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

Islands 2 0 1 1
Cyprus 9 2 7 -
Anatolia 3 2 1 0
Syria-Palestine 5 3 1 1
Shipwrecks 1 0 1 0
Total 113 21 (+2 EBA-MBA) 82 8
Table 4.19: Saw distribution
Saws are diverse with an array of shapes and sizes, and several in the dataset are
fragmentary. A set of rivet holes may occur at one end of a blade; these enabled the
attachment of a wooden handle and indicate that the tool was used by one person.
Extremely large Cretan versions have two sets of rivet holes on either end thereby
requiring two people to operate. The presence or absence of teeth on a cutting blade is
another defining feature of a saw. Dentations were created by cutting out triangular
recesses along an edge with chisels or punches. These triangular points could be bent
outwards in alternating directions to increase the saw’s cutting width and decrease the
blade being pinched during cutting. Six distinctive categories of saws, taken from the
catalogue, are listed below; these groupings do not include the pendulum and convex
types already discussed. The purpose of categorizing the saws in this way is to highlight
their diversity and discuss the saws that characterize a particular region. Therefore, these
classifications are not a traditional typology, for there is no attempt to devise a
chronological development of the saws.
1. Saws whose blade narrows; often widest at the butt, while others widen
towards the middle and then contract to a point at the tip end. (Plate 4.43;
there are 20 examples in the catalogue).
2. Large saws with a relatively straight blade top and a curving cutting edge
(Plates 4.44-5; there are 18 examples in the catalogue).
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