Obsidian Core from Melos
Item
Title
Obsidian Core from Melos See all items with this value
Description
Obsidian prismatic core. Chipped stone. Measures 6.4 cm x 2.2 cm x 1.2 cm. See all items with this value
Place name
Melos, Greece. See all items with this value
Subject
Obsidian
Notes
Obsidian was sourced from crops at Sea Nychia and Demenagaki. Pieces of obsidian were rejected at various stages during the knapping process while quarrymen attempted to reduce the microcore to prismatic cores. Their selective process suggests that the quarries were organized, systematic establishments. Others, however, have proposed that Melians parlayed quarrying for obsidian with fishing trips in the spring, and that they were not specialized workers. This is despite the process that scholars have deduced Melians implemented based on the debris of quarry sites
Citation for images from the web
Obsidian core. Chipped Stone, Core, Prismatic core. Place: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AHARVARDIG_10313867474.
Torrence, Robin. “MACROCORE PRODUCTION AT THE MELOS OBSIDIAN QUARRIES.” Lithic Technology 8, no. 3 (1979): 51–60. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23272927.
