ABSTRACT
This chapter correlates a variety of conversations going on in Greece about concealed objects of value. It suggests that a careful ethnography that 'does justice to the more nuanced and situational relations between humans and non-human entities' is key to understanding what might unite seemingly diverse realms of folklore and international politics. Also, the understanding might diverse objects of buried treasure, from the head of a Cyclops to petroleum, natural gas, and rare minerals. Ideas about 'History' as projected on the national stage of 'Greece' are inflected with local knowledge of 'histories', the stories and conflicts that make up everyday life on Kalymnos. The chapter extends that idea by showing how the materialities of everyday 'histories', the maali, or Kalymnian treasures, are also part of the same complex of national findables that make up 'History'. It explains the existence of hydrocarbons (oil, natural gas) and precious minerals (Osmium) in the waters surrounding Greece and Cyprus.
