DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0038
Copper
Axe.
14 LATE NEOLITHIC HOUSES BENEATH CENTRAL COURT
with a finely chipped edge. Another flake, Fig. 5, 3, was of a peculiar
transparent quality such as is unknown in Melos and has now been traced to
the small volcanic island of Yah—' Glass Island'—between Nisyros and
Kos.1 It has a cutting edge which shows signs of use, but must have been
sharp as a razor. A flake of rock crystal also occurred. Taking the stone
implements as a whole it will be seen that no falling off is perceptible in the
concluding Neolithic stage either as regards fabric or the choice of materials.
Fig. 5. Small Objects from Neolithic Houses, a. Obsidian (Melos) (^). b. Ob-
sidian (Yali). c. Dark Stone, d, e. Black Steatite. /. Marbled Stone, g. Terra-
cotta, (i EXCEPT WHERE SPECIFIED.)
As regards implements, however, the surprise of the Excavation was
the discovery of a copper axe (Fig. 3,/) of a simple flat form on the pebble
floor of a ' store cell' of House A, in a pure Neolithic element, in company
with the handled pot, Fig. 3, r, and 25 cm. beneath the floor of the upper,
equally Neolithic, stratum (/3). A similar pot, having by it part of a red
jasper chisel, was found in the adjoining cell under the same stratigraphic con-
ditions. That copper was worked in Crete at this time is highly improbable
and it is more likely that the axe had reached the site of Knossos either
1 See A. della Seta, Rivista Archeologica noticed similar examples in the early ossuary
Italiana di Atene, Dicembre 1922, and Fig. 8. tholoi {Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, transl.
Flakes of this material were found in Kos in Droop, p. 105).
the Cave oi'kcnrpr) Jlerpa. Dr. Xanthudides
Axe.
14 LATE NEOLITHIC HOUSES BENEATH CENTRAL COURT
with a finely chipped edge. Another flake, Fig. 5, 3, was of a peculiar
transparent quality such as is unknown in Melos and has now been traced to
the small volcanic island of Yah—' Glass Island'—between Nisyros and
Kos.1 It has a cutting edge which shows signs of use, but must have been
sharp as a razor. A flake of rock crystal also occurred. Taking the stone
implements as a whole it will be seen that no falling off is perceptible in the
concluding Neolithic stage either as regards fabric or the choice of materials.
Fig. 5. Small Objects from Neolithic Houses, a. Obsidian (Melos) (^). b. Ob-
sidian (Yali). c. Dark Stone, d, e. Black Steatite. /. Marbled Stone, g. Terra-
cotta, (i EXCEPT WHERE SPECIFIED.)
As regards implements, however, the surprise of the Excavation was
the discovery of a copper axe (Fig. 3,/) of a simple flat form on the pebble
floor of a ' store cell' of House A, in a pure Neolithic element, in company
with the handled pot, Fig. 3, r, and 25 cm. beneath the floor of the upper,
equally Neolithic, stratum (/3). A similar pot, having by it part of a red
jasper chisel, was found in the adjoining cell under the same stratigraphic con-
ditions. That copper was worked in Crete at this time is highly improbable
and it is more likely that the axe had reached the site of Knossos either
1 See A. della Seta, Rivista Archeologica noticed similar examples in the early ossuary
Italiana di Atene, Dicembre 1922, and Fig. 8. tholoi {Vaulted Tombs of Mesara, transl.
Flakes of this material were found in Kos in Droop, p. 105).
the Cave oi'kcnrpr) Jlerpa. Dr. Xanthudides