Tuna boats

This is the amazing fortified Bronze Age settlement of Kastri, located on the Greek island of Syros and dated to the Early Cycladic II period (Keros-Syros culture, 2600–2300 BC)... 

Near this settlement, archaeologists have discovered a cemetery, with more than 700 graves excavated to date. The graves are of the subterranean corbelled type, which is exclusive to Syros...

This is the grave XI with some of the grave goods found in it...You can read more about it in "Figurines in context at the Chalandriani cemetery on Syros".

For this article, the most interesting thing found in this grave is the so called "frying pan"...

Curious objects, which do resemble frying pans, but no one really knows what they are or what they were used for... 

Here is what these objects look like from both sides...

One proposal is that they were used as liquid mirrors. You fill the vessel with a liquid and...Pics of the reflection in four liquid mirrors with: (a) water, (b) olive oil, (c) ‘black’ water (d) ‘black’ olive oil...

You can read more about it in "The ‘frying pans’ of the Early Bronze Age Aegean: an experimental approach to their possible use as liquid mirrors"...

Another proposal is that these were vessels used for salt extraction through natural solar evaporation...Structures, which until recently were used for solar brine evaporation in Greece...

You can read more about it in "Neolithic flat-based pots from the Carnac Mounds in the light of Cycladic ‘frying pans’". Those interested in ancient salt extraction techniques might like this post "Fulacht fiadh salt extraction facility"...

Now quite a lot of these Cycladic frying pens have depictions of boats as part of the decoration...Like this one...A boat depicted among the swirling spirals representing waves, or moving, running water...And right above the bow of the boat there is always a depiction of a fish...Which would suggest that Cycladic boatsmen were fishermen...

Here are some examples of the the boat-fish designs from the Cycladic frying pans...

The fish depicted has a very big dorsal and tail fins...To me the look the most like tunas...

Which would suggest that Cycladic boatsmen were not just fishermen, but tuna fishermen...

Now in my post about the "Tuna coin from Akanthos" I talked about different native types of tuna fish that live in Mediterranean, their mating seasons and their fishing season...

Basically, the tuna fishing season in Mediterranean, including Cycladic islands is from Apr to Nov...With the peak in Jul/Aug...Basically when summer (which starts in Taurus) ends (gets killed) by autumn (which starts in Leo)...

Ram, marks lambing of Eurasian wild sheep

Bull, marks calving of Eurasian wild cattle

Lion, marks mating of Eurasian lions

Goat, marks mating of Eurasian wild goats

You can read more about it in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

This time when lion kills bull (Jul/Aug) is also "the best time to go to the sea" according to Hesiod... 

I talked about this in my post "Tetradrachm from Byblos"...

So after this lengthy intro 🙂 let me get to the interesting bit: This is a silver belt found in one of the Cycladic graves on Syros. This is an amazing object...Which no one knows how to interpret...

I would propose that this is a calendar...No surprises there, if you have been following me for a while🙂 

But why calendar? 

And calendar depicting what?

The answer to the second question, "calendar depicting what?" is "calendar depicting tuna fishing season"...

The answer to the first question "why calendar?" is "because birds and dogs are well known animal calendar markers which when depicted the way they are depicted on the diadem, mark the beginning the end and the peak of the tuna fishing season in the Cyclades area"...

Let me explain what I mean: The Cyclades are on the major bird migration route between Europe and Africa. 

The spring migration from Africa to Europe suddenly peaks in Apr/May...

Sudden appearance of millions of migrating birds above the Cycladic islands coincides with the onset of the sailing (and tuna fishing) season in the Eastern Mediterranean...

Birds announcing the time to go to the sea...Interesting...I talked about the sailing season in the Eastern Mediterranean and how birds were used as animal calendar markers for the beginning of the sailing season in my post "Three sacrifices" made for "good winds" by the Greeks at the beginning and the end of the Trojan war...

The birds migrate from Europe to Africa between Sep and Oct...

When the last migrating flock disappears in the southern skies, it is time to pull the boats on the beach, as this marks the end of the seafaring (and tuna fishing) season in Eastern Mediterranean...

So that could explain the birds depicted on the Cycladic silver belt...What about the dogs?

Remember this? 

When our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, when mating season of the old primitive dog breeds began...

I talked about this in my posts "Dog days" Egypt, "Tishtrya" Mesopotamia, "The bitch of the gods" India...

The middle point between the beginning of the spring bird migration and the end of the autumn bird migration...

And "the best time to go to the sea in Cyclades in search of tuna"...

Apr/May - Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov

Oh, and these "discs" between the animal calendar markers are suns...Apr/May - Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov is the sunny, hot, dry half of the year in Syros...

So to recapitulate, I believe that this belt is a kind of calendar, which using animal calendar markers depicts the sunny, dry half of the year, which is also the time when you can go to the sea in search of tuna fish...

I could be wrong, but I can't see any other reason why someone would depict birds, suns and dogs on such a precious object...And I refuse to accept that the choice of the depicted symbols was random...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...