EARLY MINOAN III

125

square divisions leads us to a remarkable series of comparisons. It is in fact

a Minoan draught-board and in the triangular object beneath the hand of the Draught-

seated personage we must recognize a conical draughtsman.1 p ayer.

a bed
Fig. 93 b. Three-Sided Steatite Bead-seals from Central Crete: a, Specimen
showing End; b, e, d Another Example [b illustrates the 'Double Sickle') (f).

The design on the six-faced ivory signet from the early tholos of
H. Triada (Fig. 93 c, a'2) leads us a step further. It is a Minoan adaptation
of the Egyptian ' draught-board ' sign men {b, c) as it appears already on

proto-dynastic cylinders (Fig. 93 c, and
the draughtsmen here show the characteristic
knobbed head. The lon^-robed women of
Fig. 93 a, b 1, adoring a rayed solar symbol,
already wear the peaked collars or cowls that
survived as a Middle Minoan fashion. The
similarly clad figure on c 1 is a female potter.
d 1 recalls the crocodiles of the cylinders.

A type of perforated amulet of steatite, in
the shape of a human leg, belonging to the later

Signet (Fracture restored). elements Qf tne ossuary tholoi, takes us in the
b, e, Earlv Types of Egyptian . - ,

Draught-Board Sign (men). e, 'f, same direction as the double sickle on the

Egyptian Pieces. bead-seals. Similar pendants occur in Egyptian

graves belonging to the Sixth Dynasty and immediately succeeding Period.4
They were invariably attached as amulets to the anklets of the dead, arm-
shaped pendants being suspended from the wrists.

This contact with primitive Nilotic elements also gives a suggestive
interest to the appearance of clay burial cists and jars, both lidded, containing

Adapta-
tion of
Egyptian
Draught-
board

□ □□□

□ □□□

Fig. 93 c. a, Draught-Board
and Pieces on E. M. Ill Ivory

Leg

Amulets :
Parallels
from
Egypt.

1 Inverted conical draughtsmen above a
board are seen on an Early Dynastic Egyptian
cylinder (Petrie, Scarabs and Cylinders with
Names, PI. II, 49, and cf. PI. IV, 98).

2 Halbherr, Rendiconti, &c, 1906, p. 33,
Fig. C. But the subject remained enigmatic.

" b from sealing of Narmer, Petrie, Royal
Tombs, II, 93 (cf. Mena); c. from cartouche of
Queen Hatasu (for comparison).

4 e. g. at Mahasna. J. Garstang, AfaMsna,
PI. XXXIX and p. 30.

Burial
Urns and
Clay
Cists ;