by specialists in both metals. The quality of the iron produced was lower
than that at Messemvria-Zone and at the third study site, Kalyva. The
knives lack carburized edges, so would not have been as effective to use.
The blooms produced at Abdera came from iron oxides and sulphides,
though it is not clear how the inhabitants obtained these, because the
only sources of iron ores were outside the city’s territory (perhaps from
Thermes or Kimmeria, 30 km away to the north). The citizens would
have had to negotiate with local miners for these ores, or would have had
to obtain blooms produced by outside craftsmen.^96
Thefinal case study is a Macedonian fortress above the River Nestos,
at Kalyva, with a circuit of masonry walls and towers constructed in the
time of Philip II. Thracian ceramics of the earlyfirst millenniumbc(and
of the Roman imperial period), suggest that this was an upland strong
point for the indigenous population that reverted to local control when-
ever any higher authorities had less influence on the area of the Nestos
gorge above Xanthi. The surviving agricultural tools and weapons date
principally to the imperial age, though the industrial waste suggests long
familiarity with the iron oxides and pyritic ores, which were probably
roasted in the vicinity from the local bog deposits at Potomaki, and then
smelted into blooms and forged in the confines of the fortress. The
production techniques indicate a good knowledge of how to manipulate
the ores to produce the best results, but these smiths did not deploy the
full range of metallurgical techniques potentially available in the region.
They were simply producing what was required by the inhabitants of the
fortress.^97
Glass and pigmentsA number of other minerals deserve mention alongside metals. One of
the most interesting, if unexpected minerals, is natron, an essential
component for the production of high-quality glass. Among the very
few Mediterranean sources of this salt outside Wadi Natrun in Egypt is
the marshy land near modern Pikrolimni, named after the salt lake that
was once a more significant feature of the landscape of northern Chalk-
idike, and that has been identified with Lake Chalastra and the ancient
city of Moryllos.^98 Despoina Ignatiadou has linked this salt with the
unusuallyfine examples of a colourless type of glass found in a range of
(^96) Kostoglou 2008, 43–8, 66–70.
(^97) Kostoglou 2008, 48–50, 51, 70–4, 75.
(^98) Ignatiadou 2002b; Ignatiadou et al. 2005; Hatzopoulos 1996, I, 53, 55; II. Nos 53, 54.
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