Θαλαμοειδής τάφος Καρπάθου (Πίν. 12-26)

Abstract

In this article ( pp. 32-76 ) the author describes and comments on the contents of a chamber tomb found by chance in the vicinity of Pigadhia, the chief community of Carpathos, one of the southernmost islands of the Dodecanese. The finds include over ninety vases and a small hoard of bronze weapons, as well as a pair of lead objects. Where its provenience is concerned, the pottery may easily be distinguished into two main classes, one LM IIIA, related to the eastern workshops of Crete, and another LH IIIA (-early IIIB), with a dominant number of Rhodomycenaean affinities. Between these two main classes the author believes that he can identify a third from a local workshop (to which he also attributes earlier finds from the island) sharing common features with both Minoan and Mycenaean pottery. This fact-easily explained by the geographical position of the island midway between East Crete and Rhodes ( representing respectively the Minoan and Mycenaean centers of manufacture readily accessible to the Carpathians)—implies the independent position of the island, which continued to have free intercourse with East Crete and at the same time was in close contact with the Mycenaean world, at least through the intermediary of Rhodes.