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

Size 1
(0.5 cm or less)
Size 2
(0.6 – 1.5 cm)
Size 3
(1.6-2.9 cm)
Size 4
(3.0-4.9 cm)
Crete 13 37 11 37 4
Mainland 30 36 22 34 3
Islands 2 5 5 6 -
Cyprus 12 42 14 3 -
Anatolia 110 104 24 3 1
Syria-Palestine - 7 5 - -
Shipwrecks - 3 9 3 -
Total 167 234 90 86 8
Table 4.8: Number of chisels by cutting edge width and region
Size 5
(5.0 cm or
more)
The scatter plot display of chisels from Crete, the mainland and the islands
illustrates that two distinctive Aegean chisel types were in circulation: one series that
generally fell within the Size 2 category, and another series that coincided with the Size 4
grouping (see Fig. 4.10). These two chisel grouping seem to have been equally desirable
in the Aegean, and they may be understood as either narrow or wide/broad chisels.
Numerous hoards in the Aegean produced at least one narrow and one wide chisel,
signifying that craftspersons thought of them in pairs. As indicated in Table 4.8, Size 4 or
5 chisels are predominately from the Aegean, meaning that the broad chisel type was a
Minoan and Mycenaean tool form. A more restricted scatter plot, showing only the
Aegean wide chisels (e.g. those with cutting widths greater than 3.0 cm) reveals regional
differentiation (Fig. 4.11). Among the Cretan broad chisels, a distinctive class survives:
chisels that are relatively long (average 27.5‒35.0 cm) and taper inward from the cutting
edge to a narrow butt end (Plate 4.24). Catling calls them “heavy tools” (average weight
= 550g), and Evely classifies them as their own category (his Type 3). 384
This elongated
Minoan chisel is well-defined and only occurs in a few locations outside of Crete, such as
the Mycenae shaft graves. The impressive size of the elongated Minoan chisel is readily
apparent when compared to the chisel data from other regions. As the Cretan wide chisels
384 Catling 1964, 106; Evely 1993, 13-14.
160