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

common to Crete and Cyprus. The single/flat axes from the ships reflect a preferred
implement of the Levant and Cyprus. The Uluburun saw adds to a small sample of such
implements from the LBA eastern Mediterranean, yet the tool type is prevalent in the
Aegean. A few Uluburun tools are similar to implements from outside the study area; for
instance, three necked adzes from the Uluburun ship best resemble a type of Egyptian
adze. Generally the repertoire of shipwreck tools reflects the eclectic nature of the objects
aboard and emphasizes each ship’s interregional connections.
IV: Conclusion for carpentry/masonry implements (Figs. 4.28‒4.29)
The regional distributions of the wood- and stone-working tools are visually
summarized by two distribution maps, one for the MBA (2000‒1600 BC) and the other
for the LBA (1600‒1050 BC). These maps illustrate the salient differences between the
chronological periods: the changing quantity and variety of carpentry/masonry tools over
time. There are considerably more LBA implements than MBA examples in every region,
except Cyprus which had a comparable number in each phase. By the LBA, the range of
tools also became more diverse. The most observable change in a region’s tool selection
occurs in the Aegean (Figs. 4.28-29). Although Middle Minoan tools were relatively
abundant and diverse, there is an overwhelming increase of tools on LBA Crete. While
the mainland and islands hardly utilized carpentry/masonry implements during the MBA,
this picture was radically altered by the LBA.
As evident in the MBA distribution map (Fig. 4.28), the largest collection of
carpentry/masonry tools in the early second millennium came from Cyprus. MBA Syria-
Palestine, Anatolia and Crete also produced a respectable quantity. Although the MBA
carpentry/masonry implements occur in comparatively limited numbers, the variety
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