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

cm in sculpture), several different-sized drills bits must have existed. 434
Shaw believes
that variation in hole size signifies the use of an organic tubular drill, but slight variations
in size are common to some metal tools (e.g. chisels) and it is not improbable that there
was a series of metal tubular drill bits.
The basic technology for tubular drilling in the Aegean existed in the EBA with
435
the production of stone vessels. It is unlikely that the drill bits were of metal at this
early stage, and so organic materials cannot be excluded. The earliest evidence of drilled
mortises in stonework from the second millennium Aegean is found at the MMIB and
later Chrysolakkos mortuary structure, where a total of 25 circular holes appear on 15
different well-cut blocks. 436 Shaw proposes that the blocks from this funerary structure
were reused from a previous monumental structure, the construction of which required
drill holes. 437 Despite the early application of this drilling technology, the tubular drill is
not ubiquitous in Minoan architecture, prompting us to turn to drilling operations from
other regions for comparison. Rounded drill holes occur at the 18 th century palace of
Alalakh (Tell Atchana) in the Amuq Valley. 438 Despite this possible later parallel, it
remains unclear whether a technological link in masonry work existed between Crete and
northern Syria during the MBA, although contact between the two regions is well
documented. In addition to Chrysolakkos, Minoan circular mortises are known at Mallia
from thresholds in House Za (entrance to room 21), House E and the Agora. 439
The
drilled threshold (containing six holes) from House Za is intriguing since it is made of
434
A sampling of 31 drill holes from limestone foundations in the Great temple at Hattusha have diameters
ranging from 3.8 to 4.4 cm. Seeher (2005, 30) asserts that a standard range for a diameter drill was between
3.7-3.9 cm.
435
Warren 1969, 158-165; Sakellarakis 1976, 174-175; Bevan 2007.
436
Shaw 1973b, 322.
437
Shaw 1973b, 328-329.
438
Neve 2002, 94.
439
Demargne and Gallet de Santerre 1953; Shaw 1973a, 70, Figures 61-63, 192, 194.
181