A BURIED CITY.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 26, 30 March 1878, Page 2

A BURIED CITY.

" Chambers' Journal." Tin: history of the destruction of Herculaneuni and Pompeii under the ashes of Vesuvius is well known; but lope before that period, and contemporary with the age of stone, n city in the Grecian Archipelago was buried in the same maimer, with its inhabitants, their tools and their domestic utensils. Hero they have lain for thousands of years, until M. C.iristi nunos, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Athens called the attention of the public to them.' I here is a small group of islands to the north ot Candia where these discoveries have been made, chiefly in Santorini and Iherasia, which with one or two others form a circle round a bay. The two

already mentioned are in the shape of a horse-shoe, with thu concavity turned inwards prising from the bay in almost inaccessible eliffe Horizontal strata of deep black lava, layers of reddish scoria and cinders of violet gray are unequally distributed over these steep rocks, the whole being covered by pumice stone of a brilliant whiteness. A few banks of marble and schist crop out to show the original formation over which tho volcanic ashes have poured; and long vertical streams of what bos liecn molten matter tan be traced down the cliffs. On the opposite sido, facing tho open sea, the islands are altogether different, sloping gently down, and covered with pumice stone, the light, fragments of which a.o soon displaced by the wind and some-

times earned to groat distances by the equinoctial storms. A few villages are scattered about and the vine clothes the ground with its beautiful greenery. i'loiu time immemorial the pumice of H«HOrin ami Thenwia bos been dujf out for building houses; iiid when uiixeif with lime it affords an excellent cement acquiring such hardness that it resists shocks of earthquakes and the action of J'ir and water. It has b.-o,i used f,,,. bmlding piers nm l moles along the AJediU-rn.iie.in; and recently the works ''! "'" toWMH otSttMMd the p„rts of ki'vpt liuvo given a grout impetus to tho

trade, and tine, opened oat the underlying soil and Temains of human habitations. There are immense quarries where the stone has been worked; the material being transported to the edge of the clill' and thrown Jowa a glissade about 150 feet high, to the side of the ship awaiting it. ' 'miteiitiiig themselves wjth cutting up the highest layers Only,the workmen nvuided the lower part, which seemed to 1«> mixed with stony masses. These hindered their work and "were not valuable, but upon examination they prove t6 'bo walls 6f ancient houses. This had no interest for the owners ofthfl land, who had long been aware Of the fact; but an accidental visit from M. Christomtuios awakened the interest of scientific folks at Athens. At first the idea arose that this was an ancient burial ground, and that the tombs had been hollowed out of the pumice stone after the volcanic eruption ; but it is now fully ascertained that they were built long before. The largest, edifice, which has been cleared of the tufa which fills it, consists of six rooms of equal size, the largest being about IS feet by 13; and one wall extends round a court of 24 feet in length, with a single entrance. The walls are built in quite a different manner from the fashion now used in the islands ; they are funned of a scries of irregular blocks of lava, uncut, laid together without any order ; no mortar, but the interstices filled with a kind of red ashes. Between the stones long twisted branches of the olive tree are laid, still covered with bark, but in a very advanced state of decomposition, The wood has become very black, as if burnt, and falls to powder at the slightest touch. The inside of the rooms has never been whitewashed ; but probably a rough coating of red earthy matter, similar to that which dies between the .stones, has been put on.

At the north siilo there are two windows; a third and a door are found on the other sides, and several opening into the different rooms. All these were formed by pieces of wood, which have 'decayed, the situation of the openings is chiefly .ascertained by the mass of stones that have fallen in. In every case the roof lies in the interior of the rooms, and has been formed of wood laid upon the walls in such a manner us to be sloping; ■whilst in the largest apartment a cylindrical block of stone buried in the floor has evidently supported a beam of wood, from which radiated the other pieces of the roof. The things which have been discovered in this building are numerous and varied. There are vases of pottery and lava, seeds, straw and hones of animals, tools of flint and lava, and a human .skeleton. It may be remarked that not one article of iron or bronze has been found, not even the (race of a nail in the pieces of wood which have formed the roof ; the absence of metals is complete. The pottery is well proportioned, the commonest kind consisting of yellow .jars, very thick, and capable of holding many gallons. They are filled with barley, the seeds of coriander and aniseed, gray peas and other articles which cannot be made out. The form, material and size resemble the jars used in Greece for keeping cereals in very early though historic times. In many of the rooms heaps of barley lie againstthe' walls. There are smaller jars of ■finer ware and a brighter color, 'ornamented with circular bands and vertical stripes. The coloring matter, of a deep red, has been put on in a moist state without variety of design, being always in circles and straight lines. Besides a double necklace and earrings 'of a woman, many articles made of obsidian, a volcanio product sometimes galled volcanic glass, have been found in Therasia. These are cut, but not polished ; some of a triangular form have probably been the points of arrows; others are like small knives or scrapers for preparing skins. The use of obsidian appears to have been common during the .Stono age among those nations who lived in volcanic regions, and even in latter periods. It is said that it is still used by the woman of Peru for scissors. It win more generally in vogue before the discovery of metals than since, particularly in Greece, where arms ami tools of stone disappeared after copper was found. In the strata where they arc at Therasia there is nothing of iron and bronze.

Two small rings of gold are rather remarkable ; they arc so small that they would not pass over a child's finger. It may he inferred that they were links of a necklace. In each thorn it a hole about the size of a needle's eye. l'rohably they had been threaded one after another on the same string, and not interlaced liko the rings of a chain. The interior is hollow ; ami no indication of soldering can bo perceived ; neither does the gold scorn to nave any alloy or other metal. Tho maker hud flattened the bit of nativo gold by hammering it to tho stato of a thin cireular loaf, and then folding it np with tho edges to tho inside of tho ring. As gold has never boon found m Santorini or in any of the neighboring Volcanic islands, it proves that tho inhabitant* hold communication with the continent; certain streams of Asia Minor having been celebrated in antiquity for tho great quantity of goM brought down. Geologists have endeavoured to draw out the history of the terrible event which overwhelmed thea6 Elands tina their iidiabitant*. At the beginning of the tertiary pnrhxl, QretCft, united W Africa, senna to have formed part <Vf a large, marshy continent, whoiv now Hows tie Mediterranean. It was inhabited by

those' gigantic mammifeis whose bones have been largely found in Africa. Toward the close of this epoch a lowering Of the land sepcrated Europe from Africa, and gave to the MeditcrTauean its present configuration. An oscillation Of the crust of Uie earth afterward produced openings, through which igneous matter has flowed. Currents of lava gave birth to the volcanic nicks which are to tie found in Greece and the neighboring islands, and a volcano had evidently Opened in the present bay of Santorihi. The hill .St. Klias, the top of which forms the cutrninating point of the island, was then an island composed of schist and marble. The igneous 'matter, cooled by contact with the water and atmosphere, attached itself to this bill, and whole united together formed the spado now occupied by San tori ni, 1 herasia and Aspronisi. Repeated layers of lava, scoria and ashes collected during many ages when the crater which occupied the central part was gradually Incoming undermined. Volcanoes are the weak parts of the earth's crust ; there is not one in full activity which docs not presentalternative scries of increase or lessening. The cone rises gradually until by degrees it is obstructed with lava, then a sudden fall destroys it and hollows a new crater, sometimes larger and deeper than the first. Many such occurrences have been described, but none can equal in importance the gigantic fall which formed ] the bay of Santorini. All the central port must have given away and been' suddenly engulfed, leaving but a narrow border of land, through the northern part of which the sea has dashed to (ill up the hollow. Instead of a mountain 3000 feet high, there is a bay of immense depth, surrounded by prociptous rocks, close to which ships can anchor. This violent catastrophe must have taken placd when man was on the island, and the event must have been sudden, since the remains prove that there was no time to move away or to displace anything in the houses. The eruption of pumice stone has preceded the sinking of the cone, for the tufa which covers the downs is cut through by subjacent streams of lava ; jior does it seem to have been preceded by any violent earthquakes, as in that case the houses found in Therasia would have been demolished, and the walls no lunger standing. This is remarkable, as the construction of the buildings proves that the island was subject to them, the piece of wood inserted in the walls seeming to he for no other object than to prevent the disastrous effects of such shaking. This custom is still in use among all the islands of the Archipelago.

From the abundance of wood used in the houses, the island must in those days have been well supplied with timber. The olive tree grew freely, and barley was the commonest of the cereals. Probably, too, the climate was different. The vine does not seem to have been there ; still less win it the only plant cultivated, as now, at Santorini. The population were husbandmen, understanding how to grind bailey in mills and make it into bread ; how to press oil from olives, to bring up cattle, and to weave stuffs. Yet the great abundance of utensils of lava, obsidian and flint, without any metals, shows that theirs was the age of stone, when the use of .metals was unknown. The blocks of stone at the angles of the house at Therasia, and the column standing near, indicate considerable skill in the workmen, when the kind of tools they used is taken into consideration ; whilst the vases of pottery ware are remarkable for their elegance of form. It only remains to consider how many years ago it is since this great eruption took place. The data are vague, but geologists have tried to make some approximation. It is well known that after any violent catastrophe the subterranean forces seem to bo exhausted ; the periods of repose in a volcano are proportional to the previous energy About 19(1 years B. ('. there is the record of an eruption, which raised in the centre of the bay a small islet called Pahea Kameni. After the Christian Era frequent slight emissions only served to increase the island, and during the middle ages there was a period of calm. In the fifteen century the excitement again burst forth, raising reefs both inside and outside the bay. The second duration of rest was about ten centuries ; so that to the first, according to its intensity, there may be calculation at least twice that time ; thus the formation of the boy was at least 2000 years B. (_'. Historical records furnish more positive teaching, as the bay certainly existed 1800 years 8..0. It was this epoch that the islands of the Greek Archipelago were invadod by the Phoenicians. This nation occupied Therasia and Santorini, as the many'ruins still to be found testify, and they are built on the top of the pumiccstone. But the great eruption must have been long before that, since thick beds of ]>ebblcs and shells, from fifteen to twenty yards deep, lie on the tufa; and geologists know well, from the habitual slowness of this rising of the soil, that it corresponds to many centuries. There was also a population on tho islartds differing from those who wore burred in the-ashes and from the I'liii'iiiri.Tus The latter knew tho use of bronze, and introduced it On all tho shores of the Mediterranean. Most likely Wo may place tho great event during the early days of Egyptian civilization, which sOnin historians compute to be 4000 or 5000 yeArs ago. The primitive population present no trace of tho influence which that nation exerted and with which commerce would have placed them in frequent relations.