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

is significant, as both regions were localities for feasting. 255 The abundance of cleavers in
burials from Kos and Rhodes is more difficult to explain beyond the fact that the
chopping instrument was part of a Mycenaean cultural package in the Dodecanese.
Despite evidence for feasting in LBA Cyprus, the dearth of cleavers in the eastern
Mediterranean may signify that large-scale Mycenaean-style feasting did not spread to
the east. 256
Since knives represent 1176 out of 1554 utilitarian tools (75.7%), they are clearly
the favored utilitarian object from the second millennium (Fig. 3.18). In fact, knives are
the most ubiquitous tool type from the entire MBA and LBA study region, with 22.2% of
the current dataset comprised of these cutting implements. In his review of Mycenaean
257
metallurgy, Iakovidis noted that knives “are the most frequent of all bronze finds.”
Few changes in the overall knife repertoire occur, and LBA versions are continuations of
earlier forms. Despite their homogeneity over time, knives are traditionally divided into
typologies, often by blade and haft morphology. 258
The concern here is the regional
preferences and patterns for these implements. Although general distributions of
utilitarian implements are noteworthy, knife variation according to region is
unmistakable. Overall, knives are much more common in the LBA than the earlier period,
with the exception of Cyprus (Fig. 3.19).
There are similar quantities of knives from Cyprus (410) and the Greek mainland
(435) in the second millennium, yet the consumption patterns for each period are
opposite, thus pinpointing different regional choices. Knives are the primary MC tool
255 On this general subject, see Wright 2004; for the feasting evidence from Crete, see Borgna 2004.
256 This observation contradicts Steel 2004, 173-177, who notes that the Mycenaean drinking vessels on
Cyprus imply that certain Mycenaean feasting activities occurred there.
257 Iakovidis 1982, 215.
258 Sandars 1955; Catling 1964, 102-104; Deshayes 1960, volume II, 123-140 or entries 2324-2670.
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