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

selectively brought back Minoan crafts and tools to Cyprus. 520 Cypriot merchants must
have traveled west, if the distribution of Cypriot copper oxhide ingots in the Aegean and
central Mediterranean is any gauge. 521
Anatolia (Fig. 4.25):
The distinctive Anatolian carpentry and masonry tools vary from the preferred
tools of the Aegean (see A, D1, E1, and E2 in Fig. 4.25). Trunnion/lugged axes (and
adzes) and socketed chisels are more frequent in Anatolia than in other regions by a large
margin. Shaft-hole axes and adzes, well attested in Syria-Palestine, are Anatolian
implements foremost and rare in the Aegean. The series of Anatolian chisels is
quantitatively impressive, yet Anatolian chisels typically have very narrow cutting edges;
the majority of Anatolian specimens have cutting widths less than 1.5 cm and many are
even smaller than 0.5 cm. Most Anatolian chisels appear better designed for detail and
delicate work than for large scale carpentry and masonry activity. Even the socketed
chisels, so prominent in central Turkey, have narrow cutting edges. Important tools in the
repertoire of Hittite craftspersons, but not preserved in the Anatolian record, are the
tubular drill and the massive pendulum and the alternative handheld convex saw. As with
some Cretan and mainland examples, there are three metal cylinders from Hattusha that
warrant reconsideration as potential tubular drill bits. The evidence for tubular drilling is
ubiquitous throughout Hittite architecture and sculpture, especially at Hattusha, and it
seems comparable and contemporary with the appearance of some stone-cutting methods
at Mycenaean sites.
520 The potential 13 th and 12 th century links between Cyprus and Crete is bolstered by the number of tripod
and metal stands on both islands at this time; see Papasavvas 2001. There is also casting evidence from LM
III Palaikastro for the production of a tripod or stand similar to Cypriot types; see Hemingway 1996.
521 For an updated discussion of oxhide ingots in the Aegean, see Muhly 2009. For the central
Mediterranean, see the entire volume by Schiavo, Muhly, Maddin and Giumlia-Mair 2009.
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