. Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos,. dded inyellow pumice, from Samos. - Drawn by Mr. P. Rodeck. ?^ See Mr. Mackenzies excellent descriptionin iii. 1896-7, p. 77 ; also, for the ob-sidian of Demenagaki, Fouque et Michel ynicrosropique, 1879, PI. xvi. 2;and for that of Adamanta, G. vom Rath inSitzuiKjah. dcr Niederrheiii. (? fiir HeUkunde, 1887, p. 51, and Fiedler, op. p. 389. THE OBSIDIAN TRADE. 217 in a pudding.^ It is present in inexhaustible quantities and can be extractedwith comparatively little labour. The ancient workings are entirely on th
. Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos,. dded inyellow pumice, from Samos. - Drawn by Mr. P. Rodeck. ?^ See Mr. Mackenzies excellent descriptionin iii. 1896-7, p. 77 ; also, for the ob-sidian of Demenagaki, Fouque et Michel ynicrosropique, 1879, PI. xvi. 2;and for that of Adamanta, G. vom Rath inSitzuiKjah. dcr Niederrheiii. (? fiir HeUkunde, 1887, p. 51, and Fiedler, op. p. 389. THE OBSIDIAN TRADE. 217 in a pudding.^ It is present in inexhaustible quantities and can be extractedwith comparatively little labour. The ancient workings are entirely on the surface, quarries rather thanmines, and are for the most part shallow and irregular; some, however, onthe eastern slope of Demenagaki have vertical faces suggestive of a moreorganised industry, and one at Adamanta amounts to a cave. Heaps of splinters and large chips, mostly retaining the rough outerrind of the original nodule, show that the obsidian underwent some amount PHYLAI PLAKA TRiPJTi A-J&pTmA TT^IAVOUNA kMAS H. ELENE. AS \ JLUUO<yf, PYRUMENI Fig. 191.—Sketch Map of Melos ( iii. p. 72). of shaping at the quarry. One looks in vain for the fine razor-flakes andpolygonal nuclei so abundant at Phylakopi, and is tempted to account forthe coarser debris of the quarries by supposing that large rude implementswere fabricated here in the neolithic period. But this view is untenable ;such implements have not been found in the Aegean; morever the chipsare just such as would be produced in trimming the gnarled lumps of nativeobsidian into blocks suitable for striking off razor-flakes. The roughing outbefore shipment would facilitate trade by increasing the usefulness of thecommodity while reducing its weight and bulk. Moreover, the knack ofdislodging flakes from a properly prepared block could be acquired by practice,but the formation of that block out of the original nodule demanded a degree 1 Theophrastus, De Lapid. ii. 14, and , seems to mention Melian obsidia
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