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

mainland would seem to convey that the tool was adopted directly from the island.
Surprisingly, the development of the Mycenaean double ax was more complex than such
a lineage. Although two double axes are attested from MH Sesklo (both with round shaft
holes), double axes are absent from the Mycenae Shaft Graves. In fact, only six
carpentry/masonry tools—all chisels—were recovered from the grave circles. The
absence of the double ax in these burials is unanticipated for two reasons. First, there
were several other Minoan traits in the shaft graves, and second, the double ax was
eventually popular on the mainland. The Mycenaean version came about only by the LH
III period. Consequently, there is a chronological divide between the Neopalatial period,
when the double ax reached its zenith on Crete, and the beginning of the palatial period
on the mainland, when the Mycenaean double ax was introduced.
Several tools, unknown in MH contexts, first appeared on the mainland during the
LH period, including saws, ax-adzes, drills, socketed chisels, shaft-hole axes, and
trunnion/ lugged axes (see H, F2, G1, E2, A, D1 in Fig. 4.22). These tools convey
varying levels of influence from Crete and Anatolia. The saws and ax-adzes typify Cretan
tools, while socketed chisels, shaft-hole axes, and trunnion/lugged axes are at home in
Anatolia. Mainland and Cretan double axes have comparable cutting edge widths, but
there are important differences that show that the Mycenaeans did not fully adopt the
Minoan double ax.
Hollow metal cylinders from the Argolid (G2 in Fig. 4.22), like examples from
Crete, warrant reconsideration as tubular drill bits. The use of reed or bamboo drill bits
seems dubious, not least because the circular dowel holes occur in hard limestone and
conglomerate in the palatial period. Many of the largest drill holes at Tiryns (several
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