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

carving out deep mortises in wooden planks (Plate 4.28). 387
There are 17 cold chisels and
15 mortise chisels listed in the dataset; additional examples of these forms probably exist
but have not been identified. There are 59 socketed chisels (Plates 4.29-30), primarily
with Size 2 cutting edges, within the dataset, and the tool is analyzed more closely in the
following section, since the socketed chisel has particular regional patterns that warrant a
separate discussion. Only a handful of cold and mortises chisels are recognized in the
database, but the ratios of these subtypes may provide a gauge for future chisel type
identification.
The L:W ratio of the cold, mortise and socketed examples are comparable to the
other chisel data in a box-and-dot plot (Fig. 4.14a, b). The cold chisels, albeit a small
sample size, correspond most closely to the medium (Size 3) cutting edges between 1.6
and 2.9 cm. It is possible that other chisels classified in the Size 3 category were utilized
for “cold” working, like cutting metal. A less distinctive overlap between cold and wide
chisels is evident, suggesting that broader chisels could have cut metal. On the other
hand, the mid-spread of mortise chisels is comparable to those of socketed and narrow
chisels; these three chisel types differ notably from the wide and cold chisels with lower
ratios. Although socketed and mortise chisels have dissimilar morphologies, the function
of the socketed versions is probably restricted to wood-working based upon the
comparable L:W ratio with mortise chisels.
Region Length Standard deviation Cutting edge Standard deviation
and CV
width
and CV
Crete 16.6 cm (n=108) ±10.2 cm; CV=0.61 2.2 cm (n=87) ±1.58 cm; CV=0.72
Mainland 10.1 cm (n=105) ±6.27 cm; CV=0.62 1.94 cm (n=101) ± 1.41 cm; CV=0.73
Islands 12.9 cm (n=24) ±6.8 cm; CV=0.53 2.45 cm (n=21) ±1.39 cm; CV=0.57
Cyprus 11.3 cm (n=67) ±5.96 cm; CV=0.53 1.2 cm (n=66) ±0.76 cm; CV=0.63
387 Excellent examples of mortise chisels come from Enkomi Trésor de Bronzes (Deshayes 1000, plate
XII.4) and the Uluburun shipwreck (Yalçin, Pulak and Slotta 2005, 631 entry 193).
162