Fortetsa: Early Greek Tombs Near Knossos, (Paperback)

This 1957 book describes a series of early Greek tombs, unwittingly discovered in 1933 on the slopes of the Acropolis of Knossos in Crete by a peasant. The excavation was carried out in 1933 and 1935 by two former Directors of the British School of Archaeology at Athens, Humfry Payne and Alan Blakeway, both of whom died before the material could be prepared for preparation. It was eventually presented by one of the members of their party, James Brock, on behalf of the British School. The tombs are described as far as possible in chronological order, so that the illustrations of their contents convey an impression of the development of Cretan art. The catalogue contains more than 1300 vases, nearly all of them complete and many of the highest quality. From detailed analyses of the pottery, a continuous sequence of ceramic phases, spanning nearly four centuries, can be established.