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

within each region is notable. Single/flat axes are the prevalent MBA tool, because they
are extremely abundant in Cyprus and Syria-Palestine, yet chisels are probably the most
common implement cross-regionally. Shaft-hole axes are typical of Anatolia and Syria-
Palestine but also attested on Cyprus and Crete. Trunnion/lugged blades and socketed
chisels are principally restricted to Anatolia at this time, while double axes are primarily
Cretan. The high production of tools on Crete, especially in relation to the rest of the
Aegean, demonstrates that Protopalatial Crete had access to foreign metal resources,
specifically from Cyprus and Anatolia. 526
The degree to which metal was available in the
MBA surely accounts for the disproportion of metal tools from Cyprus, Anatolia and
Syria-Palestine in comparison to the Aegean.
Certain MBA tool preferences continue during the LBA (Fig. 4.29). Double axes,
chisels and saws define tool assemblages from the Cretan LBA, and these implements
were already widely utilized in the MBA. Late Helladic craftspersons regularly
incorporated double axes, chisels, and drills into their repertoire, while implements that
characterize other regions (e.g. saws, combination tools, socketed chisels,
trunnion/lugged blades, and single axes or adzes) were not plentiful on the mainland. The
count of double axes from Crete and the mainland would suggest a correlation, yet this
connection is not a direct evolution, for important distinctions exist between the
Mycenaean and Minoan versions. Shafted double-ended tools (excluding double axes)
are idiosyncratic of Cretan and Cypriot tool assemblages, but scarce elsewhere. This is an
unusual pattern because there is a chronological gap between the use of the implements
first on Crete and later on Cyprus. These double-sided tools are rare on the mainland; this
observation, combined with the low numbers of Mycenaean saws and the different
526 Poursat and Loubet 2005.
223