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

Whether the double ax was an implement of carpenters, masons, or both cannot
be determined at present. Shaw recognized the double ax as suitable for woodworking,
but the probability or likelihood of its use for stonework cannot be excluded. 328 Despite
its potential as a mason’s tool, Evely observed that “there are no indisputable clues to
suggest if, in fact, it was used on dressing masonry blocks.” 329
If used on masonry, the
double ax would have roughly shaped an architectural block. At the very least, it seems
that the tool’s general absence in Cyprus, Anatolia, and Syria-Palestine indicates that it
was not a regular implement of a mason’s tool kit in those regions. It is less clear whether
the tools were used on stone in the Aegean.
Aegean double axes have a long history of scholarship, not only because of their
ubiquity but also on account of the numerous depictions of the tool in other media.
Cretan double axes are generally divided into two functional categories: ceremonial and
utilitarian. The double ax is widely regarded as a cultic symbol in Minoan culture, based
on the frequency of its representation on seal stones, mason’s marks, Linear A, pottery,
and even in the shape of a cist grave, 331 as well as numerous miniature double axes
fashioned out of precious metals and deposited at shrines, such as the peak sanctuary at
Iukhtas. 332 Large, cultic double axes consist of sheets cut out of bronze, then hammered;
these objects were undoubtedly symbolic rather than functional. 333
For this reason, the
ceremonial Minoan double axes are not included in the current tool dataset, though they
328
Shaw 2009, 39.
329
Evely 1993, 55.
330
Evans 1914; Petrie 1917, 13-15; Deshayes 1960, 253-261; Catling 1964, 88-89; Spyropoulos 1972;
Shaw 1973a, 45-47; Branigan 1974, 21-22; Evely 1993, 41-55; Onassoglou 1995; Onassoglou 1996;
Haysom 2010.
331
See Evans 1914; Alberti 2009.
332
For an up-to-date review of this topic and its literature, see Haysom 2010; also Buchholz 1959; for
Iukhtas see Karetsou 1981.
333
Shaw 2009, 39.
330
140