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

Foundry and Sinda hoards, but otherwise they are unusual in metal caches. 699
When
tongs were included in sets, the implication is that metalworking activities were intended.
Although the Uluburun tongs may have belonged to a smith, the existence of a
metallurgical tool kit on the ship is not supported by the other metal objects.
The Gelidonya metalworking tools constituted a smith’s tool assemblage by
including a hammer or anvil, a swage block, a hollow punch, a spatula, and metal/stone
weights. Furthermore, a shovel, identified as an agricultural implement, may have
functioned in the same manner as the Cypriot charcoal shovel.
699 Karageorghis 1973, 74-77.
700 Catling (1964, 100-101) lists numerous examples of charcoal shovels.
700
The swage block and
hollow punch were serviceable tools for cold bronze working. Hammers and anvils were
valuable components in any smith’s repertoire for manipulating hot or cold metals. The
spatula is perhaps part of the smith tool kit, the case for which is made by comparison to
a Pyla-Kokkinokremos (Cyprus) spatula, which I classify as a crucible scraper.
The Pyla spatula is broken at the butt end, has several Cypro-Minoan marks on its
top surface, and possesses a slight scoop-like profile (Plate 5.33). The underside of the
tool is rather bumpy and uneven, probably from hardened slag. The detailed profile
photograph in Plate 5.33 illustrates the spot where the slag and the implement meet. This
tool seems to have functioned as a crucible scraper. After the contents of a crucible were
poured, remnants of molten metal or slag would have adhered to the vessel’s interior
surface. In order for the crucible to be reused, the impure slag had to be removed. A
crucible or furnace may be cleaned by forcefully tapping it against the ground in hopes
that the slag will fall out, but a small-scooped spatula or scraper would have been
extremely useful in removing slag, qualifying it as a tool in the smith’s repertoire.
300