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

70 percent of the catalogue (79 out of 113 examples). The basic sawing implement
probably originated as a small, hand-held, serrated blade made of stone. The Aegean has
several third millennium metal saws, and the saw’s impressive history on Crete begins in
the EM II period at Priniatikos Pyrgos. 480
Other early saws are known from EM II- MM
II Koumasa and Chamaizi.
As the Near East produced earlier versions of the saw, the implement’s origin
481
cannot be traced to Crete. Yet the saw’s popularity in the Aegean, specifically Crete,
seems to have been memorialized in Greek myth during the historical period. According
to Greek tradition, Talos was the first to invent the saw while living in Attica. The
mythical craftsman initially cut a piece of wood with a snake’s jawbone, and when the
implement form proved successful it was copied in metal. 482 Fearing that Talos’
craftsmanship was superior to his own, Daidalos killed Talos, was subsequently
convicted for the murder and then fled to Crete. Although the myth does not explicitly
state that Daidalos brought the saw technology to Crete, this may have been assumed.
While the tale does not convey the real origin of the tool, it portrays the reputation that
Aegean, perhaps Minoan, craftspersons had attained. The regional dispersal of the tool
verifies its preference in Crete (Table 4.19), leading Shaw to observe: “the Minoan saws
are usually larger, better preserved and more numerous than those found elsewhere.” 483
Regional differences in saw measurements substantiate this claim (Fig. 4.20).
Regional total MBA LBA General 2 nd
millennium
Crete 79 13 (+2 EBA-MBA) 58 6
Mainland 14 1 13 0
480 Branigan 1974, entries 705 (Priniatikos Pyrgos – EM II), 706 (Naxos – Early Cycladic), 707
(Chalandriani – Early Cycladic II), 711 (Poliochni – EBA 2).
481 Deshayes 1960, 362.
482 Talos and Daidalos are described in Diodorus of Sicily 4.76 and Apollodorus’ The Library 3.15.8.
483 Shaw 2009, 44.
190