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

the island in the MBA. The distribution of the Late Cypriot carpentry/masonry tools is
extraordinarily unbalanced, with Enkomi having over half of the period’s tool assemblage
(Table 4.26). The specimens from Enkomi occur in all three LBA groupings, including
the greatest concentration of wood- and stone-working tools from any site in the 12 th
century. The repertoire of Enkomi tools is extremely diverse, leading one to consider the
possibility that Enkomi controlled access to craft tools and even certain craft industries.
The scarcity or total absence of wood- and stone-working tools at most major urban LC
IIC sites like Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, Hala Sultan Tekke, Kition, Maroni-Vournes,
Alassa-Paliotaverna and Kouklia-Palaepaphos is hard to explain. The apparent
restriction of carpentry/masonry tools stands in complete contrast to the plentiful
evidence from Enkomi.
The novel set of implements on LBA Cyprus included shafted double-ended
(occasionally combination) tools and single/flat adzes. The best parallels for the shafted
implements are from the Cretan Neopalatial period, and they are clearly not inspired by
indigenous Cypriot, Anatolian or Near Eastern versions. These new tool types on Cyprus
only appear at Enkomi and Mathiati. The foreign, or at least foreign-inspired, implements
were habitually hoarded, suggesting that they were highly valued and unavailable to most
individuals. The disparity in the number of implements by site suggests differing levels of
tool accessibility at each LC urban locality, thus replicating the distribution of tools
among Mycenaean sites.
LC site All LBA
tools
Early
LBA
1600-
1400
Peak
LBA
1400-
1200
Late
LBA
1200-
1050
Tool types
Enkomi 94 1 28 41 36 chisels; 26 drills; 7 double adzes;
6 single/flat axes; 4 socketed
chisels; 4 trunnion/lugged axes
(including 1 adze); 4 ax-adzes; 3
206