Part II. A Faience Cylinder

In 1939 we cleared away the prickly oak scrub and excavated the rock ledge below the north temple terrace on the north summit of the acropolis of Mycenae. Here we found on the edge of the steep rock remains of a wall of largish blocks of limestone. These we believe to have been part of a Middle Helladic fortification wall running round the upper part of the acropolis. Behind this and held up by the wall were the ruins of two rooms and a thick deposit of M.H. pottery. Over this lay another stratum in which L.H. IIIB pottery was found. Here we found the splendid ivory group of two women and a boy which has already been published. Associated with it were a number of other objects, a male head in painted stucco, a sword pommel in white stone, some ornaments of gold and ivory, a number of beads of stone, paste, and faience including a lantern bead, and a cylinder of faience. The pottery, as stated, was of the L.H. IIIB style, but it was unfortunately lost in the Nauplia Museum during the war. This collection of precious objects we suggested might have belonged to the Shrine of the Palace, which we believe can be be recognized in a small room with a cement floor underlying the western foundations of the temples built here in classical times over part of the ruins of the Mycenaean Palace

Acropolis · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Clearance · Geography · Polychrome · Pottery · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Geology · History · Law, logistics, and international trade · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

• The Topography and History of Beth-Shan

  Alfredo Fontes, A C et al.•Geographical Journal•1931

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• The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan

  G Ernest Wright, Alan Rowe•The Jewish Quarterly Review•1942

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