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

The primary difference between the MH and LH metallurgical implements is the
latter’s wider range of tool forms (Fig. 3.14b). Molds are the sole MH metalworking
implement, but a diverse selection of LH hot- and cold-working tools is preserved. Only
two LH molds are known, and the general absence of these objects on the LH mainland
underscores the lack of archaeological evidence for casting operations in Mycenaean
contexts. Nearly half of the LH smithing tools were found at large sites, where
metallurgy was more likely to have transpired. Charcoal shovels for metalworking are
known on Cyprus, and a long-handled, elaborate brazier from the Vaphio tholos tomb
may be interpreted in the same light. 224
This suggestion, however, is speculative, for the
Vaphio object would be the only metallurgical shovel outside of Cyprus.
As with several tool categories, the Cypriot consumption patterns of metallurgical
utensils are localized and different from the neighboring regions. Metalworking tools are
uncommon in the MC period, despite some archaeometallurgical remnants from this time
(suggestive of metal workshops) and the remarkably rich assemblage of MC copper-alloy
items. The low quantity and infrequency of MC metalworking tools belies the apparent
prosperity of the early, indigenous metal industry on the island. Copper-alloy objects in
the MC period typically occur in burials, but this context is the least common for
metalworking tools. The noteworthy rise in the occurrence (both quantity and frequency)
and variation of LC metalworking tools (tongs, sledgehammers, anvils and molds) is
partly due to greater archaeological exploration of settlements from that period (Fig.
3.14d). Given the more developed and expansive LC metallurgical industry, an elevated
incidence of metalworking tools is not surprising. The negligible percentage of MC tools
224 For charcoal shovels on Cyprus, see Catling 1964, 100-101; For the Vaphio brazier, see Kilian-
Dirlmeier 1987; Tripathi 1988, 366 entry 1328 with references.
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