of Greece as Commissioner, an obstacle
was still found in the way in the shape of a French claim to prior
rights of excavation. This, however, was finally withdrawn on the
advice of Prince George, and in the beginning of 1900 Dr. Evans
was at last able to secure the remainder of the site, and on March
23 in that year excavation began, and was carried on with a staff
of from 80 to 150 men until the beginning of June.

Almost at once it became apparent that the faith which had fought
so persistently for the attainment of its object was going to be
rewarded. The remains of walls began to appear, sometimes only a
foot or two, sometimes only a few inches below the surface of the
soil, and by the end of the nine weeks' campaign of exploration
about two acres of a vast prehistoric building had been unearthed--a
palace which, even at this early stage in its disclosure, was already
far larger than those of Tiryns and Mycenae. On the eastern slope
of the hill, in a deposit of pale clay, were found fragments of
the black, hand-made, polished pottery, known as 'bucchero,'
characteristic of neolithic sites, some of it, as usual, decorated
with incised patterns filled in with white. This pottery was coupled
with stone celts and maces, obsidian knives, and a primitive female
image of incised and inlaid clay. All over the palace area, as the
excavations went farther and farther down, the neolithic deposit
was found to overlie the virgin soil, sometimes to a depth of 24
feet, showing that the site had been thickly populated in remote
prehistoric times.

But the neolithic deposit was not the most striking find. On the
south-west side of the site there came to light a spacious paved
court, opening before walls faced with huge blocks of gypsum. At
the southern corner of this court stood a portico, which afforded
access to this portion of the interior of the palace. The portico
had a double door, whose lintel had once been supported by a massive
central column of wood. The wall flanking the entrance had been
decorated with a fresco, part of which represented that favourite
subject of Mycenaean and Minoan art--a great bull; while on the
walls of the corridor which led away from the portal were still
preserved the lower portions of a procession of life-size painted
figures. Conspicuous among these was one figure, probably that of
a Queen, dressed in magnificent apparel, while there were also
remains of the figures of two youths, wearing go