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

flat axes, and one narrow chisel. Of this collection, only one double ax, two double adzes,
the flat axes, and the narrow chisel are entirely preserved. A fragmentary double ax has a
wider blade than the complete version, meaning that there were two different double ax
forms in the same hoard. Likewise, two well-preserved double adzes vary significantly in
size. The hammer-adze, judging from the photograph, was originally an ax-adze before it
was modified. The fragmentary double adze is broken near its shaft hole on one side,
raising the possibility that it, too, was altered and used as a hammer-adze. 675 The range of
broken and intact Mathiati tools supports the assertion that a full kit was formed by a
conscious selection of tools—both complete and fragmentary. 676
There is plenty of evidence for metalworking within the Brunnen 212 hoard (e.g.
scales, weights, ingot fragments, lots of scrap, etc), but the few carpentry/masonry
implements from the cache are unlikely to have served any metallurgical purpose. Two
modified hammer-adzes, one drill, and two chisel (or ax) fragments were found in the
assemblage.
The Sinda bronze hoard lacked wood- and stone-working tools but contained
those of a metal smith. The assembly of a charcoal shovel, a pair of tongs, a socketed
spatula, and a socketed pick may constitute the tool kit of a smith. Although metallurgical
implements were occasionally stockpiled, particularly on Cyprus, it is striking and highly
unusual that every tool within the Sinda hoard was for metalworking. These utensils
epitomize the fuller range of tools found within Cypriot caches, especially when
compared to Aegean contexts.
677
The hammer-adzes are of different shapes, adapted from two kinds of
675 The modification of a Mathiati double adze into a hammer-adze has a parallel in the Brunnen 212 hoard.
676 Catling 1964, 282, plate 52.46; Matthäus and Schumacher-Matthäus 1986, 176.
677 The chisel (or ax) fragments are not catalogued by Lagarce 1971, but two fragmentary chisels (or axes)
are illustrated in Lagarce 1971, 424 figure 25.a, top left.
287