DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0253
THE OBSIDIAN TRADE.
233
Age or the early Iron Age even furnished an instrument that could compare
with it in point of sharpness.'1
The wide diffusion of obsidian Fragments in the soil of Greece may be
illustrated by Finlay's observations in Attica. He picked up specimens at
Marathon, Kephissia, Liosia (bis estate to the east of Tatoi, not the village
on the road to Phyle), Kakosalesi (beyond Tatoi), Hagios Kosmas (near
Trakhones on the coast south of Phalerum), and various places in the Meso-
gaia.2 Probably they would be found, if properly looked for, in many parts
of the Peloponnese and of Northern Greece, regions where their presence
has hitherto been but rarely recorded. In all the tainted evidenco which I
have feit obliged to set aside, there are no names more plausible or that one
would more willingly believe authentic than those of Salagora, the port of
Arta, and Mesolonghi, places that might well have received cargoes of
obsidian and transmitted it to the interior. Dr. Dörpfeld found flakes in the
prehistoric settlement which he has excavated on the east coast of Leucas ;
it would not be surprising if the commerce extended much further up the
Adriatic.
There is an equal dearth of recorded finds along the coast of Asia Minor
and the adjacent Islands. Troy excepted, I know only of a flake in the
Leyden Museum labclled ' Smyrna,' and a microscopic chip embedded in a
fragment of pottery, probably pre-Mycenaean, found by Mr. J. L. Myres at
Kadi Kaie near Myndus in Caria. Archaeologists should always record the
discovery of obsidian ; it should be sought especially in the countries on the
circumference of the Aegean area, Epirus, Macedonia, Asia Minor and North
Africa. In deposits it does not afford so precise a date-mark as pottery of
known fabrics but it is always of value as an index of commercial relations;
found on the surface it may be a clue to the whereabouts of a Bronze Age
settlement.
Some day, when more evidence has been collected, it may be possible to
map the Obsidian Koutes of the ancient Aegean world and to show in detail
how during 3,000 years or more the traffic flowed in the same immemorial
Channels. It began in the Neolithic Age, it outlived the Bronze Age, and
the span of its existence was as long as the interval that has elaj)sed since
its extinction. One important conclusion results from the study of its
successive phases—during all that period there was far more navigation and
commerce in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean than historians have
hitherto been Willing to admit. .
R, C. BOSANQUET.
1 Op. ri/, p. 420. Collecliou Finlay, p. 4 ; Lambros, 'larupiKal
- Cf. Finlay, napaT7)p?'j(reis, p. 1(> ; Ihiuiont, MeAeVai, Chapter 1.
233
Age or the early Iron Age even furnished an instrument that could compare
with it in point of sharpness.'1
The wide diffusion of obsidian Fragments in the soil of Greece may be
illustrated by Finlay's observations in Attica. He picked up specimens at
Marathon, Kephissia, Liosia (bis estate to the east of Tatoi, not the village
on the road to Phyle), Kakosalesi (beyond Tatoi), Hagios Kosmas (near
Trakhones on the coast south of Phalerum), and various places in the Meso-
gaia.2 Probably they would be found, if properly looked for, in many parts
of the Peloponnese and of Northern Greece, regions where their presence
has hitherto been but rarely recorded. In all the tainted evidenco which I
have feit obliged to set aside, there are no names more plausible or that one
would more willingly believe authentic than those of Salagora, the port of
Arta, and Mesolonghi, places that might well have received cargoes of
obsidian and transmitted it to the interior. Dr. Dörpfeld found flakes in the
prehistoric settlement which he has excavated on the east coast of Leucas ;
it would not be surprising if the commerce extended much further up the
Adriatic.
There is an equal dearth of recorded finds along the coast of Asia Minor
and the adjacent Islands. Troy excepted, I know only of a flake in the
Leyden Museum labclled ' Smyrna,' and a microscopic chip embedded in a
fragment of pottery, probably pre-Mycenaean, found by Mr. J. L. Myres at
Kadi Kaie near Myndus in Caria. Archaeologists should always record the
discovery of obsidian ; it should be sought especially in the countries on the
circumference of the Aegean area, Epirus, Macedonia, Asia Minor and North
Africa. In deposits it does not afford so precise a date-mark as pottery of
known fabrics but it is always of value as an index of commercial relations;
found on the surface it may be a clue to the whereabouts of a Bronze Age
settlement.
Some day, when more evidence has been collected, it may be possible to
map the Obsidian Koutes of the ancient Aegean world and to show in detail
how during 3,000 years or more the traffic flowed in the same immemorial
Channels. It began in the Neolithic Age, it outlived the Bronze Age, and
the span of its existence was as long as the interval that has elaj)sed since
its extinction. One important conclusion results from the study of its
successive phases—during all that period there was far more navigation and
commerce in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean than historians have
hitherto been Willing to admit. .
R, C. BOSANQUET.
1 Op. ri/, p. 420. Collecliou Finlay, p. 4 ; Lambros, 'larupiKal
- Cf. Finlay, napaT7)p?'j(reis, p. 1(> ; Ihiuiont, MeAeVai, Chapter 1.