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

small craft tools in the Aegean MBA may be explained by a continuation of EBA
production and consumption traditions. Small craft tools are found primarily at large sites
(Fig. 3.22) and within settlements (Fig. 3.23), thus reflecting a distribution different from
the more ubiquitous dissemination of utilitarian implements. The materials needed for the
production of textiles (wool and linen), ivory working (hippopotamus and elephant
tusks), leather (animal hides) and writing (knowledge) may have been restricted to urban
centers. This may explain why the small crafting implements are typically found at major
sites.
In rare cases, textile workshops are recognized within the archaeological record,
but it is often challenging to interpret where this work occurred and how resources were
gathered and allocated. Cypriot textile workshops were recognized by Smith at Kition-
Kathari (west of Temple 1) and Kition-Chrysopolitissa (domestic area) based upon
distributions of loom weights and spindle whorls rather than metal tools. 265 These work
areas demonstrate the difficulty of ascertaining the functional capabilities of small,
indistinct metal tools without contextual considerations. 266 Textile working seems to have
occurred in the Artisans’ Quarter at Mochlos (Buildings A and B), and this assertion rests
primarily upon the recovered non-metal objects; 63 loom weights, a bone awl and two
elongated bronze needles testify to textile production at the coastal site. 267
Textiles were a
staple industry of the Mycenaean and Cretan palaces, according to the impressive
numbers documented in the Linear B texts. The wealth acquired from this industry was
265
Smith 2009, 33-39, 71.
266
For a discussion on the tools (the distaff, spindle and whorl) that were used to spin fabric, see Crockett
1977, 10-24. Spindles or slender shafts could have been made in metal while whorls were customarily
ceramic. Also see the website from the Museum of Cretan Ethnography, specifically the section on
weaving: http://www.cretanethnologymuseum.gr/imke/html/en/421.html
267
Soles 2003, 93-94.
109