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

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implement, it was employed <strong>from</strong> time to time in stone work, especially for hard stones,<br />

such as microcrystalline limestone <strong>and</strong> conglomerate. Before considering <strong>the</strong> saws in <strong>the</strong><br />

catalogue, it is necessary to discuss a specialized stone-cutting saw, which is interpreted<br />

<strong>from</strong> tool marks alone. 471<br />

Strong cutting devices were required to fashion <strong>and</strong> cut hard rocks like<br />

conglomerate, hard limestone, basalt, <strong>and</strong> gabbro. Preserved saw marks <strong>from</strong> Mycenaean<br />

<strong>and</strong> Hittite masonry bear witness to <strong>the</strong> LBA existence <strong>and</strong> use of a large machine-like<br />

pendulum saw <strong>and</strong> possibly a convex-shaped h<strong>and</strong> saw. In Mycenaean architecture,<br />

harder stones—especially conglomerate—were selected <strong>and</strong> cut for critical locations<br />

472<br />

including “antae, column bases, thresholds, jambs, <strong>and</strong> lintels.” Visible saw marks on<br />

anta blocks at Tiryns were initially thought to be made by a sawing knife (Messersäge)<br />

because of <strong>the</strong>ir long, arcing cuts. 473 Küpper, who followed Schw<strong>and</strong>ner’s earlier<br />

hypo<strong>the</strong>sis, meticulously examined <strong>the</strong> Tiryns marks <strong>and</strong> deduced a massive machine<br />

whereby a large curved saw blade swung back <strong>and</strong> forth in a pendulum-like motion. The<br />

radii of this apparatus’ pendulum blade are as large as 7.5 meters in some<br />

reconstructions. 474 In order for <strong>the</strong> blade to swing, it had to be suspended, possibly <strong>from</strong><br />

a wooden A-frame. This gr<strong>and</strong>iose implement would have been impressive to behold, <strong>and</strong><br />

though several reconstructions of <strong>the</strong> device exist, its exact form is unknown. 475 Wright<br />

recognized <strong>the</strong> pendulum saw as “probably <strong>the</strong> most technologically advanced device<br />

used in architecture during <strong>the</strong> second millennium.” 476<br />

The saw’s cutting motion was<br />

471<br />

Stone-cutting saws are attested in Egypt. See Moores 1991 for <strong>the</strong> Old Kingdom drag saw.<br />

472<br />

Wright 2006, 17, 33.<br />

473<br />

Dörpfeld 1885, 263-24; Müller 1930, 183-185; Seeher 2007, 30-31.<br />

474<br />

Küpper 1996, 16-25; Schw<strong>and</strong>ner 1991, 219-223.<br />

475<br />

Schw<strong>and</strong>ner 1991, 220-221, figures 6-8; Küpper 1996, 217 figure 142, 286 plate 12.2.<br />

476<br />

Wright 2006, 34.<br />

188

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