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

Anatolian tool industries as a means of ascertaining craft interaction, particularly for
carpenters and masons, within this multi-cultural area. At the very least, a specific
investigation of the wood- and stone-working tools can reveal local tendencies in craft
preferences, if not definable links of interaction between different regions.
II. Metallurgy in the Middle and Late Bronze Age
Comprehension of the metallurgical stages enables the value of finished metal
objects—even ordinary ones like tools—to be realized, and provides an important
background for interpreting the scattering of tools. The totality of metal tools within
Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean portrays an impressive, and in some
cases industrial, level of metallurgical organization and production. Metallurgical
practices, however, may not have been practiced in every region during the MBA and
LBA. Numerous factors can limit a region’s ability to produce metal objects, not the least
of which is access to raw sources and the technological skill to manipulate molten metal.
Furthermore, pyro-technological information could be guarded by individuals or groups
to enhance their status or ensure their livelihood. 9
The availability of raw materials varied, typically based upon a region’s proximity
to natural metal sources. Copper mines are found in the Troodos massif on Cyprus, the
Anatolian Taurus Mountains, Laurion in Attica (limited quantities), the Greek islands
(minor amounts, mostly on Kythnos and Seriphos), the Rhodope Mountains in Thrace,
and Sardinia. Copper sources are non-existent on Crete, and this issue has perplexed
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scholars for some time. Tin sources (found in Afghanistan and possibly Anatolia) are
9 Nakou 1995; Blakely 2006, 3.
10 Branigan 1971; Muhly 2008a; Tzachili 2008b.
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