An extended drought after the destruction of Nestor’s Palace in Pylos is likely to have brought an end to the Mycenaean civilization in the western Peloponnese. That conclusion was reached following analysis of a stalactite from a cave in the area that provided a clear picture about the climatic conditions in the eastern Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age.
The researchers reached their conclusions from the analysis of a stalactite from a cave on the islet of Schiza just off the Peloponnesian coast [Credit: Navarino Environmental Observatory]
The study was conducted by researchers Martin Finne and Karin Holmgren of the Navarino Environmental Observatory (NEO) in collaboration with archaeologist Shari Stocker. NEO is the product of a collaboration between Stockholm University, the Academy of Athens and TEMES SA, the company behind the Costa Navarino resort.
The researchers drew their conclusions from the analysis of a stalactite from a cave on the islet of Schiza just off the Peloponnesian coast. By studying the layers of the stalactite, the team was able to establish the climatic conditions that existed in the region from around 1200 to 1180 BC with a high degree of precision.
By studying the layers of the stalactite, the team was able to establish the climatic conditions that existed in the region from around 1200 to 1180 BC with a high degree of precision [Credit: Navarino Environmental Observatory]
The aim was to establish the climatic conditions that existed during the period when the palace was destroyed, as the predominant theory is that this was triggered in large part by a preceding period of drought. The new research adds complexity to that theory. While the researchers discovered that about 20-80 years before the destruction of the palace there was indeed a dry period, this lasted no longer than 20 years. However, a much more profound period of drought – lasting about a century – occurred after the palace’s destruction.
“Evidently the centralized administrative system controlled by the palace could survive a relatively short-term dry period and remain in control. Some 50 years later, however, when the pronounced period of aridity started to develop, the system would crumble,” the researchers write in their paper presenting their results.
Study was carried out by researchers Martin Finne and Karin Holmgren of the Navarino Environmental Observatory in collaboration with archaeologist Shari Stocker [Credit: Navarino Environmental Observatory]
“The period of drought around 3,200 years [ago] could have contributed to the destabilization of the political and economic order. Increased aridity could have led to reduced agricultural output affecting the finely tuned economic system of a society that was close to, or already, overextended, rattling the very foundations of the fragile palatial economy.”
The researchers argue that the long drought following the palace’s destruction led to the end of the “Mycenaean way of life in Pylos,” as agricultural surpluses were eliminated, thus making it difficult “for social elites to re-form and for the palatial system to be re-established.”
While they note that the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization cannot be attributed to one single factor, the researchers conclude that climate change was certainly a “critical component.”
The 'history' of Ionian shipwrecks emerges after three cases of antiquity smuggling in one month were investigated by the Ioannina Police and two Germans living for 30 years in the coastal town of Perdika in Thesprotia were arrested, as well as a scuba diver in Igoumenitsa and a business man in Parga. Hundreds of antiquities were found in their possession and confiscated.
Neck of an amphora of the Late African I.C type from the shipwreck 'Poseidon 1' [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports/Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR)]
From Prehistoric times, the Ionian had been a 'sea bridge' between East and West. It was only a relatively safe passage since there was the threat of the open sea and ships sailed without losing sight of the coast.
“It may not have been a particularly dangerous sea for navigation, but the frequency of travelling presupposes the existence of a great number of nautical incidents over the centuries” says Pari Kalamara, head of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities (EUA) to the Athens and Macedonian News Agency. She also points out that important naval battles took place there that influenced the course of the Mediterranean peoples, such as: the naval battles of Actium in 31 BC, of Lepanto in 1571, of which no trace remains in the sea, as well as the battle of Navarino in 1827, evidence of which can still be seen in the bay.
The shipwreck 'Poseidon 1' (First half of 4th c. AD) at a depth of 1,175 metres [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports/Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR)]
The Ionian is a sea that compared with the Aegean remains relatively unexplored, says Mrs Kalamara. Μasses of antiquities such as amphorae, tablets and other vessels from the Hellenistic period up to the Late Byzantine era are buried in the depths and at times get entangled in the nets of fishermen who hand them over to the proper services.
At the same time, confiscated antiquities, mainly amphorae used for trade from many parts of the Ionian, a large number of which are in the storerooms of the region’s Antiquities’ Ephorate, give a picture of significant shipping activity in the area over the centuries, which constitutes a field of marine research of great archaeological interest.
The shipwreck 'Poseidon 2' (7th c. AD) at a depth of 1,370 metres [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports/Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR)]
Most of the research, some of it conducted even before the official founding of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, was in connection with regions where important naval battles had taken place. Surface surveys, carried out on occasions by the EUA in specific places, yielded significant evidence and uncovered shipwrecks.
In 2002, shipwrecks from Roman times were located in Kephalonia and Ithaca, as well as a Prehistoric one of the Early Helladic period in Giagana. Likewise in the region of Methoni, two important shipwrecks of Roman times should be mentioned; one with a cargo of columns and the other with sarcophagi.
Photo mosaic of the shipwreck 'Poseidon 3' (18th c.) at a depth of 1,260 metres [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports/Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR)]
During surface surveys in the Northern Ionian, between Corfu and Paxoi, for controlling the transit of the natural gas pipeline 'Poseidon', three shipwrecks of the 4th, 7th and 18th centuries AD were located at a depth of more than 1,000 metres.
Moreover, systematic surveys were conducted on a 16th century shipwreck at the Dimitris or Sinialo reef in Zakynthos as well as at the Xi peninsular in Kephalonia, where six marble statues were found and pulled up, three marble column bases and two marble capitals which were probably part of the cargo of a Roman ship transporting works of art.
Trading pointed amphora from Corfu [Credit: Ministry of Culture and Sport/EUA/P. Vezyrtzis]
Equally important, adds the head of the EUA, are the surveys of the coastal sunken prehistoric settlements at Methoni and Platygiali in Astakos, where a port has now been constructed, as well as the Medieval harbour of Glarentza in Kyllini. Special mention is also made by Mrs Kalamara of “more modern but equally tragic events, such as the shipwrecks and airplane crashes mainly of the Second World War, which are also protected by Greek archaeological law, because they are monuments associated with Europe’s recent history and they too must be absolutely respected and protected.”
A rapid tourist development of the Ionian, already since the 1950s, has also offered antiquity smugglers scope for action. Many cases have been recorded by the port and police authorities and the Ephorate always tries to assist, says the head of the EUA and adds “Unfortunately, over recent years, these events tend to build up, since nowadays technology for surveying the seabed can be obtained more easily and access to greater depths by deep sea diving is simpler. In no way however should one generalize and consider everyone a potential illicit trader in antiquities. We cannot under any circumstances become complacent and should be constantly on the alert, so as to respond directly and assist the authorities who patrol the seas and who at this time are shouldering great burdens in the Eastern Mediterranean in general”.
As Mrs Kalamara points out, in a region such as the Ionian with its intense tourist and business activities, large hotel units, marinas, ports and aquaculture, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities responds to the demands for the protection of antiquities and of underwater cultural heritage which in turn can become a major attraction for a particular type of tourism in the future.
In a country whose archaeological wealth is one of its main sources of income, at a time when archaeologists make an impressive entrance into the lives of local communities whose support they are counting on to continue their important work, an excavation is now confronted with the danger of being left incomplete. Not for lack of money, but because it seems that a private citizen can obstruct access to the excavation site.
Aerial photograph of the Minoan cemetery at Petras, Siteia [Credit: Metaxia Tsipopoulou]
This is the case in the systematic excavation of the Minoan cemetery in Petras, Siteia (Eastern Crete), being conducted since 2004 by Metaxia Tsipopoulou, honorary Head of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. Earlier on, specifically since 1985, Ms Tsipopoulou had excavated the town and the Minoan palace, which since 2006 are archaeological sites open to the public. In 2012, a 5 year excavation programme was approved by the Ministry of Culture and in 2017 the permit was renewed for another five years (2017-2021).
As we are informed by the excavation’s head: “The extensive Minoan cemetery so far consists of 17 large funerary buildings (approximately 80-100 m2) dating from 2800 to 1750 BC. It is to date the largest burial assemblage of that era in Crete and the only one being systematically excavated in its entirety in the 21st century using modern methods of excavation, documentation and treatment of the material.
After recent works on Mr J. Plakiotakis property. The bulldozer operation took place next to the site being excavated [Credit: Metaxia Tsipopoulou]
“The Petras cemetery, then used by the elite of the palatial settlement, had not been plundered and has yielded important finds both in quality and quantity, many of which are made of precious imported materials (gold, silver, bronze, ivory, semiprecious stones) and their study essentially changes our knowledge of the Minoan period in Eastern Crete and beyond. Moreover, the uniquely important skeletal material is being excavated and documented by expert palaeoanthropologists from the University of Thessaloniki”.
It should be noted that Petras is being studied by a 30-member international and interdisciplinary team of scientists from 9 countries and several monographs and numerous articles on it have already been published ( for bibliography, see www.petras-excavations.gr and www.academia.edu), while material has been granted to young scientists for post graduate papers and three doctoral theses.
This year’s excavation period is in danger of being lost
As we are informed by Ms Tsipopoulou, the Ministry of Culture and Sports has approved the expropriation of 2.47 acres of land on which the cemetery is located (former Tsakalakis property) which is also part of the boundaries of the archaeological site, (Ministerial Decision YΠΠΟΤ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΑΡΧ/Α1/Φ43/16730/888/20-12-2011/Government Gazette 86/Compulsory Expropriations/23-3-2012).
The gate permitting access to the excavation site [Credit: Metaxia Tsipopoulou]
“The land is on a plateau high on the Kefala hill” explains the Head of the Petras Excavation. “The only access to it is via a dirt road about 4m wide which starts from the bypass round the main Siteia to Palaiokastro road (see attached aerial photograph) crossing the adjacent property of Mr Joseph Plakiotakis. Both the road and the property are inside the defined and demarcated archaeological site. This road has been shut with a gate by the above individual and father of the New Democracy MP of Lasithi, who, until 2016, allowed us access by giving us the key to the padlock for the 5-6 weeks duration of the excavation.
“According to the topographic plan made by the Department of Land registration and Expropriation of the Ministry of Culture and the contracts of the Tsakalakis property, this dirt road is RURAL.
“The Ephorate of Antiquities of Lasithi granted Mr. J. Plakiotakis a document (Presidential Decision 02405/ 13.07.2016) stating that ‘This year’s excavation period, which runs from 1-7 until 6-8-16, completes the five-year systematic excavation programme at the Kefala site in Petras’ and that ‘Our Ephorate has no ownership rights to the passage that is within your property.’ In 2017, Mr. Plakiotakis allowed us access because of this document, but only after a great struggle and pressure from many sides. He did not however let the workers take the tools and materials used for stabilizing the walls.
The transportation of personnel to the excavation on the Kefalas Hill is done in agricultural vehicles [Credit: Metaxia Tsipopoulou]
“I have secured both the renewal of the permit for a systematic excavation from the Central Archaeological Council and also, sufficient financial aid from the US based Institute of Aegean Prehistory which funds the majority of Prehistoric excavations in Greece and supports the excavation at Petras from 1987 to the present.
“It is important for excavations of this unique cemetery to continue this year since all necessary preparations have been made , the personnel- 40 people from 6 different countries – has booked tickets and a deposit has been made on the rooms where we will be staying for 6 weeks, from July 1 to August10 ?.
“I should point out that the cemetery area is without walls and the danger of illegal excavations very real, while the Ephorate of Lasithi itself has no access to the monument it is obliged to protect.
The region where the excavation is being conducted [Credit: Metaxia Tsipopoulou]
“We use agricultural vehicles in the excavation, to transport personnel, tools, instruments and finds, a truck and loader to remove debris and transport soil samples for flotation (7,500 large bags), as well as a concrete mixer for the preparation of mortar for stabilizing works.
“During the previous week Mr J. Plakiotakis operated a bulldozer on his property directly in the area being excavated and in the demarcated archaeological site. Till Friday afternoon, the Ephorate had not pressed charges as required by archaeological law”, said Ms Tsipopoulou.
According to the latest developments in the case, Ms Tsipopoulou was informed that a warrant will be issued to the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lasithi for the opening of a new road allowing trucks and loaders to pass through and to access the excavated plateau. The western side of the hill, however, apart from being extremely steep, belongs to owners we are not sure have accepted a road being opened through their properties. Indeed it is very likely that, when this road is opened, antiquities will be found which must be directly excavated. The only solution for the excavation to continue and be completed is to give the Ephorate a key to the gate that blocks the rural road, so that the research can continue smoothly and the Ephorate is able to protect the site by having direct access to it whenever necessary.
Before the present-day intra-caldera island Kameni, which was formed after the Late Bronze Age (Minoan) eruption nearly 3,600 years ago, there was a much older Kameni island almost at the same spot, which was completely destroyed during the eruption.
Santorini: tectonic setting and island map with photo-statistical sampling sites. Upper left inset shows the development of Santorini’s pre-Minoan caldera models. Units A to D refer to the deposits of the four phases of the Minoan eruption [Credit: David Karatson et al. Scientific Reports, 2018]
Now, researchers have studied for the first time submarine deposits of the famous Minoan eruption on the seabed and pieces of andesite lava in the pumice stone and have proceeded to the reconstruction of the so-called Pre-Kameni, coming to conclusions about its size, formation and age.
The abstract of the paper reads: “During the Late Bronze Age, the island of Santorini had a semi-closed caldera harbour inherited from the 22 ka Cape Riva Plinian eruption, and a central island referred to as ‘Pre-Kameni’ after the present-day Kameni Islands. Here, the size and age of the intracaldera island prior to the Late Bronze Age (Minoan) eruption are constrained using a photo-statistical method, complemented by granulometry and high-precision K-Ar dating. Furthermore, the topography of Late Bronze Age Santorini is reconstructed by creating a new digital elevation model (DEM).
Digital elevation model (DEM) reconstruction of Santorini comparing (a) the present-day topography and (b) the proposed topography prior to the Minoan eruption. The latter shows the reduced size of a Pre-Kameni island, a smaller and shallower caldera harbour restricted to the north, a possibly smaller caldera outlet (dotted blue line) in the north, and a continuous southern caldera rim connecting Thera and Therasia through Aspronisi [Credit: David Karatson et al. Scientific Reports, 2018]
“Pre-Kameni and other parts of Santorini were destroyed during the 3.6 ka Minoan eruption, and their fragments were incorporated as lithic clasts in the Minoan pyroclastic deposits. Photo-statistical analysis and granulometry of these lithics, differentiated by lithology, constrain the volume of Pre-Kameni to 2.2–2.5 km3.
Applying the Cassignol-Gillot K-Ar dating technique to the most characteristic black glassy andesite lithics, we propose that the island started to grow at 20.2?±?1.0 ka soon after the Cape Riva eruption. This implies a minimum long-term lava extrusion rate of ~0.13–0.14 km3/ky during the growth of Pre-Kameni”.
Nicholas Blackwell and his father went to a hardware store about three years ago seeking parts for a mystery device from the past. They carefully selected wood and other materials to assemble a stonecutting pendulum that, if Blackwell is right, resembles contraptions once used to build majestic Bronze Age palaces.
The Lion Gate relief contains marks in a column (center of image) that may have been made by a pendulum saw. The lions, now headless, stood above the main entrance to the citadel of Mycenae, in what is now Greece [Credit: Lulu & Isabelle/Shutterstock]
With no ancient drawings or blueprints of the tool for guidance, the two men relied on their combined knowledge of archaeology and construction.
Blackwell, an archaeologist at Indiana University Bloomington, had the necessary Bronze Age background. His father, George, brought construction cred to the project. Blackwell grew up watching George, a plumber who owned his own business, fix and build stuff around the house. By high school, the younger Blackwell worked summers helping his dad install heating systems and plumbing at construction sites. The menial tasks Nicholas took on, such as measuring and cutting pipes, were not his idea of fun.
But that earlier work paid off as the two put together their version of a Bronze Age pendulum saw — a stonecutting tool from around 3,300 years ago that has long intrigued researchers. Power drills, ratchets and other tools that George regularly used around the house made the project, built in George’s Virginia backyard, possible.
“My father enjoyed working on the pendulum saw, although he and my mother were a bit concerned about what the neighbors would think when they saw this big wooden thing in their backyard,” Blackwell says. Anyone walking by the fenceless yard had a prime view of a 2.5-meter-tall, blade-swinging apparatus reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s literary torture device.
No one alive today has seen an actual Bronze Age pendulum saw. No frameworks or blades have been excavated. Yet archaeologists have suspected for nearly 30 years that a contraption capable of swinging a sharp piece of metal back and forth with human guidance must have created curved incisions on large pieces of stonework from Greece’s Mycenaean civilization. These distinctive cuts appeared during a century of palace construction, from nearly 3,300 years ago until the ancient Greek society collapsed along with a handful of other Bronze Age civilizations. Mycenaeans built palaces for kings and administrative centers for a centralized government. These ancient people spoke a precursor language to that of Classical Greek civilization, which emerged around 2,600 years ago.
Mycenaeans cut into a type of rock with colorful mineral fragments, known as conglomerate, to build gateways and pillars for palaces and tombs [Credit: Siim Sepp/WikiCommons]
In Blackwell’s view, only one tool — a pendulum saw — could have harnessed enough speed and power to slice through the especially tough type of rock that Mycenaeans used for pillars, gateways and thresholds in palaces and some large tombs.
Kings at the time valued this especially hard rock, known as conglomerate, for the look of its mineral and rock fragments, which form colorful circular and angled shapes.
In the early 20th century, archaeologists excavating a Mycenaean hill fort called Tiryns first noticed curved cut marks on the sides of pillar bases and other parts of a royal palace. The researchers assumed that ancient workers sliced through conglomerate blocks with curved, handheld saws and a lot of elbow grease.
Some investigators still suspect that handheld saws make more sense than a swinging pendulum blade. But scholarly opinions began to change as similar marks were found on stonework at other Mycenaean sites, including the fortified town and citadel of Mycenae. Separate reports in the 1990s by German archaeologists proposed that a pendulum device produced curved Mycenaean masonry marks. One of the researchers estimated that a pendulum saw would have needed to swing from a massive arm, between 3 meters and 8 meters high, to create the observed curved cuts. His calculations rested on an assumption that the curved saw marks represented segments of perfect, geometric circles, which in some cases would have required the wide arc of an especially tall pendulum.
Blackwell doubted that Mycenaeans used pendulum saws as tall as 8 meters, the equivalent of about 2½ stories. But there was only one way to find out. His experiments, described in the February Antiquity, indicate that a wooden contraption supporting a blade-tipped swinging arm had to reach only about 2½ meters high to create stone marks like those at Tiryns and Mycenae.
Stonecutting experiments with a model of a pendulum saw tested four bronze blades crafted in Crete for the studies. Blades on the top left and bottom right produced Mycenaean-style curved incisions in rock. A triangular blade, top right, created a wobbly groove. A short, straight blade, bottom left, repeatedly became stuck as it swung into a rock’s surface [Credit: Blackwell, Antiquity (2018)]
The Indiana researcher’s homemade pendulum saw “is the most persuasive reconstruction of a Mycenaean sawing machine that was used to cut hard stones, especially conglomerate,” says archaeologist Joseph Maran of the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Only one other life-size model of a pendulum saw exists.
Swing time
Blackwell’s experimental cutting device swung into action in December 2015 right where it was built, in his parents’ Virginia backyard.
Positioned on opposite sides of the apparatus, Blackwell and his brother-in-law, Brandon Synan, pulled the sawing arm back and forth with a rope. A metal blade bolted to the bottom of the arm sliced into a limestone block. Unlike the type of conglomerate used in the Mediterranean region, limestone was readily available. The two tested four types of saw blades in the initial trials and again in February 2017.
Blackwell reviewed seven previously published designs and the one actual model of a pendulum saw that may have been used by a nearby Bronze Age society; they offered little encouragement. No consensus existed on the best shape for the blade or the most effective framework option. Designers were most notably stumped by how to build a pendulum that adjusted downward as the blade cut deeper into the stone.
Blackwell decided to build a device with two side posts, each studded with five holes drilled along its upper half, supported by a base and diagonal struts. A removable steel bar ran through opposite holes on the posts and could be set at different heights. In between the posts, the bar passed through an oval notch in the upper half of a long piece of wood — the pendulum. The notch is slightly longer than a dollar bill, giving the steel bar some leeway so the pendulum could move up and down freely while sawing.
Archaeologist Nicholas Blackwell, left, and his brother-in-law Brandon Synan demonstrate how to use a rope
to operate a pendulum saw. They tested the rock-cutting device on a piece of limestone in the Virginia
backyard of Blackwell’s father, who was instrumental in designing and building the contraption
[Credit: Blackwell, Antiquity (2018)]
Finally, the apparatus needed a tough, sharp business end. A Greek archaeologist that Blackwell met while working at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens from 2012 to 2015 put him in touch with a metalsmith from Crete. The craftsman fashioned four bronze blades with different shapes for testing on the pendulum saw: a long, curved blade; a triangular blade with a rounded tip; a short, straight-edged saw and a long, straight-edged saw with rounded corners. During tests with each blade, Blackwell added water and sand to the limestone surface every two minutes for lubrication and to enhance the saw’s grinding power.
Blackwell suspected the triangular blade would penetrate the limestone enough to produce the best replicas of Mycenaeans’ arced cuts. He was wrong. Putting that blade through its paces, he found that only the tip creased the stone as the pendulum swung. The triangular blade yielded a shallow, wobbly groove that would have sorely disappointed status-conscious Mycenaean elites.
The short, straight blade did even worse. It repeatedly got stuck in the stone block during trials.
But in a dramatic showing, the long, curved blade left three concave incisions that looked much like saw marks at Tiryns. It took 45 minutes of sawing to reach a depth of 25.5 millimeters, a partial cut by Mycenaean standards. Blackwell and his brother-in-law took short breaks after every 12 minutes of pendulum pulling. “It takes a lot of physical effort to use a pendulum saw,” Blackwell says.
The elongated, straight blade with rounded corners proved easiest to use. It made one Mycenaean-like cut after only 24 minutes of sawing. Either the straight or the curved blade could have fit the bill for Mycenaean stoneworkers.
Close inspection of successful experimental cuts showed that Blackwell’s pendulum saw created curved incisions that were not segments of perfect circles. So an actual Mycenaean pendulum saw need not have been as tall as those earlier calculations had called for.
Testing of a model pendulum saw employed four blades. Here, a limestone block displays a curved, Mycenaean-style cut made by a curved blade, A, and a shallow, wobbly incision made by a triangular blade, B [Credit: Blackwell, Antiquity (2018)]
Blackwell suspects that Mycenaean masons tied or glued blades to one side of a pendulum’s arm. After sawing deep enough so that the pendulum’s wooden end hit rock, a worker chiseled and hammered off stone on one side of the incision so that the blade could be lowered for deeper sawing. Repeating those steps several times eventually left a flat face at the incision.
A half-finished pillar base from Mycenae preserves evidence of this procedure, Blackwell says. The stone displays a long, curved cut on a flat, vertical surface near one of its sides. The cut abruptly stops partway down. At that level, stone abutting the incision shows signs of having been pounded off.
Ghost saw
Even after Blackwell’s hands-on experiments, the Mycenaean pendulum saw remains an archaeological apparition. Some researchers believe it existed. Others don’t.
“Pendulum saws could have been a solution to Mycenaeans’ specific problem of having to work with conglomerate,” says archaeologist James Wright of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Mycenaean conglomerate is considerably harder and more resistant to cutting than other types of rock that were available to the Mycenaeans and neighboring societies. Blackwell’s successful experimental incisions in limestone “conform with cut marks on Mycenaean stones,” Wright adds. The next step is to see how Blackwell’s pendulum saw performs on the tougher challenge of slicing through conglomerate.
While Blackwell’s experimental device produces Mycenaean-style curved cuts, that doesn’t mean Mycenaeans invented and used pendulum saws, contends archaeologist Jurgen Seeher of the German Archaeological Institute’s branch in Istanbul. Seeher built and tested the only other reconstruction of a pendulum saw.
A partial cut through a column base at a Bronze Age Mycenaean site provided Nicholas Blackwell with clues to how a pendulum saw might have worked. Making deep cuts required occasional pauses for workers to chisel away unwanted portions of rock so the pendulum blade could move further down, Blackwell suspects [Credit: Blackwell, Antiquity (2018)]
In a 2007 paper published in German, Seeher concluded that there was a better option than his pendulum saw: a long, curved saw attached to a wooden bar and pulled back and forth by two people, like a loggers’ saw. A loggers’ saw could have produced curved marks on palace stones of ancient Hittite society, which existed at the same time as the Mycenaeans in what is now Turkey.
Unlike their Greek neighbors, Hittites did not construct pillars and gateways out of conglomerate. But a handheld, two-man saw would have enabled something a pendulum saw could not: precise cutting of conglomerate blocks from different angles, Seeher says.
A handheld saw moved by two men is much more under control than a free-hanging pendulum,” he says.
Seeher has archaeological evidence on his side. Double-handled loggers’ saws have been excavated at sites from the Late Bronze Age Minoan society on Crete. Hittites and Mycenaeans, contemporaries of the Minoans, could easily have modified that design to cut stone instead of wood, Seeher proposes. They would have had to substitute rock-grinding straight edges for wood-cutting serrated edges.
Blackwell disagrees. He is convinced that Mycenaean craft workers trained for years to operate pendulum saws, just as skilled artisans like his dad go through a long apprenticeship to learn their trade. Mycenaeans may have worked in teams that took turns using pendulum saws to cut conglomerate into palace structures, he speculates. Those workers probably used highly abrasive emery sand from the Greek island of Naxos to amplify the grinding power of their swinging saws, Wright adds.
Blackwell worked with his own family team to create a rough approximation of what a Mycenaean pendulum saw may have looked like and how it was handled. His father’s construction expertise was crucial to the project. But those teenage summers doing scut work at building sites probably didn’t hurt, either.
