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

Metal assemblages generally cluster around periods of transition: the closing
stages of the Aegean EBA, the conclusion of the Neopalatial period on Crete, and the end
of the LBA on the Greek mainland and Cyprus (see Appendix 3). Sporadic hoarding is
evident in non-transitional periods, demonstrating that the practice of stockpiling
occurred at other times as well. Hoarding is prevalent throughout all phases of Bronze
Age Europe and well documented in the Aegean EBA. By the Mediterranean LBA, the
practice of stockpiling metal is attested on the Greek mainland, Crete, Cyprus, Syria,
Albania, the Italic peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia. The relationship between a turbulent
time period and hoarding is a correlation, not a cause. The social unrest during the late
13 th and early 12 th century BC was not the impetus for creating so many hoards in the
Mediterranean. The proliferation of these caches in the archaeological record, however,
does confirm the period’s instability. Bradley summarizes this stance:
Material may have been hidden or stored in the ground during many or most periods of
prehistory but only when circumstances prevented its recovery would it have stayed in
the archaeological record…peaks in the frequency of such deposits tell us most about the
conditions under which these collections were lost…we have less idea of why they were
hidden in the first place. 608
Hoards undoubtedly appear more regularly during troublesome periods. Yet it is
presumptuous to conclude that societal turmoil brought about hoarding practices. A more
nuanced approach must view hoarding as a natural tendency with the possibility of
occurring in any era or location.
IV.B: An overview of hoard compositions in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean
The full range of contents in a metal assemblage must be considered when
interpreting hoarding practices; this point becomes even more important when a cache
608 Bradley 1990, 20-21; Knapp, Muhly, and Muhly1988, 240-241.
251