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

Although traces of Anatolian or Anatolian-inspired tools exist in the Aegean (e.g.
trunnion/lugged axes, socketed chisels), there are few Minoan or Mycenaean tools that
made their way to Anatolia. An impressive saw fragment (half preserved) from Hattusha
is Minoan in origin. 522 Saws were exceedingly rare in Anatolia; other than this example,
only two were recovered in the region, and they both date to the MBA. Evidently, the
popularity of Minoan saws was not adopted by Anatolia, and the Minoan saw at Hattusha
may be an anomaly rather than an indication of regularly imported Aegean tools. The
absence of physical Hittite saws is surprising considering saw markings found on Hittite
stone masonry. Neve interprets certain tool marks on blocks at Hattusha as the result of
bronze pick hammers. 523 Like the tubular drill and pendulum/convex saw, metal pick
hammers are not documented in the preserved Anatolian tool series. Perhaps it is more
reasonable to understand such hammer dressing as the result of using stone hammers—as
on the Greek mainland. 524
Syria-Palestine (Fig. 4.26):
Of the regions under consideration, the data from Syria-Palestine is the least
exhaustive. Despite this analytical limitation, there are certain tool tendencies that reflect
craft preferences. Shaft-hole axes and socketed adzes are at home in the Syro-Palestinian
tool tradition (see A, B in Fig. 4.26). Shaft-hole axes occur frequently in Anatolia, but the
narrow bladed and fenestrated versions are distinctive of the Levant; besides that region,
they are documented in Egypt and Cyprus. 525
The single/flat ax was just as popular in
Syria-Palestine as on Cyprus. While the tool’s consumption decreased between the MC
522 Neve 1989.
523 Neve 2002, 93
524 For the use of stone hammers on Mycenaean architecture, see: Mylonas 1966, 16-18; Wright 1978, 159,
189, 202, 217, 258 note 307, Figs. 88, 89, 92, 120; Iakovidis 1983, 6, 12, 29, 34.
525 Philip 1989, 42-44, 58-59.
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