DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0039
/TRADITIONAL ANATOLIAN CONNEXIONS 15
from Egypt or owing to some coast-wise drift of commerce from Cyprus, where
copper implements seem to have been fabricated from a very remote period.
In House B of the lower layer, near the hearth, was found a black Amulet
steatite object, perforated evidently for suspension, in the shape of a minia- stone
ture stone axe of the thicker variety. It was evidently worn as a charm, Axe'
and we have here interesting evidence that the use of such for talismanic
purposes goes back in Crete into the Stone Age itself. In this case there-
fore the practice cannot have been due to any mystery regarding the origin
of these objects such as led them in the Age of Metals to be regarded as
' thunder-stones'. Of stone double axes there is no trace in the Cretan
Neolithic deposits and the first evidence of any weapon of that form is
supplied by the miniature copper examples of E. M. II date from a tomb
excavated at Mochlos. Both the type and the particular form of cult seem
to have reached the Island from the Anatolian side. It is always possible,
however, that beliefs attaching to the earlier stone axes may have been
assimilated in the later cult.
A curious object (Fig. 5, c) found near the same spot in House B as Amuletic
the miniature axe pendant may also have served an amuletic purpose. It pe
is a small, naturally shaped, slightly rolled pebble of a dark stone that has
been decorated on all its faces with minute borings, originally filled with
chalky inlay, thus resembling the pricked ornament of the pottery. There
also occurred in different parts of the area three glittering pieces of specular
iron ore which may also have been preserved as charms.
Two fragmentary mace-heads came to light, both in stratum /3. One of Stone
these, Fig. 3, k, shows a rapidly expanding outline, recalling certain proto- heads.
Egyptian types: it is of white marble, a non-Cretan material, resembling
that of the Cycladic marble figurines. The other mace-head, Fig. 3, /, is of
a variegated stone with bluish, quartzite veins, shot with ore, and seems to
be a variety of the same stone as that represented by the large vase fragment
described below, with which it is compared in Fig. 7, a 3.
. Most important of all among the objects found in this late Neolithic Frag-
deposit were the fragments of stone vessels which occurred in both layers. 0f st0ne
In stratum a, near the floor level of the chamber of House A, marked 15, vesseIs-
occurred the base of a small mottled limestone pot showing clear traces of
turning within, due to a tubular drill, and enough of the sides to show that they
were quite vertical. As conjecturally restored1 (Fig. 6) it closely resembles, Proto-
Egyptian
1 It may, of course, have been higher than appeared by the proto-dynastic Age (compare type"
as here restored. The waved band so charac- upright alabaster types, R. Tombs, ii, PI. LI h).
teristic of this class of vessel has often dis-
from Egypt or owing to some coast-wise drift of commerce from Cyprus, where
copper implements seem to have been fabricated from a very remote period.
In House B of the lower layer, near the hearth, was found a black Amulet
steatite object, perforated evidently for suspension, in the shape of a minia- stone
ture stone axe of the thicker variety. It was evidently worn as a charm, Axe'
and we have here interesting evidence that the use of such for talismanic
purposes goes back in Crete into the Stone Age itself. In this case there-
fore the practice cannot have been due to any mystery regarding the origin
of these objects such as led them in the Age of Metals to be regarded as
' thunder-stones'. Of stone double axes there is no trace in the Cretan
Neolithic deposits and the first evidence of any weapon of that form is
supplied by the miniature copper examples of E. M. II date from a tomb
excavated at Mochlos. Both the type and the particular form of cult seem
to have reached the Island from the Anatolian side. It is always possible,
however, that beliefs attaching to the earlier stone axes may have been
assimilated in the later cult.
A curious object (Fig. 5, c) found near the same spot in House B as Amuletic
the miniature axe pendant may also have served an amuletic purpose. It pe
is a small, naturally shaped, slightly rolled pebble of a dark stone that has
been decorated on all its faces with minute borings, originally filled with
chalky inlay, thus resembling the pricked ornament of the pottery. There
also occurred in different parts of the area three glittering pieces of specular
iron ore which may also have been preserved as charms.
Two fragmentary mace-heads came to light, both in stratum /3. One of Stone
these, Fig. 3, k, shows a rapidly expanding outline, recalling certain proto- heads.
Egyptian types: it is of white marble, a non-Cretan material, resembling
that of the Cycladic marble figurines. The other mace-head, Fig. 3, /, is of
a variegated stone with bluish, quartzite veins, shot with ore, and seems to
be a variety of the same stone as that represented by the large vase fragment
described below, with which it is compared in Fig. 7, a 3.
. Most important of all among the objects found in this late Neolithic Frag-
deposit were the fragments of stone vessels which occurred in both layers. 0f st0ne
In stratum a, near the floor level of the chamber of House A, marked 15, vesseIs-
occurred the base of a small mottled limestone pot showing clear traces of
turning within, due to a tubular drill, and enough of the sides to show that they
were quite vertical. As conjecturally restored1 (Fig. 6) it closely resembles, Proto-
Egyptian
1 It may, of course, have been higher than appeared by the proto-dynastic Age (compare type"
as here restored. The waved band so charac- upright alabaster types, R. Tombs, ii, PI. LI h).
teristic of this class of vessel has often dis-