Before the last ice age, the islands of Andros, Tenos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Syros, Ios, Sikinos and Folegandros formed one large land mass; Keos, Kythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos and Melos were all separate islands (Map 1.1). The three largest mountains are on Naxos, Andros and Amorgos. In the case of Naxos and Andros, the mountains slope gently down to the plains, in parts at least. Amorgos, on the other hand, has high, steep coasts on the east side with small coastal plains on the west and some plateaus in the mountains. The underlying bedrock of the islands is primarily metamorphic rocks including mica shists and marbles (Gaki-Papanastassiou et al., 2010, 299). Thera, Therasia, Melos, Kimolos and Anaphe (Figure A.2) have volcanic soils while the remaining islands primarily have limestone soils, which do not provide much cover over the jagged bedrock. Although soil on the majority of islands is not luxurious, it was good enough to sustain barley, pulses and olives (Berg, 2007, 33). Some of the islands, like Naxos and Keos, had good ground water but others like Melos did not (Berg, 2007, 34). For all the islands, fishing was a staple resource along with the meat of wild and domesticated animals. The Cyclades have different natural resources, available at different periods, including silver (Siphnos and Seriphos), marble (Paros, Naxos, Tenos), alum and minerals (Melos and Kimolos) as well as good agricultural potential on some, such as Naxos, Andros and Thera.