In a previous post I considered the possibility that obsidian blade segments were perhaps used as a form of small-change currency in the later Bronze Age Aegean.
Recently, I had occasion to re-visit this idea and now wonder if obsidian blades or blade segments might have served as small change in the Classical Greek period as well, at least at the site of Halieis in the Argolid during the fourth century BC.
Forty years ago,I established that flaked-stone tools were in use during ancient Greek and Roman times (Runnels 1982). I assumed that they were desired as cutting implements for minor industrial, domestic, or agricultural tasks. In our recent re-study of the Halieis lithics, Nick Kardulias and I repeat the conclusion about the use of flaked-stone lithics in historical times for quotidian cutting purposes (Kardulias and Runnels 2022). That publication, by the way, supplies details and illustrations of historical-period lithics at Halieis and provides bibliographic references.
Happening to look into the pages of Jim Dengate’s chapter on the mint at Halieis (Dengate in McAlilster 2005) the other day I was surprised to see that some 17 pieces of obsidian, mostly blades and blade segments, had been collected in the excavation of the mint in the 1970s. Then I remembered that I had identified them and provided the descriptions (one can forget even professional duties after the passage of half a century!).
Dengate’s catalogue of finds from the mint and associated buildings includes other materials, including table ware and artifacts that he suggests may indicate feasting in one or more of the buildings. There were also scraps of bronze and copper, blanks, flans, coins, and associated features resulting from the mint’s coining operations. There is also a telling detail: Dengate suggests that people may have brought scrap material and perhaps other commodities to the mint to exchange for coins from the mint officials.
The mint output of small bronze coins was very limited in terms of the denominations that were made available and perhaps obsidian blades and blade segments might have been useful for many small everyday transactions in the Halieis marketplace. In the middle of the fourth century, Halieis was part of a fully monetized economy, yet then as now the scarcity of small change can sometimes be a problem. Perhaps the people of Halieis used obsidian blades or blade segments in transactions much as merchants in Italy in the 1970s used gum and candy to make up for a shortage of small change?
The use of obsidian blades and segments for cutting tools is still the most probable explanation for the presence of lithics on sites like Halieis in antiquity, yet I admit to never being entirely happy with it. For one thing, why don’t the lithics show clear signs of utilization? Only about 20% of the Halieis lithics from the entire city show any signs of use. And why bother with such small, fiddly pieces when an old blade of iron or bronze would do a better job and last much longer?
Of course, the obsidian tools could have been cheap, disposable cutting implements as we have already proposed, but their use as tokens is at least an interesting idea. As always, this is a hypothesis to be tested, not a conclusion to be accepted. I think it is worth exploring and invite suggestions from readers.
Kardulias, P. N. and C. Runnels, 2022, “Flaked Stone Tools and Domestic Economy in a Classical Polis: Lithics from the Lower Town at Halieis, Greece,” Hesperia 91: 279-309.
McAllister, M. H., 2005, The Excavations at Ancient Halieis, volume 1, J. A. Dengate, “The Mint.” Indiana University Press.
Runnels, C., 1982, “Flaked-stone artifacts in Greece during the historical period,” Journal of Field Archaeology 9: 363-373.