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

Site size and contextual analysis signify the general availability of the utilitarian
tools and the characteristics that governed both their selection and distribution. These
tools generally seem to be highly accessible and probably personal items. The
implements appear predominantly at minor sites (646 examples), but large (476) and
medium (392) size sites are not far behind (Fig. 3.16). The wide scattering of the
utilitarian tools is evident among the hierarchy of sites, and such dissemination is
explained by their ubiquitous appeal and general availability. The incidence of these
implements in every contextual category further illustrates their far-reaching distribution
(Fig. 3.17). Utilitarian tools are chiefly placed in burials throughout the MBA and LBA;
there are 356 such implements in MBA graves and 446 in LBA contexts. The high
number from the LBA is attributed to the Mycenaean tendency to include them as grave
gifts in chamber tombs. The phenomenon is evident on the mainland but also in the
numerous LH III chamber tombs on Kos and Rhodes (Ialysos). 251
Settlement and hoard
contexts are also typical for utilitarian tools, though both types are notably more common
in the LBA than the MBA. As burials are the preeminent context for this implement
category, a personal affiliation (individual ownership?) of these objects seems possible.
Razors, cleavers, undefined blades and scrapers or spatulas represent a small
portion of the utilitarian tool assemblage (Fig. 3.18). Scrapers and/or spatulas are tools
with thin edges, whose exact purpose in the prehistoric tool kit is ambiguous. This edge
could fulfill cutting and paring needs with a scrapping motion or perform spreading and
smoothing actions like a modern spatula. Two forms of razors principally survive. The
first is a double-sided implement with thin cutting edges, whose general appearance
251 See the appendixes listing the small metal finds from these chamber tombs in Georgiadis 2003.
102