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

siderópetra (hard limestone known locally as iron stone) and dates to the Neopalatial era.
The Cretan tubular drill was not very common, at least for masonry, at this time. The
drill, however, was used to produce seal stones and stone vessels throughout the Bronze
Age, but its connection with masonry practices is unclear. Several column bases from
Phaistos have drill holes, but these bases are not in situ and, significantly in light of the
Chrysolakkos examples, most are dated to the Protopalatial period. 440 Shaw mentioned
the possibility of drilled mortises on blocks from Knossos and Zakros, but their
identification and date are far from certain. 441 Since the application of the tubular drill in
the Neopalatial period is debatable, it is possible that House Za’s block was reused from
Chrysolakkos or elsewhere. 442
There is no reason for continuity in drill use between Protopalatial Crete and the
Mycenaean or Hittite periods. Therefore, the Cretan tubular drill that was employed
during the early second millennium probably did not influence the adoption of the tubular
drill on the Greek mainland and Anatolia during the LBA. Drilled circular holes in
masonry first appeared on the mainland at LH IIIA1-2 Tiryns (in the throne room), and
the technique was used in the citadels of Tiryns and Mycenae throughout the LH IIIB
443
period. The tubular drill was most ubiquitous in central Anatolia during the Hittite
empire period. Drill holes are prevalent at Boğazköy, particularly within the Great
Temple and Unterstadt, where about 1000 drill holes are recorded on foundation blocks,
thresholds, and door sills. 444
Tubular drill usage is also conspicuous at other Hittite sites
440
Shaw 1973a, 121, figures 137, 139, 141a, 141b, 145.
441
Shaw 2009.
442
Parallels between the threshold block from House Za and the Chrysolakkos drilled blocks include
similar hole dimensions and the observation that the drilled holes occur roughly 9-11 cm from the edge of
the block.
443
Küpper 1996, 9-14.Drilled holes do not occur at the Palace of Nestor at Pylos: Nelson 2001, 86.
444
Naumann 1971, 111-114; Seeher 2005, 27-35; Seeher 2009, 139-141.
182