DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12762#0134
PLATANOS
107
1846, 1847, 1928). The handle was attached by means of rivets, usually two, the
but in one case (1846) three in number. Eight of the blades preserve their cemetery
rivets, which are silver, except in 1852, where they are copper. objects
These triangular blades are made of pure copper, as the ruddy colour Co ^ D&
shows, and this is confirmed by the analysis of a fragment by M. Vampakas at
the Public Laboratory at Canea.
Roughly speaking, all the triangular blades that have been analysed up
to the present have been found to be copper, not bronze.
(2) About sixty blades of the long type were found, chiefly in the upper Long
strata of Tholos A and the burials outside it. In Tholos B and the other burials
there were only four or five.
No specimens of triangular type were found in any tomb except Tholos A,
and there only in the lowest stratum, strong evidence that at Platanos, at any
rate, the triangular type was the earliest and the only one then in use, and that
the long type came in later and at once superseded it.1
Though we guessed this in examining the daggers from Koumasa and
Porti, those tombs yielded no proof on the point, probably because the strata
had been disturbed.
A few of the many blades of long type are illustrated in Plate LV. They
show a good many variations in detail, not so much in size as in shape, particu-
larly in that of the base and in the medial rib.
Some are quite simple, with the base forming almost a straight line, and
a slight thickening making a hardly perceptible rib (1885, 1862, 1857) ; others
have a fairly sharp nick in the middle of the base and the medial rib more
marked (1878, 1886, 1894). Some have the base convex (1855, 1881, 1892) ;
others have the rib marked by a broad fillet between two fine lines in relief
(1893, 1897) ; and others again widen out to the base (1870, 1872). It is rare,
in fact, for two blades to be exactly alike in all details. All that are in good
condition show the usual rivet-holes, two, three, or four, and some of the thin
silver or copper rivets are in place.
One (1934, from store-room 8 of Tholos A) has three large round rivets in
the convex base, and has no medial rib. Two more (1902 from Tholos A and
1930 from Tholos B) have a shape of their own, for the base is prolonged into a
broad tang, and there are four copper rivets. This type would seem to be later.
The general length is about -20 m. and the width of base -04 m.
Only two fragments of the Platanos long type of dagger have been analysed Copper and Bronze
at Canea, of which the one showed 70-676 per cent, of copper and 1-971 per
cent, of tin, while the others had 99-520 per cent, of copper and no tin. These
and analyses from other tombs allow us to say that some at least of the daggers
of long type were made of pure copper, but that for others a small quantity
of tin had begun to be added, which in time was to lead to the correct propor-
tion for a bronze alloy, viz. nine parts of copper to one of tin. Further analyses
1 See, however, the remarks on daggers at Salame, p. 73.
107
1846, 1847, 1928). The handle was attached by means of rivets, usually two, the
but in one case (1846) three in number. Eight of the blades preserve their cemetery
rivets, which are silver, except in 1852, where they are copper. objects
These triangular blades are made of pure copper, as the ruddy colour Co ^ D&
shows, and this is confirmed by the analysis of a fragment by M. Vampakas at
the Public Laboratory at Canea.
Roughly speaking, all the triangular blades that have been analysed up
to the present have been found to be copper, not bronze.
(2) About sixty blades of the long type were found, chiefly in the upper Long
strata of Tholos A and the burials outside it. In Tholos B and the other burials
there were only four or five.
No specimens of triangular type were found in any tomb except Tholos A,
and there only in the lowest stratum, strong evidence that at Platanos, at any
rate, the triangular type was the earliest and the only one then in use, and that
the long type came in later and at once superseded it.1
Though we guessed this in examining the daggers from Koumasa and
Porti, those tombs yielded no proof on the point, probably because the strata
had been disturbed.
A few of the many blades of long type are illustrated in Plate LV. They
show a good many variations in detail, not so much in size as in shape, particu-
larly in that of the base and in the medial rib.
Some are quite simple, with the base forming almost a straight line, and
a slight thickening making a hardly perceptible rib (1885, 1862, 1857) ; others
have a fairly sharp nick in the middle of the base and the medial rib more
marked (1878, 1886, 1894). Some have the base convex (1855, 1881, 1892) ;
others have the rib marked by a broad fillet between two fine lines in relief
(1893, 1897) ; and others again widen out to the base (1870, 1872). It is rare,
in fact, for two blades to be exactly alike in all details. All that are in good
condition show the usual rivet-holes, two, three, or four, and some of the thin
silver or copper rivets are in place.
One (1934, from store-room 8 of Tholos A) has three large round rivets in
the convex base, and has no medial rib. Two more (1902 from Tholos A and
1930 from Tholos B) have a shape of their own, for the base is prolonged into a
broad tang, and there are four copper rivets. This type would seem to be later.
The general length is about -20 m. and the width of base -04 m.
Only two fragments of the Platanos long type of dagger have been analysed Copper and Bronze
at Canea, of which the one showed 70-676 per cent, of copper and 1-971 per
cent, of tin, while the others had 99-520 per cent, of copper and no tin. These
and analyses from other tombs allow us to say that some at least of the daggers
of long type were made of pure copper, but that for others a small quantity
of tin had begun to be added, which in time was to lead to the correct propor-
tion for a bronze alloy, viz. nine parts of copper to one of tin. Further analyses
1 See, however, the remarks on daggers at Salame, p. 73.