On the eastern slope
of the hill, in a deposit of pale clay, were found fragments of
the black, hand-made, polished pottery, known as 'bucchero,'
characteristic of neolithic sites, some of it, as usual, decorated
with incised patterns filled in with white. This pottery was coupled
with stone celts and maces, obsidian knives, and a primitive female
image of incised and inlaid clay. All over the palace area, as the
excavations went farther and farther down, the neolithic deposit
was found to overlie the virgin soil, sometimes to a depth of 24
feet, showing that the site had been thickly populated in remote
prehistoric times.
But the neolithic deposit was not the most striking find. On the
south-west side of the site there came to light a spacious paved
court, opening before walls faced with huge blocks of gypsum. At
the southern corner of this court stood a portico, which afforded
access to this portion of the interior of the palace. The portico
had a double door, whose lintel had once been supported by a massive
central column of wood. The wall flanking the entrance had been
decorated with a fresco, part of which represented that favourite
subject of Mycenaean and Minoan art--a great bull; while on the
walls of the corridor which led away from the portal were still
preserved the lower portions of a procession of life-size painted
figures.
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