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

the socket may be that a wooden shaft provided a wider butt end, more suitable for hitting
with a hammer or mallet. Under this configuration, a craftsperson could hold the metal
chisel and strike the wooden shaft to apply intense yet controlled pressure upon a small
wood or stone area.
F: Shafted, double-ended or combination tools (excluding double axes)
Double adzes, ax-adzes, double-hammers, ax-hammers, adze-hammers, and pick-
adzes are grouped together under this section since they share a basic design as shafted,
double-ended (often combination) tools. On a simple morphological level, these
implements are conceptually similar to double axes—specifically a central shaft hole and
two functional tool edges at either end of the object. As double axes are ubiquitous on
Crete, it is unsurprising that other shafted double implements were also popular on the
island. As a collective group, the shafted (non-double ax) tools are most prominent on
Crete, followed by Cyprus (Table 4.11). The tool types are rarer on the mainland,
Anatolia and Syria-Palestine. Chronologically, double-sided tools predominately belong
to the LBA, and only five are securely dated to the MBA.
Most shafted double-ended tools incorporate round shaft holes. Tools with oval-
shaped shaft holes do exist, even though circular holes were apparently preferred. 390
In
all probability, the reluctance to adopt oval shaft holes is explained by the Minoan
stubbornness to spurn the round hole. Nearly half of the shafted, double-sided tools came
to light on Crete, and so the tradition of these implements is undoubtedly Minoan,
especially if the large sum of the Minoan double axes is considered. The relative dearth
of mainland double-sided shafted tools (notwithstanding the double axes) further supports
390
Three ax-hammers and six ax-adzes employ an oval shaft hole; otherwise the shafted, double-sided tools
use circular holes.
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