Obsidian in the prehistoric Aegean: Trade and uses

This paper studies the prehistoric use of obsidian quarries in the Aegean. Obsidian sources in the eastern Mediterranean have been traced on certain islands of the Aegean: Melos, Antiparos and Giali. Due to its hardness, this material was already being used by the end of the Upper Palaeolithic to produce blades with sharp edges to serve as knives, scrapers and razors, arrowheads and spears, axes, saws and mattocks. This naturally occurring glass was also used for ornamental purposes. During the Late and the Final Neolithic Period (ca. 5300-3200 B.C.), when the systematic habitation of the Cyclades developed, the transportation of obsidian was incorporated in the gradually developing trade networks of the Aegean. The material was much in demand in the early Bronze Age. During the later Bronze Age its use declined and by the classical period it seems to have been replaced by metal. Around 1100 B.C. the use of obsidian was discontinued because of the increasing popularity of metals. During the Roman period obsidian, was used in the manufacture of mosaics and decorative objects, such as mirrors

Interactions and -isations in the Aegean and beyond

Connectivity in the ancient world has become a subject of such consuming interest in recent years that new publications on various aspects of the issue, pertaining to some area or period, appear with great regularity. Just in later European prehistory we haveContinental connections: exploring cross-channel relationships(Anderson-Whymarket al.2015),Exchange networks and local transformations(Alberti & Sabatini 2013) andEnclosed space—open society(Jaegeret al.2012), to name but a few. One can hardly believe otherwise than that every part of the later prehistoric world was intimately involved, not only with its immediate neighbours but also with other areas near and far. Allied to this is the matter of colonialism and ‘post-colonial’ archaeology, with questions of hybridity, importation, local imitation and acculturation or adaptation; all these are things that loom large in these volumes and many others (e.g. Stockhammer 2012). The question of ‘-isations’, such as ‘Romanisation’, has been a concern of archaeologists for many years; here it is ‘-isations’ of the prehistoric Aegean world that are the focus of attention.