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

The tubular drill was first devised as a cutting device for hard stones, like granite,
in Old Kingdom Egypt during the third millennium BC. 428 Round mortises occur in
architectural masonry on Crete, the Greek mainland, and central and southeastern
Anatolia during the second millennium BC. By the LBA, circular drill holes were also
key features in some sculpted works. 429 On Crete, Shaw recognized two different types of
holes: a shallow “saucer-like” depression formed by a blunt object, and a deep cylindrical
drill cut. 430 Reed and bamboo have been proposed as the materials of drills that fashioned
the circular mortises in stone, with the help of an abrasive agent (emery or sand) and a
lubricant (water or oil). 431 The emery or sand was constantly poured onto the spot being
drilled and when the organic tubes were rotated, the abrasive elements were what actually
cut the stone. It is unclear if the circular mortise holes in hard stones were formed by
pieces of reed and bamboo drills or metal versions. Perhaps the abrasive elements ate
away the reed/bamboo faster than cutting the stone. It seems that bronze drill bits, still
aided by additive abrasive elements and lubricants, would have been more efficient at
cutting hard stone than organic materials. 432 While discussing the drill holes at Hattusha,
Neve argues that “metal pipes” were utilized. 433
A metal tubular drill would enhance
cutting speed and allow for bit reuse (an unlikely scenario for an organic drill). Since the
diameters of the mortise cuttings were often between 2.5 and 5.0 cm (and as small as 1.6
428
Petrie 1917, 44-45, plate LII; Gorelick and Gwinnett 1983, 40-41, 47.
429
Casson 1933, 25-32; Wace 1949, 62; Seeher 2005, 32-34, figures 21-24.
430
Shaw 1973a, 161.
431
Shaw 1973a, 70; Shaw 1973b; Evely 1993, 77-85.
432
See Gorelick and Gwinnett 1983, for an experiment that demonstrated that metal hollow bits using
emery, corundum or diamond were effective as drills.
433
Neve 2002, 93.
180