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

from numerous Hittite sites, only three Anatolian metal hollow cylinders (potential
tubular drill bits) are known—all from Hattusha. Nine double axes exist from LBA
Turkey, but eight are from Troy and Şarköy; these sites are better linked to Aegean
cultural spheres than Hittite ones. Only one double ax came from the rest of Anatolia
(Tarsus), confirming that the Aegean predilection for the double ax was never shared by
Hittite craftspersons. With the popularity of the trunnion/lugged axes and the shaft-hole
axes in Anatolia, the double ax perhaps was deemed an unnecessary implement. An
indisputable Aegean implement, a Minoan-like saw, was uncovered at Boğazköy. 513
Conceivably more surprising than the presence of this foreign tool in central Anatolia is
the otherwise total absence of saws from this region during the LBA. Regardless of the
rarity of actual Hittite saws, tool marks on architectural foundations at Boğazköy and
other sites (like Eflatun Pınar) confirm that Hittites used the saw in stone cutting. 514
The uneven distribution of tools in central Anatolia may largely result from the
extensive excavation and publication at Boğazköy. Nevertheless, tools must have been
easier to acquire within the capital city given the site’s numerous metallurgical
515
workshops.
Even so, the dearth of carpentry/masonry implements at other major Hittite
sites (e.g. Maşat Höyük, Ortaköy-Şapinuwa, and Kuşaklı) is unexpected, given the vast
quantity of tools at Hattusha. Some sites like Ortaköy-Şapinuwa and Kuşaklı are known
through preliminarily publications, so greater numbers of tools may survive than what is
513 Neve 1989.
514 Seeher 2007.
515 Metallurgical workshops are known from the Old Hittite and empire periods at Boğazköy. For Old
Hittite: see, Müller-Karpe 1994, 72-73, figures 46, 47, plates 4.3, 5.2, 5.5; Yildirim and Gates 2007, 296.
For metallurgical activity at Boğazköy from the Hittite empire period, especially within the Oberstadt, see
Müller-Karpe 1994, 73-74, 82-84, figures 49 and 57; Neve 1999, 112, 123-124, 127-132, 137-143, figures
60, 66, 67.
209