DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15680#0265
THE SUCCESSIVE SETTLEMENTS AT PHYLAKOPI. 245
obsidian was known in Melos, for implements in this inaterial were found in
the tombs of Pelos.1 Melos itself possesses vast natural supplies of this
volcanic substance, and it is certain that already by the time of the early
First City the possession of this material and the working of it formed the
chief source of prosperity at Phylakopi. The Superlative importance of the
possession is enhanced by the fact that Melos is the only site in the Aegean
known to possess obsidian. The great neighbour of Melos to the south, the
island of Crete, has no obsidian, so that the Cretan implements of this
material are almost certainly from Melian obsidian if not manufactured in
part in Melos itself.2
This fact opens up a long vista in the history of the early intercourse
between Crete and Melos; for on the evidence this intercourse between the
two islands must have lasted onwards from the time of the early cist-
tombs to the era when the general use of obsidian implements begins to
decline. The Melian obsidian industry must, however, have had markets
further afield than Crete. Obsidian is not known to exist on the European
side of the Aegean area anywhere nearer Greece than Hungary, Lipari,
and Pantelleria, or on the Asiatic side anywhere nearer than Eussian
Armenia.:i Thus the obsidian weapons of Tiiyns, Mycenae, and even of Troy,
are all probably derived from the Melian market.4
The areas of supply in the case of flint are much morc common than are
the sources of obsidian, but in this prehistoric industry also Melos probably
played quite an important rölc in the Aegean commerce of that period.
Thus the obsidian site of Komia in E. Melos gives place northwards to a
fünt region that extends all the way to Phylakopi. The füntsaws (p. 194) of
Phylakopi, as well as the chipped shore-pebbles for striking fire, so common on
the site, are probably most if not all of them from this region.5
That this industry in obsidian attained to considerable proportions at
Phylakopi during the period represented by the remains of the First Settle-
ment is evidenced by the large dimensions of the waste-heap of rejected cores,
flakes and chips from the obsidian work-shop, contiguous to house-walls of
this era at the wcst end of the site, to which reference has already been
made. To the same early period must be assigned the origins of the vast
deposits of refuse from obsidian work-shojis which form so characteristic a
feature of the great quarries at Komia and Adamanta. The remains of early
walls on both sites probably belong to the work-shops and huts of the quarry-
workers from the great emporium at Phylakopi.
There is evidence enough that once the obsidian trade was started at
the prehistoric capital of Melos and at its dependent stations at Komia and
1 B.S.A. iii. 42.
a Lumps of obsidian found at Cnossos I
recognised as identical in oharacter with the
kind of obsidian existing in the great quarry
\Y. of Adamanta in Melos. For the Melian
obsidian quarries, see above pp. 21G-8. For a
possihle early source of supply to the west of
Phylakopi, see p. 236.
:' See Hoernes, Urgeschichte der Kunst, 699;
Aton. Auf. Lim: ix. 457, 4(i4 ; and B.8.A. iv. 2.
4 In Troja und Won, 387, Melos is cited as
the possible source of supply for prehistoric
Troy.
5 See B.S.A. iii. 77, and p. 224 above.
obsidian was known in Melos, for implements in this inaterial were found in
the tombs of Pelos.1 Melos itself possesses vast natural supplies of this
volcanic substance, and it is certain that already by the time of the early
First City the possession of this material and the working of it formed the
chief source of prosperity at Phylakopi. The Superlative importance of the
possession is enhanced by the fact that Melos is the only site in the Aegean
known to possess obsidian. The great neighbour of Melos to the south, the
island of Crete, has no obsidian, so that the Cretan implements of this
material are almost certainly from Melian obsidian if not manufactured in
part in Melos itself.2
This fact opens up a long vista in the history of the early intercourse
between Crete and Melos; for on the evidence this intercourse between the
two islands must have lasted onwards from the time of the early cist-
tombs to the era when the general use of obsidian implements begins to
decline. The Melian obsidian industry must, however, have had markets
further afield than Crete. Obsidian is not known to exist on the European
side of the Aegean area anywhere nearer Greece than Hungary, Lipari,
and Pantelleria, or on the Asiatic side anywhere nearer than Eussian
Armenia.:i Thus the obsidian weapons of Tiiyns, Mycenae, and even of Troy,
are all probably derived from the Melian market.4
The areas of supply in the case of flint are much morc common than are
the sources of obsidian, but in this prehistoric industry also Melos probably
played quite an important rölc in the Aegean commerce of that period.
Thus the obsidian site of Komia in E. Melos gives place northwards to a
fünt region that extends all the way to Phylakopi. The füntsaws (p. 194) of
Phylakopi, as well as the chipped shore-pebbles for striking fire, so common on
the site, are probably most if not all of them from this region.5
That this industry in obsidian attained to considerable proportions at
Phylakopi during the period represented by the remains of the First Settle-
ment is evidenced by the large dimensions of the waste-heap of rejected cores,
flakes and chips from the obsidian work-shop, contiguous to house-walls of
this era at the wcst end of the site, to which reference has already been
made. To the same early period must be assigned the origins of the vast
deposits of refuse from obsidian work-shojis which form so characteristic a
feature of the great quarries at Komia and Adamanta. The remains of early
walls on both sites probably belong to the work-shops and huts of the quarry-
workers from the great emporium at Phylakopi.
There is evidence enough that once the obsidian trade was started at
the prehistoric capital of Melos and at its dependent stations at Komia and
1 B.S.A. iii. 42.
a Lumps of obsidian found at Cnossos I
recognised as identical in oharacter with the
kind of obsidian existing in the great quarry
\Y. of Adamanta in Melos. For the Melian
obsidian quarries, see above pp. 21G-8. For a
possihle early source of supply to the west of
Phylakopi, see p. 236.
:' See Hoernes, Urgeschichte der Kunst, 699;
Aton. Auf. Lim: ix. 457, 4(i4 ; and B.8.A. iv. 2.
4 In Troja und Won, 387, Melos is cited as
the possible source of supply for prehistoric
Troy.
5 See B.S.A. iii. 77, and p. 224 above.