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

egularly considered to be absent from the archaeological record. 451 Evely noted two
Cretan examples that are conceivable as tubular drills, but these designations are hardly
assured. The first came to light in the Protopalatial (MM II) seal workshop at Quartier
Mu, where a “tubular bronze drill was found;” 452 Poursat’s preliminary publication
merely referenced the tool as a “forets tubulaires en métal” without any significant details
or a photograph. 453 This tubular drill is “small” and Catling understands it as part of the
seal workshop “for making the string-hole and for engraving.” 454 Another case for a
preserved tubular drill is a hollow cone-like object recovered from the Zakros palace. 455
Although the circular opening of the Zakros cone is ideal for a tubular drill bit, the object
tapers inward to a pointed end, meaning that any drilling operation would have been
shallow and ineffective for making a deep mortise.
Although publications offer no definitive example of a tubular drill, a number of
candidates in the form of hollow cylinders warrant further consideration. Including the
specimens mentioned above, there are 18 hollow, cylinder-like metal objects that may be
tubular drill bits (Fig. 4.19). Ten examples are from Crete, five are from the mainland and
three are from Anatolia. It is not likely that every single one of these examples was a
tubular drill, but collectively this list demands reconsideration. Some metal tubes appear
at sites where there is good evidence for drilling in architectural blocks (e.g. Hattusha,
Tiryns, and Mallia). Mortised drill holes in masonry vary considerably in size (1.5 to 6.4
cm for Minoan holes, 2.5 to 5.0 cm for Mycenaean, and 4.0 to 6.0 cm for Anatolian
451 Bevan 2007, 57; Thaler 2007, 297; Evely 1993, 77.
452 Catling 1977-1978, 63; Evely 1993, 78 entry 24.
453 Poursat 1978, 834.
454 Catling 1977-1978, 63.
455 HM 3134; Evely 1993, 78 entry 25 figure 35.2.
456 Shaw 2009, 51; Wright 2006, 33; Neve 2002, 93.
456
),
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