ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 7TH CENTURY B.C.

The magnificent tradition of gem engraving that proliferated during the Bronze Age in Greece was lost following the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization towards the mid 11th century B.C. The use of engraved devices was revived during the Geometric period, with seals chiefly cut from soft materials such as ivory, wood, and stone. By the late 7th century B.C., seals made in the Greek islands, especially Melos, re-introduced two shapes that had not been used since the Bronze Age some four hundred years earlier: the amygdaloid and the lentoid. Known as “Island Gems,” it seems likely that chance finds of earlier Minoan and Mycenaean seals provided the inspiration for this reintroduction. The materials employed, contrary to the quartzes of the Bronze Age, were soft stones such as steatite, as the Greeks of the early Archaic period did not yet have the technology required to cut harder stones (steatite was relatively easy to cut with a metal blade). Some were burnt after carving to harden the surface; such stones became gray to white, as in the example presented here. The subjects for Island Gems were chiefly animals, monsters, and, more rarely, human figures (see J. Boardman, Island Gems, pp. 12-20).

The present amygdaloid is engraved with a bearded centaur in profile to the right, with his head turned back, with one arm bent acutely and the other extended back over his equine body. His hind legs are together while the forelegs are bent back in the kneeling or skipping position. The device is close in style to that of a light green steatite amygdaloid from Melos, now in Berlin, no. 198 in Boardman, op. cit.