floor of House E in the MH II level. See also Borchhardt 1972, pp. 19 and 32 (labeled
4 V in Borchhardt’s Katalog).
102 On the dating of the Eleusis grave see Papadimitriou 2010, pp. 248 and 250. On its
characterization see Cosmopoulos 2015, p. 76, surveying the burial evidence for all
of MH Eleusis:
Burial gifts are usually sparse, a phenomenon paralleled in other MH burial sites;
they consist of sherds from open fine Grey Minyan vases (presumably bowls
and cups) and coarser (probably storage) vessels. On occasion a grave may
contain one or two obsidian pieces or a few animal bones. The only grave that
seems to have been wealthier is the so-called “Warrior Grave”, in which were
found a blade from a bronze dagger, a small dark burnished jug, a bone band
decorated with concentric circles, and fifty-one small fragments of worked
boars’ tusks in a triple row, that probably would have belonged to a pendant.
103 In 1930 the excavation of a Neolithic cemetery near Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov,
brought to light many sawn and perforated plates of boars’ tusks. Some of them had
been sewn onto shirts and some were along the thighs. Others lay near the skulls of
the interred and were therefore interpreted as the residue of helmets. See Excurs I,
“Die Eberzahnplatten vom Asowschen Meer,” pp. 28–29, in Borchhardt 1972. On
the likelihood that boar’s-tusk helmets originated on the Pontic steppe see
Borchhardt’s remarks on p. 26:
Die neolithischen Eberzahnplatten aus Mariupol (Exkurs I) legen den Schluss
nahe dass die Sitte, Kopfbedeckungen durch aneinander gereihte Eberzahnplatten
zu schmücken und zu verstärken, unter den Jägerkulturen am Schwarzen Meer
verbreitet gewesen ist und vielleicht bei den Einwanderung eurasischer
Streitwagenvölker in gewandelter Form ihren Weg nach Griechenland gefunden
hat.
See also Kristiansen and Larsson 2005, p. 247. Although Gimbutas dated the Mariupol
graves to the late 3rd millennium BC, calibrated carbon dates have put them much
earlier: in the 6th millennium BC. See Kotova 2010, p. 167. On the graves see Anthony
2007, pp. 174–182. At p. 181 Anthony reports that 429 boar’s-tusk plates were found
at Mariupol, and were distributed over 10 percent of the graves. Because it is not
likely that helmets were in use in the 6th millennium BC, the boar’s-tusk plates on
headgear in the Mariupol cemetery, like those sewn on shirts or tunics, may have
been more decorative than protective. Cf. Borchhardt 1972, p. 28: “Die Fundlage
erweist sie als Schmuckbesatz der Bekleidung.” Borchhardt also reports, however,
that in Grab VI at Mariupol were two complete tusks, with the sharp ends forward,
near the skull of a man’s skeleton.
104 Branigan 1974, nos. 1–422. Several of these come from the Argolid (Berbati, Lerna,
Prosymna), which—thanks to its excellent harbor—was readily accessible from
Crete.
105 Branigan 1974, nos. 423–472A. Of these, no. 425 is from EH II Lerna and no. 436
from MH Sesklo. See also no. 438 from Dramesi, near Thebes, but this shoed
spearhead evidently was looted from the tholos at Dramesi and must date from late
in the MH or early in the LH period. More important is no. 435, a mold from MH
Sesklo. Many of the EB and MB spearheads catalogued by Branigan come from the
Cyclades (especially Amorgos) and from Troy.
106 In Avila 1983 no. 2 is from Dramesi and no. 4 from Sesklo. The Sesklo mold is no.
- For the Sesklo spearhead Avila suggests Zeitstellung:MH II/III?, and for the mold
ZeitstellungMH? (the question marks are Avila’s).
107 These shoed spearheads have been studied by Claus Reinholdt (see Reinholdt 1993).
The shoed spearhead was cast with an open “shoe” on either side of the blade, so
Warfare in Western Eurasia 103