{"id":25822,"date":"2023-07-13T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.cycladic.gr\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T13:38:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T11:38:59","slug":"ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw materials of the Cycladic Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Raw materials of the Cycladic Culture<\/h1>

CYCLADIC ART<\/p> <\/header>

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Marble carvings are the most characteristic product of the Early Cycladic civilization, and the figurines depicting women and men are quite prominent. Other objects, such as vessels, tools, weapons, and jewelry (made of marble, clay, metals, and obsidian) complete the group of artifacts created in the 3rd millennium BC on the Aegean islands. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n
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MARBLE FIGURINES<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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Early Cycladic figurines were almost exclusively made of marble, and deposits of good quality white marble are available on most Cycladic islands.<\/p>\n

However, isotopic analysis of marble artifacts shows that the main sources of marble in that period were on Naxos, Keros, and \u2013 to a smaller extent \u2013 Paros and Ios.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

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Fragments of marble figurines, \n2700 \u2013 2400\/2300 BC\n\u0391\u03910046, \u0391\u03910049, \u0391\u03910050, \u0391\u03910048<\/div>
Photo Paris Tavitian \u00a9 Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
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FIGURINES OF OTHER MATERIALS<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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Lead figurine\n2400\/2300 BC\n\u039d\u03931128<\/div>
\u00a9 Museum f Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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In addition to marble, Cycladic or Cycladic-type figurines were occasionally made of other materials, such as green and black stone, limestone, pumice, white tuff, schist, green steatite, seashell, bone, ivory, flint, lead, bronze, and clay; wooden figurines may have also existed, although no examples have survived. The use of these materials may have been due to the lack of high quality white marble on certain islands, like Thera \u2013 where figurines were made of local white tuff or whitish clay.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, the use of these materials may have been due, simply, to the familiarity of local craftsmen with materials other than marble \u2013 as seen in Crete, where figurines of ivory, flint, and green steatite have been found. We should stress, however, that seashell and clay figurines have been found on Naxos; an island where high quality white marble is common.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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METALLURGY – METALWORKING<\/h2> <\/header>\n\n \n
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One of the major cultural innovations of the Aegean Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) was the introduction of metallurgy \u2013 bronze-working in particular \u2013 from the East. In the Cyclades, metallurgy was developed during the Early Cycladic II period (2700 \u2013 2400\/2300 BC). The Cycladic islands had abundant sources of metal \u2013 copper was sourced from Kythnos and, possibly, Seriphos, and lead and silver were sourced from Siphnos.<\/p>\n

Metal ores were also supplied by the mines of Lavrion in Attica. The most widespread metal was copper, which, at first, was mixed with arsenic and then, later, with tin, to create durable bronze alloys. These alloys were then used to make weapons (spearheads, daggers, etc.), tools (chisels, axes, drills, saws, fishing-hooks, etc.), toilet implements (pins, tweezers, etc.) and jewelry. Artifacts made of other metals are rare: silver jewelry and miniature vessels, bronze figurines, lead boat models, and clamps for repairs were occasionally found, however. Although gold was used throughout the Aegean during the Early Bronze Age, gold artifacts from the Cyclades are particularly rare.<\/p>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

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Bronze weapons and tools and a marble figurine of a hunter or warrior\n2700 \u2013 2400\/2300 BC\n\u039d\u03930242, \u039d\u03930223\u03b1, \u039d\u03930243, \u039d\u03930308<\/div>
\u00a9Museum of Cycladic Art<\/div><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":18413,"featured_media":0,"template":"","essay_culture_category":[1145],"essay_topic_category":[],"class_list":["post-25822","essay","type-essay","status-publish","hentry","essay_culture_category-cycladic-art-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRaw materials of the Cycladic Culture - Museum of Cycladic Art<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Raw materials of the Cycladic Culture - Museum of Cycladic Art\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Museum of Cycladic Art\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CycladicArtMuseum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-14T11:38:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cycladic.gr\/en\/essay\/ylika-tou-kykladikoy-politimoy\/\",\"name\":\"Raw materials of the Cycladic Culture - 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