Early Minoan I. is thus to be equated with the earliest beginnings
of Dynastic rule in Egypt--that is to say, it dates from about
5500 B.C. if Petrie's date for the First Dynasty be adopted, or
from about 3400 B.C. if the Berlin dating be preferred. From this
period there survive no remains of building at Knossos.
_Early Minoan II_.--The distinguishing characteristic of the second
period of Early Minoan is the greater freedom and originality shown
in the designs of the vases. The style of painted decoration remains
much the same as in the preceding period; but the vases now develop
long spouts or beaks, and are the 'beak-jugs' (Schnabelkanne) of
the German archaeologists. While a tendency may be observed to vary
the straight line decoration of Early Minoan I. by the introduction
of simple curves, there is also a revival of the fashion for the
old incised geometric-patterned ware. A curious development of
this period is found in the mottled ware from Vasiliki, where the
decoration was accomplished neither by incising nor by painting a
design, but by a method of firing in which the vases, first painted
red, were so placed that the hot coals actually came into contact
with the vases at certain points, and produced black patches upon
the red paint. The resultant mottled surface was then hand-polished,
and sometimes, but more rarely, used as the medium for a design
in white.
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