last Minoan imports to Thera before the eruption.

This ceramic digression was not without purpose. The foundation deposit in DVII.20 can be seen as part of post-Theran eruption construction at Knossos before the end of LM IB and probably contemporary with the construction of Wall Delta. Whether this 'building programme' was provoked by damage due to the eruption or an unrelated but broadly contemporary earthquake, it gives the impression of having been executed quite rapidly in order to allow this part of the West Wing to function normally once more.

OTHER EVIDENCE FOR DESTRUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION AT THE END OF LM IA

The West Wing with its storage Magazines could arguably have been the most important part of the Palace in terms of its economic function. What are the priorities when some of a Palace and Town are severely damaged? Houses must be repaired for habitation and areas important as life-lines for a settlement (e.g. the West Magazines) should be restored to their former state or modernized. Certain other areas may be left to the last. It must be asked whether all damaged areas of the Palace were entirely restored or repaired after the LM IA earthquake.

The answer is not at all clear. Outside the Palace, the building of the Unexplored Mansion was interrupted. As Popham (1984, 264) says: 'The interruption of the Mansion's construction may have been caused by the earthquake of LM IA which damaged the Palace and destroyed some of the houses, and which must, in turn, have led to a demand for building labour to repair and reconstruct.' This indicates that other parts of the Palace and Town were given priority. In the West Magazines, Evans found a deposit of LM IA pottery on a floor and sealed by a later floor (Evans 1930, 280). The deposit comprised cups and amphorae as well as an illustrated (Evans 1935, 264, Fig. 195) bridge-spouted jug which few would doubt was correctly assigned to LM IA. Here again, there is evidence for an LM IA destruction followed by the laying of new floors. Elsewhere within the Palace, similar information was recovered from the porch leading up west from the Central Court to the Central Hall and Upper Staircase and from the Corridor of the Sword Tablets (Evans 1935, 879). However, the best evidence for such destruction and partial repair and new construction comes from the Domestic Quarter, described by Evans as 'a very real catastrophe' (Evans 1935, 878).

Evans (1930, 280f.) summarized the information and emphasized (Evans 1935, 872) that 'the starting point of this latest Palatial stage was a widespread ruin of a seismic nature, which set a term to the preceding LM IA phase - itself the sequel of the "Great Rebuilding" that had followed on to the still greater ruin in the mature stage of MM III.' As evidence for this, Evans concentrated on the East-West Staircase deposit which gives a terminus post quem for the construction of the stairs. As has already been mentioned, the mature LM IA date of the deposit has been confirmed by Popham although it has been suggested here that the cup-rhyton was introduced after the earthquake destruction at the time of construction of the stairs themselves.

According to Evans (1935, 878), the best evidence for an LM IA catastrophe came from the upper storey of the Domestic Quarter. To this horizon belongs debris, apparently from a shrine or storeroom for a shrine which found its way into the Lair, the Staircase closet of the Service Stairs and the lower part of Drainshaft C (Evans 1930, 401). The drainshaft deposit continued into the east drain below (Evans 1930,405) and included the well-known steatite locks (Evans 1930, Fig. 288); thought to belong to the figure of a sphinx; they could equally have belonged to a large wooden or ivory figure of a man but firm evidence is lacking. The objects found in these deposits may be of great importance to Minoan art and cult practice, but the deposits have other implications which give some indications as to the extent of restoration after the presumed LM IA earthquake. It is clear that attempts were made after the earthquake to construct and repair within the Domestic Quarter as elsewhere already described. The building of the East-West Staircase is the best example. In the Lair, a floor was laid on top of the shrine debris, 0.25 m above the earlier floor level. No attempt was made to clear the room out. More peculiar is the failure to clean out not only Drainshaft C but also the drainage system to the east, a failure which meant that the entire system from the so-called Toilet, including Shafts A, B and C, and the main drain to the East ceased to function. It was left to the occupants of the LM II - III palace to redirect water from the Court of the Distaffs by means of a stone U-shaped channel which led through the Hall of the Colonnades to the Hall of the Double Axes, to maintain some form of drainage in the Domestic Quarter. The drains themselves had evacuated not only roof and court water, but also some of that from the Central Court. During LM IB, the drains did not function at all.

It may seem strange to have laid emphasis on the fact that the drainage system of the Domestic Quarter did not function during LM IB. However, since this was one of the great achievements of Minoan engineering and since it carried out basic but very important functions, it is equally strange that they were not cleared out during a period when Knossos was meant to be flourishing. In addition, why was the construction of the Unexplored Mansion interrupted? If, as Popham has hinted, priority was given to certain areas after the LM IA earthquake and not to others, is this some indication that throughout LM IB, the process of repair and new construction was carried on but was not entirely completed by the time Mycenaeans are supposed to have taken over control of the Palace? If such is the case, might this not be one of the possible explanations for the lack of good LM IB deposits in the Palace itself? If the Palace was spared attack at the end of LM IB and much of the surrounding town destroyed, was it that repair was still in progress, the Palace was not functioning as fully as before and a weakened Knossos, both physically and economically, succumbed to the Mycenaean yolk more easily than other Minoan Palaces? Further research may provide some clues, but clear answers from within the Palace are unlikely to be forthcoming.

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