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

Mycenaean and Cypriot contexts, which verify the tool’s popularity among masons. 389
Chisels aided the smoothing of a surface, but any of these tool marks would have been
eliminated in the finishing process. Yet non-visible faces of stone blocks (on the end and
back sides) may show distinctive, wide blade cuttings.
E2: Socketed chisels (Plates 4.29-4.30)
Socketed chisels represent only a small portion of the overall chisel count.
Despite the tool type’s relative scarcity, patterns of regional consumption are evident.
With only a few MBA examples, the tool belongs principally to the LBA. Over 90% of
the known cases (54 out of 59) are Anatolian or Cypriot. This kind of chisel was not
entirely restricted to these two regions, as a few examples have turned up in other areas.
Three socketed chisels appear in the Aegean, and these are probably foreign imports. The
high concentration of socketed chisels in Anatolia (and nearby Cyprus) may indicate that
the tool was manufactured there. The fact that the tool was most popular in Anatolia and
Cyprus is unexpected, for the material commonalities between these regions was limited,
especially during the LBA. Although craft links between Anatolia and Cyprus are not
definite, the two regions shared an inclination for the socketed chisel (Table 4.10).
Regional total MBA LBA General 2 nd millennium
Crete 1 - 1 -
Mainland 2 - 2 -
Islands 0 - - -
Cyprus 15 3 12 -
Anatolia 39 9 22 8
Syria-Palestine 1 - 1 -
Shipwrecks 1 - 1 -
Total 59 12 39 8
Table 4.10: Socketed chisel distribution
389 Shaw 2009, 52; Nelson 2001.
164