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

V. The metal objects from shipwrecks and detectable tool kits
The collection of metal objects from the LBA shipwrecks recalls the metal hoards
discussed above; this likeness is particularly obvious in the selection of tools from both
contexts. 683 Three shipwrecks from the 14 th (Uluburun) and the 13 th (Gelidonya and Cape
Iria) centuries BC have been excavated in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean.
Seventeen oxhide copper ingots found off the coast of Kyme, Euboea, and a single ingot
found underwater near Antalya led Demakopoulou to hypothesize that two other
unexcavated shipwrecks, dating to the 16 th –15 th century BC, also exist. 684 The Uluburun
and Gelidonya wrecks, both found off the Lycian coast, are well known for their cargo
filled with raw metals (copper and tin). Both vessels produced notable quantities of other
metallic objects, principally implements. From the Gelidonya wreck, Bass cataloged
more than 250 bronze objects; intact and fragmentary tools (smith, agricultural, utilitarian
and wood- and stone-working) constitute 177 of those items. 685 Preliminary Uluburun
publications have reported the prominence of implements from that vessel as well, but
many utensils await complete conservation and final publication. 686 Initial excavation
reports have mentioned 65+ total metal implements from Uluburun. 687
Despite the partial
nature of the current Uluburun data, the published tools represent a larger share of
utensils than what is found in most hoards. The Point Iria shipwreck was found off the
north coast of the Argolid Gulf and differs greatly from the other wrecks. While the
amount of raw copper and bronze objects on the eastern Mediterranean ships is
683
Catling (1964, 278) noted the similarities between land hoards and the Gelidonya metal tools.
684
Demakopoulou 1999, 37.
685
Bass 1967, 84-117; Knapp, Muhly, and Muhly1988, 242, Table 2.
686
Pulak 1988, 19 reports “No less than a dozen long and slender bronze tools of square and circular
sections have been found, most still covered by encrustation.” C. Pulak, through personal communication,
informed me about the current state of the Uluburun tools.
687
Bass 1986; Pulak 1988; Bass et al. 1989; Pulak 1992; Pulak 1993; Pulak 1994; Yalçin, Pulak, and Slotta
2005.
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