Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/60

 General Characteristics of the Domed-Tombs. 39 which he thought had probably fallen from above when the roof gave in, and had formed a pedestal over the tomb, which sup- ^ ported some symbolic image, a stela mayhap, bearing some analogy to the cippi of the pit-graves at Mycenae.^ And he refers to the very similar situation which sphinxes occupy over the most ancient Cypriote tombs ; -^ he might, with equal pro- priety, have recalled the remarkably archaic sphinxes which have been discovered in the Attic cemeteries of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. M. Tsoundas throws out the hint that this may be the case with the rock-cut graves. Barring the entrance to one of these were two stelae, and internal evidence forbids him seeking here the place originally designed for them. One out of the pair is ornamented on its small sides and one of its faces (Fig. 229), and both are left rough below, as if meant to enter the ground. He conjectures that they were set up in the first instance either in front or above a grave ; and subsequently re-used as building material, in closing one or other of the poorest tombs of the necropolis. We cannot admit, on the authority of a single example, that it was a common practice to set up stelae of this nature at the approaches of the graves. It behoves us to wait for ampler evidence. If such a usage really existed, cippi were but temporary features, doomed to dis- appear as soon as the hypogaeum was permanently closed. The rock-cut chambers we are considering would not have eluded our researches until the other day, had they continued, when closed, to hang out some sign to the curiosity of the casual visitor. We now come to the question relating to the origin of a type of which we have described the principal varieties. Where did it come into existence ? On this point archaeologists have not been able to agree. Many of them derive domed-tombs from a conical hut, composed of unsquared timbers made to slope towards a common centre, thatched over, or covered with earth or skins. Such a hut, in fact, has been met with among a number of savages ; who, to make it warmer in winter and cooler in summer, often sink it two or three metres deep. In that case, the walls are completely buried, and flush with the surrounding soil ; a sloping passage, like the sepulchral dromos, ^ Athenische Mittheilungen, '^ Ibid,