DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0053
26
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
tholos B thirteen in Tholos A at Platanos,1 and three more in the small tholos, A,
metal here at Koumasa.2 Both are -09 m. long, and they measure -042 m. and
objects •
•046 m. respectively across the base, which is slightly incurved, with a small
hole near each corner to take the rivets that fastened on the wooden or bone
handle. On 1193 one can see close to the holes, but on the side away from
the base, a thin scratch marking the line to which the edge of the handle came
down over the blade.
Copper, not Bronze The red colour of the metal under the oxidation at first glance shows
it to be copper, and not bronze, and in fact the analysis of a fragment of one
of the two (1193) made by M. Vampakas, the Director of the Public Labora-
tory at Canea, established the presence of 99*280 per cent, of copper without
a trace of tin.3
The Triangular The shape of these first copper daggers, a small triangle, is typical
Dagger Q£ w}iat jg called the chalcolithic period, which in Crete covers E.M. I
and II.
This triangular form is also found elsewhere in Greece, very occasionally,
for instance, in the Cyclades,4 while Dr. Soteriades found two specimens, prob-
ably imported from Crete or the Cyclades, in a neolithic stratum at Hagia
Marina in Phocis.5 Similar daggers have been found in Italy in the Terramare 6
and in tombs of the chalcolithic age,7 and a triangular type of dagger, though
longer than the Cretan, has been found in prehistoric graves in Egypt.8
According to M. Dechelette,9 the triangular dagger is met with in most
parts of Europe, namely, in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Italy, Switzerland,
the Iberian peninsula, and Moravia, everywhere, in fact, where burials of the
beginning of the bronze age abound.
The Long Dagger The other daggers shown in Plate XXIV b are of the long type that was
evolved from the triangular and flourished in E.M. Ill and M.M. I.10 These
specimens vary in length from -11 m. to -22 m. They are not only longer,
but, as a consequence of their greater length, to prevent them from twisting
or breaking, they are all made stouter in the middle so as to form a central
ridge on each side down the whole length. In some this medial rib is only
just distinguishable, in others (1192 and 1178) it is sharp, in others again
(1176) it is a flat band, or else cord-like (1191).
1 See below, p. 106. Two more triangular 5 Revue des etudes grecques (1912), pp. 270 ff.
daggers were found in the tholos of Siva in Dussaud, op. cit., p. 185.
Mesara. Cf. Paribeni, Tombe a tholos di Siva, in 6 Mosso Ori«ini op cit p 64
Ausonia, anno VIII, pp. 13-32, figs. 12, 13, 21. ' ° ' '_ ' .
2 See below, p. 46 7 Peet> The Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy and
3 Analyses of other Cretan triangular daggers Sicily, pp. 189-190, 258-260, and 283, figs. 134-143.
made by M. Vampakas and in Italy by Sig. 8 petrie, El Amrah and Abydos, p. 40, Plates VI,
A. Mosso gave the same result. Cf. A. Mosso, 1, X, 5 ; Prehistoric Egypt, pp. 25, 49; Tools and
Le armipiu antiche di rame e di bronso (Roma, 1908). Weapons (1916), Plate XXXV.
4 Dussaud, Civilisations prehelleniques (Paris, „ , , , ., TT „_„ /. r_
1914), p. 86. Professor Tsountas ('E*. 'Ap* ' Dechelette, op. at., II, p. 192, fig. 57.
(1898), o-cA. 189, Iltv. 12) records only long daggers. 10 Evans, Palace, p. 101.
THE VAULTED TOMBS OF MESARA
tholos B thirteen in Tholos A at Platanos,1 and three more in the small tholos, A,
metal here at Koumasa.2 Both are -09 m. long, and they measure -042 m. and
objects •
•046 m. respectively across the base, which is slightly incurved, with a small
hole near each corner to take the rivets that fastened on the wooden or bone
handle. On 1193 one can see close to the holes, but on the side away from
the base, a thin scratch marking the line to which the edge of the handle came
down over the blade.
Copper, not Bronze The red colour of the metal under the oxidation at first glance shows
it to be copper, and not bronze, and in fact the analysis of a fragment of one
of the two (1193) made by M. Vampakas, the Director of the Public Labora-
tory at Canea, established the presence of 99*280 per cent, of copper without
a trace of tin.3
The Triangular The shape of these first copper daggers, a small triangle, is typical
Dagger Q£ w}iat jg called the chalcolithic period, which in Crete covers E.M. I
and II.
This triangular form is also found elsewhere in Greece, very occasionally,
for instance, in the Cyclades,4 while Dr. Soteriades found two specimens, prob-
ably imported from Crete or the Cyclades, in a neolithic stratum at Hagia
Marina in Phocis.5 Similar daggers have been found in Italy in the Terramare 6
and in tombs of the chalcolithic age,7 and a triangular type of dagger, though
longer than the Cretan, has been found in prehistoric graves in Egypt.8
According to M. Dechelette,9 the triangular dagger is met with in most
parts of Europe, namely, in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Italy, Switzerland,
the Iberian peninsula, and Moravia, everywhere, in fact, where burials of the
beginning of the bronze age abound.
The Long Dagger The other daggers shown in Plate XXIV b are of the long type that was
evolved from the triangular and flourished in E.M. Ill and M.M. I.10 These
specimens vary in length from -11 m. to -22 m. They are not only longer,
but, as a consequence of their greater length, to prevent them from twisting
or breaking, they are all made stouter in the middle so as to form a central
ridge on each side down the whole length. In some this medial rib is only
just distinguishable, in others (1192 and 1178) it is sharp, in others again
(1176) it is a flat band, or else cord-like (1191).
1 See below, p. 106. Two more triangular 5 Revue des etudes grecques (1912), pp. 270 ff.
daggers were found in the tholos of Siva in Dussaud, op. cit., p. 185.
Mesara. Cf. Paribeni, Tombe a tholos di Siva, in 6 Mosso Ori«ini op cit p 64
Ausonia, anno VIII, pp. 13-32, figs. 12, 13, 21. ' ° ' '_ ' .
2 See below, p. 46 7 Peet> The Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy and
3 Analyses of other Cretan triangular daggers Sicily, pp. 189-190, 258-260, and 283, figs. 134-143.
made by M. Vampakas and in Italy by Sig. 8 petrie, El Amrah and Abydos, p. 40, Plates VI,
A. Mosso gave the same result. Cf. A. Mosso, 1, X, 5 ; Prehistoric Egypt, pp. 25, 49; Tools and
Le armipiu antiche di rame e di bronso (Roma, 1908). Weapons (1916), Plate XXXV.
4 Dussaud, Civilisations prehelleniques (Paris, „ , , , ., TT „_„ /. r_
1914), p. 86. Professor Tsountas ('E*. 'Ap* ' Dechelette, op. at., II, p. 192, fig. 57.
(1898), o-cA. 189, Iltv. 12) records only long daggers. 10 Evans, Palace, p. 101.