The figures on the
Harvester Vase carry a curious implement, which has been variously
described, according as those who deal with it believe the vase
to represent a triumphal march of warriors returning from battle
or a harvest procession. In the first case it is described as a
kind of trident with a hook attached to it, for the purpose of
grappling the rigging of an opponent's vessel; in the second, it
is looked upon as a common hay-fork. The resemblance to a hay-fork
seems satisfactory enough, though the three prongs are much longer
than the two of the implement used nowadays, and the hook attached
remains unexplained; but if the implement must be supposed to be a
military weapon, it seems singularly ill-contrived and inadequate
for such rough service. It might conceivably be a trident for spearing
fish, but, on the whole, the hay-fork idea seems most satisfactory.
Hand-querns were used for the grinding of corn, and numbers of
these and of mortars for pounding grain remain. Indeed, in some
cases the actual grains of barley and the pease which were stored
for future use still remain in the great jars. In a jar at Hissarlik,
Schliemann found no less than 440 pounds of pease, and some of his
workmen lived for a time on this food, which might conceivably
have been stored against a siege of Troy earlier than that recorded
in the Iliad.
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