[650] Cf. especially Dörpfeld, Ath. Mitteilungen, XXXII 600 ff.
[651] Cf. Dörpfeld, Ath. Mitt., XXXII vi ff. Dr Dörpfeld however holds (ib., p. 595 ff.) that 'Late Minoan II' and 'Late Minoan III' were contemporaneous and assigns both styles to a period (B.C. 1400-1100) considerably later than English archaeologists will allow for the former.
[652] One of the chief arguments for this view is that the tombs show traces of cremation. But account must be taken of the possibility that they may have belonged to an earlier (Arcadian?) stratum of Greek population.
[653] Cf. Dawkins, Journ. Hell. St., XXVII 296, where it is suggested that the tomb first explored may have belonged possibly to the ancestors of Nestor.
[654] The great majority of the sherds found in the ruins of the citadel were of that monochrome type which has been met with elsewhere on the west coast of Greece (Leucas, Olympia, etc.) and which Dr Dörpfeld regards as the native pottery of the Achaeans; cf. Ath. Mitt., XXXII xv f. Some sherds of the same type were found in the tombs together with the remains of Mycenean vases. Only six fragments of Mycenean pottery were found in the citadel.
[655] This explanation is rejected by Dr Dörpfeld (Ath. Mitt., XXXIII 316); but there does not appear to be any definite evidence that the citadel was destroyed soon after the construction of the tombs.
[656] The general effect of recent discoveries has been to bring out a closer resemblance between the Cretan and mainland deposits than had hitherto been suspected (cf. Evans, Scripta Minoa, I p. 55 f.). The affinities too are by no means confined to portable objects. In particular note should be taken of the wall-paintings at Thebes and elsewhere—more especially those recently discovered at Tiryns, which belong to two distinct periods (cf. Rodenwaldt, Ath. Mitt., XXXVI 198 ff.). The resemblance of these to similar paintings from Crete is very marked, yet perhaps scarcely sufficient as yet to prove that the possessors of Tiryns were of Cretan origin.
[657] For the Aegean connections of the sea-peoples see p. [190] f. Account is also to be taken of the deposits found in the foreign settlements at Gurob and elsewhere in the Fayum, to which belonged the tomb of An-Tursha ('Pillar of the Tursha or Thuirsha'). These deposits cover a period of about two centuries, from the reign of Amenhotep III to that of Sety II or slightly later—a period corresponding practically to that in which we find historical references to the sea-peoples. They contained many stirrup-vases and other objects of Aegean origin. A peculiar custom which prevailed here was that of burning a man's personal effects—presumably at death—in a hole cut in the floor of the house. No human remains were found in these holes, the bodies being buried in cemeteries according to Egyptian fashion; but it has been suggested that the practice may have been due to a former custom of cremation (cf. Petrie, Illahun, Kahun and Gurob, p. 16 ff.).
[658] When Shardina alone are mentioned account must of course be taken of the possibility that this name is representative of a class. The Egyptian mercenaries, like those of the Hittites and Libyans, may really have been drawn from a number of similar peoples who were collectively known under the name which had first become familiar in Egypt.