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

diameters are 5 cm and greater) must have been made by a bronze rather than reed
drill. 517
Surely, the most conspicuous Mycenaean implement was the pendulum saw, but
the tool is only accounted for by hypothetical reconstructions based on traces of masonry
saw cuttings. Of the meager assemblage of mainland saws, only the Andronianoi saw is
large (55.7 cm in length), and it perhaps was imported from Crete. Many fragments of
mainland saws are band-like, with widths ranging between 1.3 and 1.8 cm, and so the
band saw may have been a distinctive type of the mainland. Another definitive trait of
mainland tools occurs in chisel selections, whereby two basic types are evenly consumed:
narrow and broad/wide chisels; this pattern is evident by and large for the entire Aegean.
The correlation of narrow and broad chisels is especially apparent in metal hoards, where
smaller and wider chisels were collectively stockpiled (see Chapter 5). The equal
preservation of these chisel types reveals that the two sizes were considered a set, and so
were collected and used in pairs.
Greek islands (Fig. 4.23):
There are relatively few wood- and stone-working tools from the Greek islands in
the second millennium, particularly in the MBA, despite several EBA carpenter’s hoards.
By the LBA, a small collection of carpentry/masonry tools appear in the region, mostly
chisels. These implements are concentrated for the most part on Rhodes, Kos, and Melos
(Phylakopi). Not surprisingly, the tool types recovered reveal a mix of Cretan, mainland,
and Anatolian characteristics. For example, double axes, large Minoan-like chisels, and
saws are inspired by Crete or the mainland. On the other hand, the socketed chisel,
single/flat ax and trunnion/lugged ax typify Anatolian and eastern Mediterranean tools.
517 Küpper 1996, 12-13.
216