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

affected the collection of tools. Craft activities such as cutting (with axes, chisels, knives,
saw, or razors), paring (with adzes or chisels), boring or piercing (with drills or awls),
and preparatory work (with whetstones and a plumb bob) were all possible with the given
inventory of shipwreck tools. The functional variation of these tools signifies that there
were craft kits on board the vessels. The assortment of chisel forms echoes patterns found
in hoards, where several chisel subtypes are often evident. The semblance of tool types
from Uluburun and Gelidonya indicate that the model carpenter/mason’s kit changed
minimally during the course of the LBA. The commonality of the shipwreck tool sets is
bolstered by parallels with land hoards, which is explored in greater detail below.
Four Gelidonya and two Uluburun double axes bring to mind the tendencies of
land hoards, for that tool form was frequently selected in Cretan and mainland caches but
rarely in Cyprus. 694 Consequently, the Gelidonya and Uluburun double axes coincide
with components of Aegean tool kits. In discussing the Uluburun double axes, Pulak
recognized the dominance of the Aegean double ax, but also pointed out Levantine
examples (from contexts other than hoards). 695
Several other tool types from the
shipwrecks were also found in hoards, as discussed below.
Single, flat adzes have turned up at both shipwreck sites, but are extremely rare,
with only three examples, in hoard assemblages. The single, flat ax from Gelidonya, on
the other hand, is more common in hoards, particularly on Cyprus and at Ugarit. It is
plausible that Gelidonya’s single, flat adzes and axes came from the eastern
Mediterranean, as those tools were rare in the Aegean. Ax-adzes are predominantly
known from Crete and within the eastern Mediterranean, but the largest cluster of these
694 For instance, there are 4 double axes from Cypriot hoards and 115 from Aegean ones.
695 Pulak 1998, 208-209; Bass 1967, 94-95.
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