Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/351

 3=6 escarped, which were applied against the sides of the graves to harrow the hollow/ Having heard that one of the slabs was actually found on a corpse, it became clear to him that it had not been intentionally put there, since nothing of the sort had been detected in the other graves. Discarding the cremation theory as untenable, we are none the less obliged to account for the many pieces of wood found at the bottom of the pits. If these were to be filled immediately after interment, why have needlessly complicated the work by making the walls lean against the rock? If walls were built here, it is because they had the covering or lid of the grave to carry, so as to make it fast {Fig. 109). The masonry at the sides of the vats was carried ■ up to within a few inches of the upper rim, leaving an off-set on which rested the beam-ends supporting the slate slabs. Over them was piled much earth, carefully beaten down, so that nothing should betray the site of the tomb ; but it could be re- opened without difficulty for the reception of a new inmate, by simple removal of the lid and a couple or so of beams. The traces of disturbance noticed by Schliemann in the fifth grave are best accounted for by a later inhumation, than to attempts to rifle the place ; furthermore, his assumption ill accords with the rich ofier- ings which he found in it. The results of the excavations are in perfect agreement with the notion we have gained of the shaft-graves. As stated above, ample room had been provided for the body and the furniture,
 * Gkkeck: Mvcknian Art.