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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0236
CHAPTER VII f.
THE OBSIDIAN TRADE.
The volcanic glass called obsidian has been used in many parts of the
world as a matcrial for knives, arrowheads, and other implements. Melos,
being the principal if not the only source from which this useful snbstance
could be obtained by the peoples of the Aegean,1 seems from very early days
to have had commercial relations not only with the neighbouring islands and
the Greek mainland, but with the coast of Asia Minor and even with Egypt.
This regulär intercourse and the prosperity resulting from it must have done
much to foster the vigorous local civilisation revealed by the excavations at
Phylakopi.
§ 1.—The Quarries.
There are two great obsidian-fields in Melos, both in the northern half
of the island (see Fig. 191 ä). One is the high bare ridge of Demenagaki near
Komia on the east coast, the other a plateau overlooking the great harbour,
between the modern port of Adamanta and the ancient Hellenic capital.8
Both localities bear the name ra Nu^ta, vvx<- (from opvxiov) being the common
word in Melos as in Grete for a flint, especially a gun-flint. The obsidian
is in the form of irregulär nodules, varying from the size of an egg to that of
a man's head, which lie embedded in a matrix of yellow pumice like currants
1 Nö oiie has yet veritied tlie deposit of
native obsidian in Kimolos, mentioned by
Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, ii. p. 358,
and oited on Iiis authority by Finlay, Bursian,
Blinkenberg, and othera; Ehrenburg, Dit Inst l-
yritppe von J/i/o.s, p. 1, denies its existence.
Fiedler rnay have been misled by the faet that
there is a region called Nüx<a i" Kimolos ; but
this takes its name from tlie white ilints which
occur there as on the north-east sliores of
Melos.
A supposed deposit in Antiparos, reported
by Theodore Bent in J.II.S. v. 1884, p. 52,
is questioned by Dümmler in Ath. Mitth. xi.
1880, p. 43, but Mr. Cordellas teils niethat it
does exist. For deposits in Thera, see Fiedler,
ii. 47ö, and Ross, liehen auf ihn gr. Inseln,
i. 180. A speeimen brought back by Finlay,
who aecompanied Ross, is not true obsidian.
The ■South Kensinglon Museum possesses a
amall pieee of native obsidian, embedded in
yellow pumice, from Samos.
- Drawn by Mr. P. Rodeek.
3 See Mr. Mackenzie's exeellent deseription
in B.S.A. iii. 189G-7, p. 77; also, for tlie ob-
sidian of Demenagaki, Fouque^ et Michel Levy.
Mineralogie microsropique, 1879, PI. xvi. 2;
and for that of Adamanta, G. vom Rath in
Silzungsb. der Niederrhein. Gen. für Nalur.
u. Heilkunde, 1887, p. öl, and Fiedler, op. cit.
ii. p. 389.
THE OBSIDIAN TRADE.
The volcanic glass called obsidian has been used in many parts of the
world as a matcrial for knives, arrowheads, and other implements. Melos,
being the principal if not the only source from which this useful snbstance
could be obtained by the peoples of the Aegean,1 seems from very early days
to have had commercial relations not only with the neighbouring islands and
the Greek mainland, but with the coast of Asia Minor and even with Egypt.
This regulär intercourse and the prosperity resulting from it must have done
much to foster the vigorous local civilisation revealed by the excavations at
Phylakopi.
§ 1.—The Quarries.
There are two great obsidian-fields in Melos, both in the northern half
of the island (see Fig. 191 ä). One is the high bare ridge of Demenagaki near
Komia on the east coast, the other a plateau overlooking the great harbour,
between the modern port of Adamanta and the ancient Hellenic capital.8
Both localities bear the name ra Nu^ta, vvx<- (from opvxiov) being the common
word in Melos as in Grete for a flint, especially a gun-flint. The obsidian
is in the form of irregulär nodules, varying from the size of an egg to that of
a man's head, which lie embedded in a matrix of yellow pumice like currants
1 Nö oiie has yet veritied tlie deposit of
native obsidian in Kimolos, mentioned by
Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, ii. p. 358,
and oited on Iiis authority by Finlay, Bursian,
Blinkenberg, and othera; Ehrenburg, Dit Inst l-
yritppe von J/i/o.s, p. 1, denies its existence.
Fiedler rnay have been misled by the faet that
there is a region called Nüx<a i" Kimolos ; but
this takes its name from tlie white ilints which
occur there as on the north-east sliores of
Melos.
A supposed deposit in Antiparos, reported
by Theodore Bent in J.II.S. v. 1884, p. 52,
is questioned by Dümmler in Ath. Mitth. xi.
1880, p. 43, but Mr. Cordellas teils niethat it
does exist. For deposits in Thera, see Fiedler,
ii. 47ö, and Ross, liehen auf ihn gr. Inseln,
i. 180. A speeimen brought back by Finlay,
who aecompanied Ross, is not true obsidian.
The ■South Kensinglon Museum possesses a
amall pieee of native obsidian, embedded in
yellow pumice, from Samos.
- Drawn by Mr. P. Rodeek.
3 See Mr. Mackenzie's exeellent deseription
in B.S.A. iii. 189G-7, p. 77; also, for tlie ob-
sidian of Demenagaki, Fouque^ et Michel Levy.
Mineralogie microsropique, 1879, PI. xvi. 2;
and for that of Adamanta, G. vom Rath in
Silzungsb. der Niederrhein. Gen. für Nalur.
u. Heilkunde, 1887, p. öl, and Fiedler, op. cit.
ii. p. 389.