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

oad chisel if it were hafted perpendicularly into or against a wide handle; this
configuration changes the angle of attachment by 90 degrees. 355
As the trunnion/lugged blades could be hafted in a number of different ways, they
could function variably as adzes, broad chisels or axes (for the dimensions of trunnion
blades, see Fig. 4.6). Yet the ratio of the trunnion blade’s length divided by its cutting
edge width implies that it may be best understood as an ax. The trunnion/lugged ratio
best corresponds to that of the single/flat axes, which is evident by their similar mean
(and a comparable coefficient of variation) as well as their related mid-spread (Fig. 4.5a,
b).Trunnion blades are not as similar to wide chisels, though there is some overlap in the
range of their ratio values. There is one important factor, however, against the
interpretation of the trunnion/lugged blades as axes. Generally, these are flat pieces of
metal lacking the ideal thickness for a striking implement like an ax. The thicknesses of
sixteen trunnion/lugged tools are recorded in the database, and their average thickness at
the center of the blade is 0.9 cm (with a standard deviation of ±0.34 cm and CV of 0.36);
see also Plates 4.10-14.
Regional total MBA LBA General 2 nd
millennium
Crete 5 1 2 2
Mainland 4 0 4 (1 is an adze) 0
Islands 2 0 2 0
Cyprus 8 0 8 (2 are adzes) 0
Anatolia 67 20 34 13
Syria-Palestine 12 2 8 2
Shipwrecks 7 0 7 (3 are adzes) 0
Total 105 20 64 21
Molds for trunnion/ lugged
axes (all Anatolian )
9 2 5 2
Table 4.4: Trunnion/lugged ax (and adze) distribution
355 Maxwell-Hyslop (1953, 71) suggests some of the narrower trunnion blades were chisels and that “when
used as a chisel the tool would be hafted lengthways into the shaft.”
149