fessor W. Helbig[1] holds them to have been used partly as spindle-whorls and partly as beads for necklaces; but this latter use is out of the question for the large whorls. Dr. Victor Gross is of opinion that the terra-cotta whorls must have been used partly as buttons of garments, partly as pearls of necklaces, and last, not least, as whorls for the spindle. He says this latter hypothesis is corroborated by the Image missingNo. 10—Axe of Green Jade. (Actual size Depth, 14 m.) discovery of several of these whorls in which the spindle-stick still remains fixed, and by the striking resemblance of the terra-cotta whorls to those which are still used by spinsters in some countries.[2]
Of stone axes, like those represented at p. 445, Nos. 668–670 in Ilios, eight were found this year in the ruins of the first settlement at Troy; five of them being of diorite, and three of jade.[3] Of these latter I represent one, No. 10, in the actual size. It is of transparent green jade.[4] Professor H. Bücking has had the kindness
- ↑ Wolfgang Helbig, Die Italiker in der Po-Ebene, Leipzig, 1879, pp. 21, 22, 83.
- ↑ Dr. Victor Gross, Les Protohchètes, Paris, 1883, pp. 100, 101. See Note XVI. on Spindle Whorls and Spinning, p. 293.
- ↑ I have discussed jade (nephrite) at length in Ilios, pp. 238–243, 445–451; but to those who wish to read more on this important subject, I recommend Professor Heinrich Fischer's excellent work Nephrit und Fadeit nach ihren mineralogischen Eigenschaften, sowie nach ihrer urgeschichtlichen und ethnographischen Bedeutung, Stuttgart, 1875; as well as his learned dissertation, "Vergleichende Betrachtungen über die Form der Steinbeile auf der ganzen Erde," in the journal Kosmos, Ver, Jahrgang, 1881.
- ↑ A constantly severe critic of mine, E. Brentano, Troia und Neu Ilion, Heilbronn, 1882, p. 70, footnote, endeavours to throw ridicule on me for having always called similar instruments "Axes" in Ilios. But if he had had the most superficial knowledge of archæology, he would have known that this is the proper and only name for them; they are called "axes" in all archaeological works in the world, and I have no right to change the name to please ignorant critics.
