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

and Knossos, seemingly reflecting the peer-polity nature of the island during the LBA. 500
Mallia is the only site that had an equivalent number of implements from MM and LM
contexts. The quantity of Mochlos carpentry/masonry implements may relate to or even
surpass those from Zakros and Knossos, yet so far only a sampling of the Mochlos
examples are published or described in preliminary reports. The Mochlos tool sum will
be enhanced when the next excavation volume is published. 501
Not surprisingly, the
majority of the LM tools date to the Neopalatial period. Only a few implements are
securely dated to the 14 th through 12 th centuries. Double axes, chisels and saws comprise
the conventional and preferred triad of Minoan carpentry/masonry implements (not
necessarily found together) at most sites, especially within the urban centers.
LM site
502
Total
LBA
tools
Early
LBA
1600-
1400
Peak
LBA
1400-
1200
Late
LBA
1200-
1050
Tool types
Zakros 55 55 - - 16 saws; 13 double axes; 13 chisels; 2
pick-adzes; 2 hollow cylinders (tubular
drills?); 2 drills; 3 single/flat axes; 1
Knossos
+14 unknown
single/flat adze
47 42 1 - 18 chisels; 9 saws; 9 double axes; 2
drills; 2 hollow cylinders (tubular
drills?); 1 ax-hammer
32 27 1 - 18 double axes; 11 chisels; 3 saws
Mallia
+1 unknown
Gournia 31 24 - - 10 chisels; 9 saws; 6 double axes; 3
+4 unknown
hollow cylinders (tubular drills?); 2 solid
drills; 1 single/flat ax
Mochlos 26 26 - - 13 double axes; 9 chisels; 2 ax-adzes; 1
saw; 1 double adze
Palaikastro 28 21 - - 13 double axes; 9 chisels; 2 solid drills;
+1 unknown
1 saw; 1 socketed chisel; 1 single/flat
adze
500 Renfrew and Cherry 1986;
501 The next Mochlos volume is already under preparation. While visiting the INSTAP study center in East
Crete in Spring 2009, Tom Brogan graciously showed me the bronze tools recovered by the Mochlos
excavations over the past two decades. I was not able to include these implements—specifically those that
have not been reported in early publications—in the current dataset, but soon they will be published by the
excavation team.
502 The tool counts for this table and each subsequent LBA table in this section include implements that
have firm LBA dates. Numerous tools are dated generally to the second millennium, and these are
excluded from the LBA counts. The sum of the unknown examples from each site, however, is indicated.
198