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

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of shafted double hammers is also <strong>from</strong> that isl<strong>and</strong>. 410<br />

Shaft holes in double hammers are<br />

mostly round, but oval <strong>and</strong> square or rectangular holes are also known.<br />

Regional total MBA LBA General 2 nd millennium<br />

Crete 4 - 3 1<br />

Mainl<strong>and</strong> 1 - 1 -<br />

Cyprus - - - -<br />

Anatolia 2 - 2 -<br />

Syria-Palestine 1 - 1 -<br />

Shipwrecks - - - -<br />

Total 8 0 7 1<br />

Table 4.15: Ax-Hammer distribution<br />

<strong>Aegean</strong> ax-hammers (not pictured) were in circulation by <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> third<br />

millennium in Boeotia, with examples <strong>from</strong> Thebes <strong>and</strong> Levadeia. 411 Due to <strong>the</strong> early<br />

appearance of <strong>the</strong> tool, it is perplexing that MBA assemblages lack <strong>the</strong> implement,<br />

though ax-hammers were also relatively rare in <strong>the</strong> LBA (Table 4.15). Most ax-hammers<br />

were intentionally cast as such <strong>and</strong> were not converted <strong>from</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r tools. The shapes of<br />

two ax-hammers (<strong>from</strong> Knossos <strong>and</strong> Megiddo) resemble a double ax, except that one side<br />

is thick <strong>and</strong> blunt at <strong>the</strong> cutting edge; <strong>the</strong>se examples were originally produced in this<br />

manner. 412 Yet <strong>the</strong>re are a few instances of modification; Neopalatial double axes <strong>from</strong><br />

Nirou Khani <strong>and</strong> Palaikastro functioned as ax-hammers after one side developed a blunt<br />

cutting edge. 413 These objects are recognized as double axes <strong>and</strong> ax-hammers, since <strong>the</strong>y<br />

operated as both during <strong>the</strong>ir lifespan. Ax-hammer designs incorporate both round <strong>and</strong><br />

oval shaft holes. A miniature (only 5.2 cm long) ax-hammer <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> A<strong>the</strong>ns Acropolis<br />

hoard presented a classification problem, since its basic shape looks like an ax-adze but<br />

<strong>the</strong> would-be adze end is very blunt. 414<br />

As <strong>the</strong> ax blade is not sharp, <strong>the</strong> tool may be a<br />

double hammer, but its appearance resembles <strong>the</strong> form of an ax-hammer. Given <strong>the</strong><br />

410<br />

Evely 1993, 101, entries 15-21; Shaw 2009, 43.<br />

411<br />

Branigan 1974, 165 entries 559 <strong>and</strong> 560. For <strong>the</strong> Levadeia example, also see Deshayes 1960, entry 2106.<br />

412<br />

For Knossos, see: Evely 1993 101 entry 11. For Megiddo, see: Deshayes 1960, entry 2110.<br />

413<br />

Evely 1993, 101 entry 16, figure 44.16.<br />

414<br />

The object is published in: Spyropoulos 1972, 73 entry 8β; drawing 138 on pg 76, plate 23β.<br />

174

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