DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0054
KOUMASA
27
The shape of the base also varies. In some (1192) there is a nick in the tholos b
middle, in others it is almost a straight line or forms a very obtuse angle (1188), metal
and in others (1176) it projects in a short broad tang. The rivet holes are
two or four, and in many the fine copper rivets are preserved.
The substance of No. 1180 on analysis by M. Vampakas proved to contain Analysis of Long
97*940 per cent, of copper and no trace of tin. Also the analysis of two long Daggers
daggers from Amorgos failed to show tin.1 On the other hand, the analysis
of other similar long daggers from the small tholos of Hagia Triada showed
14-220 per cent, of tin to 84-90 per cent, of copper.2 Though there are not
enough of these analyses, even with the others to be mentioned later, never-
theless it seems fairly certain that the triangular daggers are always of pure
copper, and consequently belong to the chalcolithic age; but that the long
daggers, which made their appearance it seems in E.M. II, flourished in
E.M. Ill, and continued into M.M. I, can be divided into an earlier and a
later class, the one of pure copper, the other of bronze, which alloy seems to
have been known in Crete from the middle of E.M. Ill onwards.
The great number of daggers found in this tholos and in others, for instance
those of Hagia Triada and Platanos, are evidence, when we consider the constant
plundering of the tombs, that it was the fashion among the Early Minoans for
every man to wear his dagger in the tomb as well as, of course, in his daily life.
Two clay figurines (3405 and 3407) from Petsofa 3 show that the dagger
was worn at the waist as it is worn to-day in the more mountainous parts of
the island in spite of police prohibitions.
The source from which the Cretans obtained the copper for their daggers Source of Copper
has not been determined. The latest excavations of prehistoric tombs in
Egypt 4 have shown that the use of copper and bronze in that country began
about the middle of the predynastic age, so that it is probable that it was from
Egypt that the inhabitants of Crete and the iEgean first learned the use of
these metals. This does not exclude the supposition that, once they had
learned how, the Cretans made use of native copper, of which apparently
there was no lack in the island, though only in small beds.
Ancient slag heaps from copper smelting have been remarked at Chryso-
kamina5 near the isthmus of Hierapetras, and in the Cyclades Professor
Tsountas records similar slag heaps in Abyssos and veins of copper in Paros,6
and in the little island of Gavdos facing Sphakia there is a copper mine that is
being worked to-day.
1 TcrovvTa, KvKAaSnca, !E<j>. 'Ap\. (1898), (TtA.
189, 190.
2 Mosso, Le artni, op. at., Tav. I, 7. 8.
3 B.S.A., IX, Plate X.
Mosso, Origini, op. cit., fig. 51.
4 Reisner, Naga-ed-Der, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 117
and 134.
Petrie, Prehistoric Egypt (1920), p. -47. How the
Egyptian woman may have made the discovery
of copper from malachite is described by Pro-
fessor Elliot Smith in The Ancient Egyptians (1911),
p. 4. This priority of the Egyptian is still dis-
puted. Of. Peet, B.S.A., XVII, p. 253.
5 Mosso, Origini, op. cit., pp. 219-228.
6 Tcrovvra, Kuh-AaSiKa, loc. cit. (1898), crtA. 192.
27
The shape of the base also varies. In some (1192) there is a nick in the tholos b
middle, in others it is almost a straight line or forms a very obtuse angle (1188), metal
and in others (1176) it projects in a short broad tang. The rivet holes are
two or four, and in many the fine copper rivets are preserved.
The substance of No. 1180 on analysis by M. Vampakas proved to contain Analysis of Long
97*940 per cent, of copper and no trace of tin. Also the analysis of two long Daggers
daggers from Amorgos failed to show tin.1 On the other hand, the analysis
of other similar long daggers from the small tholos of Hagia Triada showed
14-220 per cent, of tin to 84-90 per cent, of copper.2 Though there are not
enough of these analyses, even with the others to be mentioned later, never-
theless it seems fairly certain that the triangular daggers are always of pure
copper, and consequently belong to the chalcolithic age; but that the long
daggers, which made their appearance it seems in E.M. II, flourished in
E.M. Ill, and continued into M.M. I, can be divided into an earlier and a
later class, the one of pure copper, the other of bronze, which alloy seems to
have been known in Crete from the middle of E.M. Ill onwards.
The great number of daggers found in this tholos and in others, for instance
those of Hagia Triada and Platanos, are evidence, when we consider the constant
plundering of the tombs, that it was the fashion among the Early Minoans for
every man to wear his dagger in the tomb as well as, of course, in his daily life.
Two clay figurines (3405 and 3407) from Petsofa 3 show that the dagger
was worn at the waist as it is worn to-day in the more mountainous parts of
the island in spite of police prohibitions.
The source from which the Cretans obtained the copper for their daggers Source of Copper
has not been determined. The latest excavations of prehistoric tombs in
Egypt 4 have shown that the use of copper and bronze in that country began
about the middle of the predynastic age, so that it is probable that it was from
Egypt that the inhabitants of Crete and the iEgean first learned the use of
these metals. This does not exclude the supposition that, once they had
learned how, the Cretans made use of native copper, of which apparently
there was no lack in the island, though only in small beds.
Ancient slag heaps from copper smelting have been remarked at Chryso-
kamina5 near the isthmus of Hierapetras, and in the Cyclades Professor
Tsountas records similar slag heaps in Abyssos and veins of copper in Paros,6
and in the little island of Gavdos facing Sphakia there is a copper mine that is
being worked to-day.
1 TcrovvTa, KvKAaSnca, !E<j>. 'Ap\. (1898), (TtA.
189, 190.
2 Mosso, Le artni, op. at., Tav. I, 7. 8.
3 B.S.A., IX, Plate X.
Mosso, Origini, op. cit., fig. 51.
4 Reisner, Naga-ed-Der, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 117
and 134.
Petrie, Prehistoric Egypt (1920), p. -47. How the
Egyptian woman may have made the discovery
of copper from malachite is described by Pro-
fessor Elliot Smith in The Ancient Egyptians (1911),
p. 4. This priority of the Egyptian is still dis-
puted. Of. Peet, B.S.A., XVII, p. 253.
5 Mosso, Origini, op. cit., pp. 219-228.
6 Tcrovvra, Kuh-AaSiKa, loc. cit. (1898), crtA. 192.