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

Syria-Palestine 2 - 2 -
Shipwrecks 4 - 4 -
Total 33 3 24 6
Table 4.13: Ax-adze distribution
Like other double-ended shafted tools, ax-adzes typically use circular shaft holes.
There are, however, six examples with oval holes, several of which were from Crete. An
ax-adze from the Vaphio tholos tomb in Laconia (LH II) has a circular shaft hole and a
figure-of-eight motif on either side of the tool’s mid-section. 406 This example
unquestionably illustrates a Minoan or Minoan-inspired tool on the mainland. Catling
argued that the Cypriot ax-adzes were derived from the Aegean and claimed that the
implement arrived on the island with the purported early 12 th century Aegean migrants. 407
Catling’s proposition that Aegean-like implements were brought to Cyprus by
Mycenaeans is untenable because these cases demonstrate Cretan-Cypriot connections
more so than mainland-Cypriot ones. The dimensions of the ax-adze confirm that the ax
side was typically wider than the adze end; regional differences in tool size, however,
provide little guidance in demonstrating explicit trans-cultural links (Fig. 4.17). In
general, the popularity of shafted double-ended tools on Crete and Cyprus, including the
ax-adze, points to a definite craft and tool link between these islands (see Table 4.11).
F3: Double hammers, ax-hammers and adze-hammers (Plates 4.37-4.40)
Double hammers, ax-hammers and adze-hammers are grouped together for
discussion because they are shafted tools with at least one hammer-like end. While ax-
hammers and adze-hammers were possibly restricted to carpentry work, 408
double
hammers (depending on their size) could fulfill carpentry, masonry or metallurgical
406
Deshayes 1960, entry 2249; Kilian-Dirlmeier 1987, 204, figures 2, 5; Tripathi 1988, 346 entry 1148.
407
Catling 1964, 92.
408
Catling 1964, 92.
172