Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

deposit. 161
These finds prove that certain agrarian metal objects, including miniatures and
castings, conveyed a sense of prestige and potentially religious connotations.
The appeal of agricultural metal tools in the eastern Mediterranean is emphasized
by their abundance on shipwrecks. Cape Gelidonya yielded over a hundred agricultural
items, mostly fragmentary picks and hoes, though complete examples were also
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recovered (Fig. 3.9g). Another hoe/plowshare came to light when the Institute of
Nautical Archaeology (INA) briefly re-investigated the site in the late 1980s. 163 Bass’
interpretation of the ship’s metal cargo was influenced by the agricultural objects, which
he identified as scrap metal. Bass envisioned a metal smith on board who provided
metallurgical services at each port of call and who utilized the broken tools as raw
material for manufacturing new objects. In addition to the picks and hoes, a variety of
other agricultural tools were discovered at Gelidonya, including a sickle, shovel, mattock
and two pruning hooks. The diversity of these tools suggests that they were deliberately
assembled. Given the infrequency of bronze agricultural tools in the study region, the
shipwreck’s impressive tool cache may suggest that that the farming implements retained
a value greater than scrap metal. The identification of all of the utensils as scrap warrants
re-evaluation, for other shipwrecks produced complete agricultural tools. Seven sickles
and one hoe/plowshare were found with the Uluburun shipwreck. 164
A concentration of
metal objects, including a plowshare, was found underwater near Kibbutz Hahotrim,
Israel (south of Haifa). This site likely represents a scattering of objects thrown overboard
161
Karageorghis and Demas 1985, 109, plate 88.4, 6.
162
Bass 1967, 84-95.
163
Bass 1988, 2-5; Pulak 1988b, 13-17.
164
There may be additional Uluburun agricultural tools not yet conserved or published.
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